As the Vancouver Canucks headed into training camp, they desperately needed a goaltender but couldn’t let that desperation show.
Thatcher Demko’s injury rehab had hit a wall during the summer and the team’s remaining goaltenders had a combined 17 regular season games of NHL experience. With the team entirely uncertain when Demko would return, adding a more experienced netminder was a priority and there was really only one player that fit the bill: Kevin Lankinen.
Given the Canucks’ situation, Lankinen and his agent could have tried to put the screws to the Canucks and tried to get every last dime out of them. But the Canucks never blinked.
Instead, the Canucks signed another goaltender, Dylan Ferguson, to a PTO, emphasized much they believed in Arturs Silovs, and talked about Demko making positive progress, as if everything was fine. They showed Lankinen that they were willing to start training camp without signing him.
And Lankinen blinked first.
Lankinen had banked on free agency leading to a raise and more opportunity to play after limited starts with the Nashville Predators in the previous two seasons. What he didn’t expect was to still be without a contract in September.
Goaltending jobs had disappeared in a hurry when free agency opened on July 1, as teams snapped up the likes of Ilya Samsonov, Scott Wedgewood, and Anthony Stolarz, leaving Lankinen without a home. At least in Vancouver, he would have a chance to prove himself until Demko returned.
Lankinen is doing exactly that. Through three starts for the Canucks, Lankinen has a .953 save percentage and a 2-0-1 record. On Saturday night, he shut out the Philadelphia Flyers in their home opener, stopping all 26 shots he faced.
And he did it with an $875,000 cap hit, all because general manager Patrik Allvin didn’t let the desperation show.
“It’s a huge acquisition by Patrik,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “To grab him out of nowhere is huge…He played two exhibition games, I think, and he’s got three games now and I don’t think he’s had a bad start. He’s been a factor in every game.”
Of course, this is a pretty good situation for Lankinen to be in.
“Just this team, just how good it is, it’s fun to play behind it and the system and the guys we have here,” said Lankinen after his shutout. “I’m really confident and happy where we’re at.”
If Lankinen can shine in Demko’s stead — and presumably get a fair share of starts once Demko returns — he puts himself in a much better position once free agency comes around again next year. If he’s betting on himself, perhaps he was always playing the long game.
He was also playing in this game, which was significantly shorted. I know, because I watched this game.
- Lankinen had a great game but, like Popeye, he was helped by the iron. The Flyers hit three posts and three crossbars behind Lankinen but those just count as misses. You can even give Lankinen credit for giving the Flyers nothing too shoot at and forcing them to cut things too fine. As I always say, that’s why they call them netminders and not postminders: if it’s not on net, they don’t mind.
- “Since training camp when we acquired [Lankinen]l, he’s played really good hockey for us,” said Tocchet. “Obviously, he was great tonight. The Flyers had a bunch of chances and could’ve got back in the game, and he held the fort. To win back-to-back games, it’s big for us…He’s playing great. I’ve got to play the guy, he’s been unreal.”
- “He’s a competitor,” said Kiefer Sherwood. “Even when we were just hanging on for a little bit and there were spurts where we gave up momentum and got away from our hockey, he stood on his head and made some really big saves.”
- The opening faceoff rarely matters all that much in a game but the one in this game might have some long-term repercussions. J.T. Miller appeared to injure his left arm/wrist/hand off the draw and immediately went down the tunnel to the locker room. He returned to the game but only took one more faceoff the rest of the way, which would suggest he was avoiding putting too much stress on a potential injury. Miller was ninth in the NHL in total faceoffs taken last season.
- “He’s dealing with some stuff, we’ll figure it out in the next couple of days,” said Tocchet. “We didn’t want him to take draws. He still played well for us, even though he didn’t take draws.”
- Brock Boeser stepped up to take faceoffs for that line and did quite well in the first period, going 3-for-3, but then lost his next four draws. Honestly, 3-for-7 ain’t bad for a winger but there’s a reason he wasn’t sent out for any defensive zone faceoffs.
- “I think [Boeser] got cocky,” quipped Tocchet with a laugh. “He thought he was Bergeron or something.”
- The Canucks have something with the line of Nils Höglander, Elias Pettersson, and Conor Garland. They spent a ton of time in the offensive zone and combined for a gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal. Garland gave Jamie Drysdale the shake and bake on the boards, then fed Filip Hronek at the point, who dumped it back down low for Garland. As the Flyers overplayed the boards, Pettersson got open in the slot and Garland swung the puck out to him on the backhand. With four Flyers converging on him in desperation, Pettersson slipped the puck to Höglander for the backdoor tap-in. Baby, you can try but you can’t deny chemistry.
- The Pettersson line had another dominant shift midway through the second period just ahead of the 2-0 goal, though the goal itself came after a line change. Pettersson alone had three scoring chances on the shift: a five-hole attempt on a 2-on-1, a tip that just missed the net on a shot by Vincent Desharnais, and a one-timer from a slick cross-seam pass by Erik Brännström. Seeing Pettersson get incrementally better every single game has been pretty encouraging and it feels like the production will be riding those coattails at any moment.
- Shortly after, Tyler Myers jumped up in the rush and went to the front of the net, where Jake DeBrusk found him with a pass from below the goal line. Myers’ shot was stopped, but the towering defenceman collected the rebound and sent a ludicrous blind backhand pass between his legs to Brock Boeser for a tap-in goal. It was like, for just one moment, Myers was actually both Sedin twins stacked on top of each other in a trench coat.
- “I was just crashing the net and J.D. made a really nice play to me to start it off in front,” said Myers. “I just saw a shade of white go behind me when I got the puck and I just put it in an area. Luckily, it went to Boes.”
- The absurd assist was a marvelous way for Myers to celebrate his 1000th career game in the NHL and Boeser made sure Myers was first to the bench for fist bumps. It was a special night for Myers, even if it was a little overwhelming at times.
- “I’m not going to lie, my mind went a little haywire there in the second half of the second,” said Myers. “It was an emotional night…My dad, mom, step-mom, and step-dad were all here cheering me on. We don’t usually do that well in Philly, so it was great to get a win.”
- “I didn’t know Mysey that well when I took over as head coach,” said Tocchet. “With Footey and Gonch, we saw a lot of potential. I think he just needed structure in his game and he’s a guy who always wants to get better every day…He works so hard. He’s a pleasure to coach.”
- Less than a minute after Boeser’s goal, Kiefer Sherwood made it 3-0 with his first as a Canuck. It was a bang-bang play off an offensive zone faceoff: Teddy Blueger banged the puck to his left and Sherwood banged it into the net. Sherwood turned on the puck like the Cardassians on the Dominion and fired a proton torpedo past Sam Ersson, leaving John Tortorella more stunned than Weyoun 8.
- “I was just trying to get it on net,” said Sherwood. “You work so many different faceoff plays but sometimes just getting it to the net can be the most effective.”
- Sherwood continues to make a big impact in minimal minutes, with five shots and nine hits to go with his goal in just under 12 minutes of ice time. He also had one laugh directly in the face of Travis Konecny and, given the cheap shots Konecny was delivering all game, he deserved the mockery.
- One of those Konecny cheap shots was on Quinn Hughes: a late crosscheck into his back that had him grimacing on the bench before he returned to his usual state of sighing heavily and looking like he just found out they cancelled all of his favourite TV shows.
- You’ll notice the crosscheck happened directly in front of the referee and you’ll notice his hand did not go up in the air. This is because the refs apparently decided that the only player on the Flyers allowed to get penalties was Garnet Hathaway, who got all three Flyers minor penalties in this game. No matter: the Canucks’ power play was awful, the lone blemish in an otherwise solid game.
- Here’s a peek behind the curtains of being a hockey writer: you’re pretty much constantly inundated by PR pitches by gambling websites about “research” they’ve done into random “facts” about the NHL — the most popular mascot, best arena food, most passionate fans — so you’ll link back to the gambling website. The trick is to never publish any of these absurd pitches…but then again, when the pitch is “best-looking player in the NHL” and the answer is Nils Åman, you can forgive Dan Murphy for putting that claim on the air, complete with side-by-side comparison with Derek Zoolander.
- Brännström and Desharnais made a strong case to be the Canucks’ long-term third-pairing in this game, though they’ll need a few more games to solidify that spot. The two seemed to complement each other nicely with the classic combination of a small, mobile offensive defenceman with a big, lumbering defensive defenceman. They combined with the third line for a masterful time-wasting shift in the offensive zone in the third period to help kill the clock and secure the win.
- That’s two wins in a row! The Canucks have points in 4 of 5 games to start the season! And they got Myers a win for his 1000th game! Everything’s coming up Milhouse!
- “It means a lot, more so to do it with this group,” said Myers. “I love this group…To do it with these guys, get a win, it’s just a great night.”
