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Rick Tocchet has made remarkably few changes to his lineup in the playoffs. A tweak here, a move there, but that’s about it.
With the exception of starting Arturs Silovs over Casey DeSmith, the Vancouver Canucks head coach hasn’t made a bold move with his lineup prior to today. He hasn’t had to.
It’s been a patient approach from Tocchet, and it’s been successful. But he’s throwing a different look at the Edmonton Oilers tonight.
Vancouver’s lineup looks a lot different heading into Game 5 than it did two nights ago in Edmonton.
Four players are entering the lineup, in Carson Soucy, Nils Höglander, Vasily Podkolzin, and Phil Di Giuseppe, while Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Linus Karlsson, and Noah Juulsen are expected to sit as healthy scratches.
The biggest change involves Pettersson moving to Elias Lindholm’s wing, alongside Höglander. Teddy Blueger, meanwhile, is being reunited with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua.
It gives the Canucks a more aggressive look, and that’s by design.
“I think being at home, you can throw a couple of different looks. So we’ll do that tonight, with some different looks,” Tocchet told reporters today.
“Puck possession and forecheck is something we’ve talked about where we have to improve on. Maybe a couple of changes in here that can help it… There are plays there to be made, we’re not making them. And I think we got to be a little more aggressive sometimes when we have those plays.”
After being a healthy scratch for the past two games, Höglander is getting another chance, but Tocchet wants to see changes to his game. The 23-year-old scored 24 goals in the regular season but is still searching for his first in these playoffs.
“Hoggy is obviously at his best when he’s forechecking and being a pest out there,” Tocchet said.
“He’s at his best when he takes pucks to the net. I told him today, unless somebody’s wide open, I want you taking the puck to the net. He’s deferring too much, and that’s not Hoggy.”
He wants Podkolzin, who is making his playoff debut, to do the same.
“If he can be first on the forecheck, get in on some people, which we need, I think that’s why with those two guys, they can supply that for us.”
There must be a temptation to take a defensive stance against Edmonton’s offensive attack, but this new-look lineup seems less passive. Time will tell if it’s the right approach, but as Tocchet said yesterday, he’s not afraid to make a big decision.
Players like Mikheyev and Lafferty were the safe options. Throwing three young players into the fire like Podkolzin (22), Höglander (23) and Nils Åman (24) — well that takes more courage.
“I’m not scared,” Tocchet said yesterday. “If we feel the heat, I got no problem at all… You gotta swing the bat. You can’t play safe. If you want to win, you gotta go for it.”