The Vancouver Canucks pulled out one of their best performances in what head coach Rick Tocchet called a must-win game just a few days ago.
After embarrassing losses to the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers, the Canucks looked steady and composed as they beat the NHL-leading Washington Capitals 2-1. It didn’t hurt that captain Quinn Hughes had another MVP-caliber game with two goals, the first of which was highlight-reel worthy.
Captain Quinn reporting for duty 🫡
📺: Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/f0U1vBqeA6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 26, 2025
“When he gets it, he attacks the inside. He’s small but he’s not scared to go to the interior, that’s how you score goals,” said Tocchet postgame. “That’s how you score those two goals, right to the interior. He doesn’t go outside, he goes right to the interior. That one in the first was incredible…I give him a lot of credit because that’s a big team.”
“Hughes’ goal is something we can build on. ‘Hey, look at him, he’s taking it to the interior and making a play.’ I don’t know if a lot of guys can make that backhand though, there are very few who can do that.”
While Hughes was the game’s best players, the Canucks as a team put in one of their best 6-minute efforts of the year. The Capitals are atop the league’s standings and had no regulation losses in their 10 most recent contests coming into this one.
“For the most part we started on time, played a little faster, I thought our breakouts were better, that was something we worked on yesterday. I thought a little bit of intensity from everybody, grinding out that win hopefully gives us confidence.”
The Canucks looked much more dangerous tonight than they’ve have in recent losses. Players were getting to the net and creating chances rather than deferring to low-percentage chances. When asked if he feels like his team has been deferring too much to point shots, Tocchet had a decisive answer.
“A million per cent. It’s been a struggle all year, I shouldn’t say a struggle, it’s something that we’ve talked about.”
The head coach said the team is looking at tweaking their practices to emphasis more interior offence, something the team has struggled generating this season.
This isn’t the first time the Canucks have secured a victory which felt like a massive step in the right direction. They pulled off big wins over the Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs before falling flat in their next games. This time needs to be different to stick around in the playoff race.
“We can’t let our foot off the gas. It’s something that we’ve talked about all year. It’s a confidence thing, I guess, but it’s also a responsibility from everybody to be ready and want that puck, want to be in those situations and not shy away from them.”
“It’s a nice win but we’ll practice tomorrow and get back at it…don’t get too high or too low.”
The real test comes over the next few days. They haven’t secured back-to-back wins since December 1 and have struggled to string together good performances.
“It’s massive just because of how we’ve been playing, obviously not good enough, and to come out here against a really good team and play as well as we did, that’s a really good sign. In saying that, we’ve got to find a way to bring that consistency,” said Hughes.
The Canucks play their next two games against teams outside the playoff picture. Starting a win streak would be massive for a team searching for confidence and a reason to believe.