The Nashville Predators had a pretty simple strategy in their 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks in game two of their first-round playoff series Tuesday night at Rogers Arena鈥� take away all shooting lanes.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet has come up with a pretty simple solution to that problem.
鈥淭ee it up. If guys want to block it, it鈥檚 going to hurt. I wouldn鈥檛 turn down a shot if a guy is going to be right in front of me, so yeah, we are going to tee it up tomorrow,鈥� he told the media in Nashville prior to game three of the series on Friday night.
While Canuck Nation wrestles with complex solutions on how the team can get more shots through the Predators defenders, Tocchet says it鈥檚 all about resolve.
鈥淚 just felt Nashville鈥檚 will to defend was better than our will to score. There are positions and plays there. It鈥檚 really a will. There are areas to go with the heavy stuff. There are plays there - just find them. That鈥檚 getting through people and fighting through. It鈥檚 not standing still,鈥� he explained.
It鈥檚 strange how a couple of bounces here and there can change your entire perception of a body of work.
If Nashville鈥檚 Anthony Beauvillier doesn鈥檛 get a crazy bounce on the first goal. If Elias Pettersson doesn鈥檛 miss that wide open net on the power play at the end of the first period. If Dakota Joshua can manage to capitalize on a goal mouth scramble later in the game.
If just those three plays go the Canucks way, people would be talking about how they battled and found a way to win the game.
They didn鈥檛 though, which means a lot of hand-wringing for Canucks fans.
As a coach, you have to look at the big picture.
Tocchet knows his team played well enough to win in game two as evidenced by the fact that they had more than twice as many scoring chances than Nashville 鈥� 29-14- according to the analytics website Natural Stat Trick.
Even the power play, which failed to score in six opportunities in the first two games and is under criticism, isn鈥檛 all doom-and-gloom according to Tocchet.
鈥淲e had two basically empty net goals (in game two). If we get one of those goals to go, it doesn鈥檛 look as bad. I think we have to be a little bit more decisive if the shot is there鈥 little but more to the net and a little quicker pace with our power play,鈥� said Tocchet.
There has also been some discussion among fans regarding the goaltending situation and whether or not Casey DeSmith might be replaced by Arturs Silovs.
DeSmith cannot be blamed for the loss to the Preds in game two. Barring some sort of catastrophic collapse by DeSmith, he will be the man moving forward for the Canucks for the foreseeable future given Thatcher Demko鈥檚 鈥榳eek-to-week鈥� status.
Tocchet does like Silovs and his game and has mentioned on more than one occasion Silovs having performed in high-pressure games for Latvia in the 2023 World Hockey Championships. The 23-year-old did play in 10 games for Latvia in the tournament and had a 2.20 GAA with a .921 save percentage but the only scenario in which he replaces DeSmith is if Vancouver is swept in Nashville with DeSmith playing poorly.
In that case, it would be 鈥榖reak glass in case of emergency鈥� with Silovs riding out the series.
Hopefully for Tocchet and the Canucks, that situation doesn鈥檛 present itself.
Despite pointing out some of the positives, Tocchet also knows his team can play better than they did on Tuesday night in Vancouver.
The Canucks are going to have to if they want to come back to Vancouver in good shape.
OVERTIME
* Bob Cole, the legendary play-by-play voice of Hockey Night in Canada for five decades, passed away at the age of 90 on Wednesday. For Tocchet, Cole鈥檚 death hit close to home as he had attended Cole鈥檚 golf tournament in St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland on a couple of occasions. 鈥淛ust hanging out with him in those golf tournaments was a lot of fun,鈥� said Tocchet.
* Tyler Myers will return to the lineup after a one-game absence due to the 鈥榝lu鈥� with Noah Juulsen coming out based on the pairings at practice. Elias Lindholm practiced with the first unit power play in place of Conor Garland. Demko made the trip to Nashville in a support role for his teammates.
* DeSmith has some good memories of Bridgestone Arena. As a member of the Penguins organization, he was in the building when Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup in 2017.
* The Canucks announced that they will have a viewing party at Rogers Arena for game three. 鈥淔or fans that haven鈥檛 been able to attend a home playoff game this season, we are replicating the experience for Friday鈥檚 Rogers Away Game Viewing Party so more fans and families can join us on our playoff journey,鈥� said Michael Doyle, President, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, Business Operations in a released statement.
* Game four Sunday in Nashville starts at 2pm Pacific time.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob 鈥渢he Moj鈥� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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