Canucks vs. Oilers: How Vancouver commanded the neutral zone to win Game 1
The tying and winning goals on Wednesday for the Canucks against the Oilers looked different but they were of a theme.
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The two goals the Vancouver Canucks scored on the Edmonton Oilers 39 seconds apart in the third period on Wednesday won the game for the home team, but were also perfect distillations of a part of the game the Canucks know they have to keep pushing at if they’re going to win the series.
Both goals happened because the Oilers were in disarray defending the neutral zone, something that came as a surprise after Canucks coach Rick Tocchet praised them as possibly the NHL’s best neutral zone team.
If you watch carefully, both sequences are broken open by a stretch play: one a dump ahead, putting the puck to an open space in front of a hard-skating forechecker, the second on a delineated set-play, with a long stretch pass to a station player who served as a pivot for a winger crossing over from one wing to the next.
Let’s take a look at how each goal came together:
4-4 goal by Nikita Zadorov
The sequence finished off by Zadorov came after the Canucks quickly attacked through the neutral zone, one that saw them skate out of their zone three-on-four.
The Oilers had a numerical advantage in the neutral zone and you’d think they’d have kept control well.
But instead of shutting down the Canucks, the Oilers were manipulated into chaos.
After Ilya Mikheyev made a nifty pass out of the corner on to Filip Hronek’s stick, the Canucks quickly took things vertical, never really letting the three Oilers in the neutral zone, joined by backchecker Derek Ryan — how picked up a streaking Hronek — from finding any kind of defensive shape.
Hronek moved the puck to Nils Hoglander, who recognized the Oilers would have four defenders back quickly and instead of forcing a play, paused a moment, recognizing that Teddy Blueger would be able to skate in a gap behind the slow-footed Vincent Desharnais.
Somehow Corey Perry didn’t jump to attention and let Blueger fly past him to the puck. Brett Kulak scrambled across to cut off Blueger’s lane, cutting off a direct drive to the net.
“We want to drive them low,” Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy explained Thursday. Get things down low toward the net.
“But if like you can’t get that around the net or low they did a good job pulling up.”
Look for the trailer, he said.
And Blueger did. He kept Kulak with him, while Perry did cut off a cross-ice passing lane to Hronek.
But Hronek’s effort also drew Desharnais and Ryan to the front of the net, leaving a gap behind them for Zadorov to skate into. Evander Kane had tracked back up ice with Mikheyev and was late arriving to cover Zadorov, who hammered a perfect shot low and to the far side, past all three of Desharnais, Perry and Ryan, who combined to screen their own goalie.
5-4 goal by Garland
It should be no surprise the Oilers were still reeling less than a minute after they’d lost their lead.
On what proved to be the winning goal, the Canucks once again used distance and aggressive work up the wing to break open the Oilers.
After losing the puck deep in the Canucks’ zone, the Oilers curiously stood back.
They had three forwards up on the forecheck, but as the Canucks set up their breakout, no one retreated into the gap in front of the defencemen, who retreated to cover an accelerating Dakota Joshua.
It was Joshua’s early break, which he hammered down on the moment he saw Zadorov win the puck in the corner, that’s the linchpin to the sequence.
The big winger runs a football post pattern — ironically, he recently said he didn’t play high school football, “too many practices” — drawing the attention of Darnell Nurse.
Meanwhile, near the blue line, Cody Ceci stayed close to Conor Garland.
Joshua stopped near the far blue line, setting himself up to be a pivot for Garland to swing off of by skating a diagonal line across the width of the rink.
Zadorov had calmly skated behind his net and recognized Joshua was exactly where he should be, firing a pass right on to the big winger’s stick. Joshua set himself, fended off Nurse, then laid off a perfect pass for Garland, who had left Ceci in his dust.
Nurse slid over to try to cut off Garland, but the space had been created.
Garland did the rest.
Rick Tocchet beamed about his players’ execution.
“I get most proud when you give players the concepts and then they decide at what time to do it. ‘Is this the right time to do it?’ So those three guys really connected on that play,” he said.
Read more of our Canucks vs Oilers Round 2 playoff coverage:
• Canucks vs. Oilers: Only Jaws of Life can separate team from game plan that Rick Tocchet has crafted
• Vancouver vs. Edmonton: Here are 8 things each city is ‘winning’
• Canucks vs. Oilers: Arturs Silovs or Casey DeSmith, who’s your goalie for Game 2?
• Canucks vs. Oilers: Kindergarten class in Carson Soucy’s Alberta hometown is divided on series
• Canucks viewing parties: Here’s where to watch the Canucks vs. Oilers Round 2 playoffs
• 5 crucial questions facing the Canucks in Round 2
• Could Thatcher Demko really play vs. the Oilers?
• Canucks vs. Oilers: All a bloodless rivalry needs is a playoff series
• ESPN seems to hate Vancouver
• Canucks this week, playoff edition: Underdogs against the Oilers — just the way we like it
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