Canucks work overtime for the win
Boudreau pleased that his charges came to play with little left to play for
VANCOUVER 3, LOS ANGELES 2 (OT)
J.T. Miller took the game-day skate option Thursday morning.
The challenge for the Vancouver Canucks' leading scorer and moral compass was to avoid being a mentally exhausted no-show in a meaningless regular-season home finale and lead his club in the wrong direction.
“Don't worry about J.T., chuckled coach Bruce Boudreau. “He's playing.”
However, Miller was like his teammates and often had difficulty sustaining pressure before finally forcing overtime where the visitors struck two posts before Brock Boeser scored on his third crack at the puck in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Canucks had dug a two-goal hole and often appeared listless before finding some third-period life. They were being outshot 24-8 at one point of the second period, but did cut it to 27-15 with the odd offensive-zone flurry.
Boeser then scored on a third-period power play to cut the deficit and Miller drew an assist to climb to 98 points. Alex Chiasson then got to the net, got to a rebound to draw the club even on a night when it looked like that wouldn't be possible. Vasily Podkolzin hit the post late in the third period to set the stage for some unexpected drama. It wasn't surprising.
The club had gone so hard for so long in an incredible 31-15-5 run under Boudreau that they were often running on fumes in a failed pursuit of a wild-card position.
On Thursday, it looked like there was simply nothing left in the tank — mentally or physically — no matter how hard the coach tried to pump them up before puck drop, or how hard Miller kept battling for pucks along the walls.
A first-period bench minor for too many men on the ice was a sign of not being sharp because short shifts and quick line changes are a staple for the way Boudreau wants his bunch to play.
“There's always something to play for,” he insisted. “We want to catch Vegas. We want 40 wins. We want go 6-0-2 in the last eight home games. It's a great indicator to a coach when the games don't theoretically mean anything in the standings, to see what kind of effort you get.
“That goes to character. So, we'll be seeing a lot of that.”
Well, we didn't see enough until the third period, when they didn't quit.
Miller entered the night 10th overall in National Hockey League scoring and is now two points shy of the 100-point plateau — Henrik Sedin was the last franchise player to hit the century mark in 2010-11 with 104 points — and there was a standard he wanted to uphold to keep creating the culture.
He put a shot over the crossbar in one foray to the net but kept battling along the walls and in the circle. He finished with three shots and eight attempts and won 65 per cent of his draws.
If anything, the final result was another reminder of what it's not like to be playing in May.
Here's what we learned as the Canucks ended their home-ice schedule:
THEY SHOOT, THEY SCORE
The were getting their chances but couldn't find the net.
There was a third-period power play in which Miller double-clutched and couldn't get a shot away and Elias Pettersson shot wide. And with a 5-on-3 advantage for 39 seconds, Boeser shot wide from a sharp angle and another Pettersson effort was blocked. Boeser finally connected from the high slot with a quick release for his 22nd goal of the season.
Sheldon Dries drove to the net early, lost an edge and then hit the post and it wasn't looking good. Boeser was then foiled on a 2-on1 break when fed a perfect cross-ice pass by Pettersson.
THOSE SHORT-SIDE GOALS
Spencer Martin had to have a laser focus Thursday because this wasn't an easy game to play.
On a personal level, there was the opportunity to prove that he's more than capable of backing up the injured Thatcher Demko next season.
When Tyler Myers took a four-minute, high-sticking minor in the second period, he made a pad save off Sean Durzi and then foiled Alex Iaffalo from the slot. Martin denied Iaffalo again from the slot before Gabriel Vilardi opened scoring with a short-side shot in which Martin was screened by defenceman Travis Dermott.
However, late in the second period, Adrian Kempe was allowed to skate untouched through the neutral zone and get into the high slot before picking the short side. OVERTIME: In fan balloting for team awards, Luke Schenn was named unsung hero, Quinn Hughes top defenceman, Miller most exciting player and Demko the MVP.