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Does Rick Tocchet have any tricks up his sleeve for Game 7?
The Vancouver Canucks practiced at Rogers Arena this afternoon, ahead of the biggest game to take place in that building since 2011.
J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Tyler Myers were absent, needing “maintenance” according to the Canucks head coach. But the rest of the team did skate in lines, allowing us to read into some potential changes for tomorrow night — though they may not be set in stone.
Happy Game 7 eve pic.twitter.com/hLl6K1y9Bx
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) May 19, 2024
The most obvious change was Elias Lindholm being reunited with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua. That trio had been broken up the past two games, as Elias Pettersson moved to Lindholm’s wing with Nils Höglander on the other side.
“I like that line,” Tocchet said of Lindholm playing with Garland and Joshua. “We’re at home, a little matchup here and there, whether I stick with it, I’m not quite sure. I’ll talk to the coaches. Just some things that might help us.”
Another line that seems to be formed is the fourth line, which saw Teddy Blueger between Nils Åman and Phil Di Giuseppe.
Pius Suter’s usual linemates (Miller and Boeser) were both absent, but he skated with Höglander and Sam Lafferty. Was that because Höglander and Lafferty are placeholders for Boeser and Miller, and are destined to be healthy scratches? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
Höglander scored his first goal of the playoffs in Game 6, but only saw 11:10 of ice time. Lafferty hasn’t suited up since Game 4.
As for Pettersson, he was skating primarily with Ilya Mikheyev and Vasily Podkolzin. Tocchet confirmed that Mikheyev, who missed the past two games and reportedly had been dealing with an injury, is healthy enough to play.
And if you’re wondering about Thatcher Demko’s status, Tocchet pranked the media during his press conference, saying the All-Star goalie would play. He was joking.
Safe to say Arturs Silovs will be in net.
Pettersson seemed to be skating with Mikheyev and Podkolzin/Karlsson
Suter’s linemates weren’t there, but he skated with Hoglander and Lafferty (two healthy scratches?)
Blueger was skating with Aman and PDG
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) May 19, 2024
“Confidence. It’s all about confidence,” said about the mindset heading into Game 7. “Believe in what you’re doing as an individual and as a team.”
As for the game plan against the Oilers, it doesn’t sound like there’ll be a drastic shift.
“We know how they want to play. They know how we want to play. Really, it comes down to execution.”