VANCOUVER — After the smoldering but unquenchable fire that is the Quinn Hughes situation, it flared up again Saturday. Hockey Night in Canadailluminating the uncertainty of your future with Vancouver CanucksThe other two defensemen showed why the team considers them essential going forward.
Friends and fellow countrymen Tom Willander And Elias Pettersson (Junior), who are making it to the National Hockey League together after first playing as a defensive partner for Sweden's junior national team two years ago, scored the goals just over two minutes apart as the Canucks stunned the Minnesota Wild 4-2 at Rogers Arena.
It wasn't just that the last-place Canucks snapped a four-game losing streak against one of the NHL's hottest teams and its untouchable goalie that was so surprising, but that Vancouver pulled out the win after top center Elias Pettersson (original EP) was a surprise last-minute scratch with an upper-body injury.
With Pettersson joining veteran Canucks centers Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger on the injured list, Vancouver's first-line centerpiece was Toronto Maple Leafs' David Kampf, who played pointless for the team in nine games and is best known for his penalty kill and faceoff play as a fourth-line checker. The rest of the Canucks' centers on Saturday were recent minor league graduates. Aatu Rati and Max Sasson and NHL forward Drew O'Connor.
Still, Vancouver won with one of the most impressive performances of the season.
Did we tell you that the Canucks goaltender who outplayed the Wild's Jesper Wallstedt was given an emergency call-up to the minor leagues? Nikita Tolopilo?
As for the Hughes drama, Elliott Friedman's TV report that the Canucks and New Jersey Devils were calling about the superstar defenseman is just another page in the subplot that will be part of the Canucks story until the team captain signs a contract extension next summer or asks to leave Vancouver.
“If there was a call, it wasn't like me, Jim and Fitzy answered the call,” Hughes told reporters after the game, referring to Canucks president Jim Rutherford and Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald. “You know, I wasn't a part of it. But obviously I know about it and how these things can happen, for sure.”
The on-ice result was a much bigger plot twist than the last report involving Hughes.
In four shots lasting less than six minutes in the second period, three Canucks prospects who have combined for one goal this season (Willander, young Pettersson and Rathy) fired three pucks past Wallstedt, who has allowed as many as three goals just once while winning his last seven starts.
“St. Paul's Wall” was more like a speed bump.
Willander scored his first NHL goal to tie the game 1-1 at 9:29, taking advantage of a patient pass from Linus Karlsson to send a wrist shot from around the circle into Wahlstedt's top corner.
Just over two minutes later, at 11:46, Pettersson (Junior), Willander's frequent blue line partner, scored his first goal of the season on a see-through shot from the spot that fell after Ratey won a faceoff in the offensive zone.
And then Ratey, a sophomore center with one goal in 25 games, hit a wrist shot on a two-on-one from Evander Kane as the Canucks took a stunning 3-1 lead at 15:12.
These goals against the NHL's best goaltender came from Vancouver's sixth, eighth and ninth shots of the game. They also came after the NHL situation center took away what seemed like a perfectly good goal from Ratey for “distinct foot movement.” For a Canucks team that has seen opponents kick more goals than Lionel Messi this season, it looked like an extremely harsh decision after Kiefer Sherwood's center pass hit Rathy's skate.
But given what the Canucks had to go through, the video review decision seemed quite typical. The three goals in Vancouver that followed shortly thereafter certainly weren't.
It's not like the Wild outscored the Canucks by 16 shots through two periods, but the visitors could have led more than just 1-0 – and would have if it weren't for Tolopilo, who started ahead of Kevin Lankinen for the second night of back-to-back games.
Dangerous scoring chances were 6-1 for Minnesota through two periods.
“He's obviously our best player on any given night,” veteran guard Marcus Pettersson (no relation) said of missing the elder Elias. “I think we came together as a group. We knew it was going to be a battle. The guys stepped up and made some great plays, but the battle – the competitive level – is what I'm most interested in tonight.
“I think we played pretty good hockey for a while, but we weren't getting results. So we kind of talked about what was missing to get results. And it was a little more attitude, a little more competition, and I think we showed that tonight.”
By the end, Ratey had tripled his season goal total, making it 4-1 at 5:09 of the third period on a gift from Wallstedt, who hesitated and then mishandled the puck behind the net, giving it away to the Canucks.
“I think Woody yelled at the goalie, 'Leave it!'” Ratey said of Sherwood. “I'm pretty sure, so I think it spoiled their break a little bit. And then obviously just a bad rebound… just bad luck for their goalie. (But) I think we should have done it.”
With 74 NHL games under his belt, the 23-year-old Ratey was the Canucks' second-line center. He went 14-2 in faceoffs and finished the game with three points.
“Yeah, I don't know why they don't ask me about going 22-3 in my last 25 plays,” Ratey said of the media attention after the game. “That's what I worry about. But it's always nice to score goals.”
“We had a really good meeting this morning and we talked about some things, in terms of mindset, about who we want to be and what we're going to do today. And I think that showed today. I think everyone was really fired up about the game.”
Young defensemen Willander, 20, and Pettersson, 21, began playing together in training camp in September and are pushing each other at the NHL level.
“I think we just always want the best for each other,” Pettersson explained. “Almost every practice we do something together. After practice we work on our game. So, yeah, it was fun to see those (shots) fall today.”
The Canucks play the Detroit Red Wings on Monday and close out their four-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabers on Thursday, when there is a chance that injured Vancouver starter Thatcher Demko will be able to play for the first time since Nov. 11.
