Canucks’ defensive solidity to face another tough test against high-flying Oilers – Sportsnet.ca

VANCOUVER – Nikita Zadorov in the playoffs has looked very different than Nikita Zadorov in the regular season.

The Vancouver Canuck defenseman had a monster first-round series against the Nashville Predators. And yes, at six-foot-six and 248 pounds, he’s big enough to be a monster. But it’s the way Zadorov played that made the difference.

He led Vancouver defensemen with 24 hits and left the Z mark a couple of times on Nashville blue line ace Roman Josi. The Canucks dominated five-on-five when Zadorov was on the ice, generating 64 percent of high-danger opportunities. He contributed two goals, matching the Predators’ team production against the 29-year-old in six games, and averaged 20:20 of ice time, a workload he hadn’t achieved in any regular season game since on January 4th.

Zadorov was a healthy scratch just nine games before the Stanley Cup tournament began.

How is this possible?

“It’s just everything,” Zadorov explained. “I like the environment, I like challenges. I like spending time with the kids more and more. Those playoff wins, those good emotions you feel on the ice, they create memories. I think that’s the most important thing I can say is you just enjoy being with these guys every day and also playing super competitive hockey. You’re playing for something, right? That’s why we play hockey. . . That way, when the Stanley Cup playoffs start, we can win something.

“Every day you come to the track you feel all kinds of emotions: memories and everything. It kind of makes you happy, you know?

Zadorov seems made for playoff hockey. And so does the Canucks’ defense, which has become an underrated backbone for the team as it prepares to open a second-round matchup against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday that almost no one outside the West Coast believes. that Vancouver can win.

The Canucks stifled the Predators, allowing just 12 goals in six games, giving up just 25 shots per game and restricting Nashville to 40 high-danger opportunities at five-on-five.

And what does all this have to do with a fast and furiously good Oilers team whose formidable attack is led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the best player in the world and another top-five player?

Maybe nothing. We’re about to find out. But from the National Hockey League All-Star break to the end of the regular season three weeks ago, the Predators were actually ahead of the Oilers in scoring (3.71 goals per game to 3.62), power play percentage (27.2 to 25.5) and shots on goal (34.4 to 33.7).

Edmonton is an elite offensive team. Nashville was also headed to the playoffs.

“Those principles that we brought into the Nashville series are our principles and how we want to play,” Canuck defenseman Ian Cole said after Tuesday’s practice. “Do we make adjustments and modify little things here and there depending on who we’re playing? Yes absolutely. We can’t allow McDavid to gain speed (and) break through his neutral zone on his own and go one-on-one against a defender who is standing still. That can’t happen.

“But there are aspects of those adjustments against Nashville that will certainly apply to this series. I think there is some crossover. Nashville was a great team. We did a good job against them and hopefully we do the same (against Edmonton). But McDavid and Draisaitl, even (Zach) Hyman, I mean, they’re different animals, for sure.”

The Canucks also started the season as an offensive dynamo.

They led the NHL in scoring during the first half of the season, averaging 3.9 goals per game. But as their offense lost a full goal per game during the second half of the season due to several factors, including the Canucks’ power play and a market correction in their all-time shooting percentage, the team was forced to embrace the defensive ideals pushed by coach Rick Tocchet and his staff as a means to winning.

Vancouver transformed itself in the second half of the season into one of the best defensive teams in the league, even if its 10^th-The best goals against (2.80) did not fully reflect this. They allowed just 26.1 shots against per game after the All-Star break and generated 56 percent of scoring opportunities.

This defensive solidity is the identity the Canucks brought to Nashville, where they won all three playoff games on the road.

“We’re all on the same page,” control center Teddy Blueger said. “Obviously, we had all year to set up the system and make some adjustments. And playing together, building some chemistry that way… I think that will be a little more marked towards the end of the year. I think we did well (against Nashville). But I also think part of that is the way the series developed. “It seemed like a very cautious defensive series where we had to be patient.”

Vancouver’s defense was better than Nashville’s. And the Canucks’ defense, especially after the dynamic duo of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek, is as great as anyone’s.

Zadorov’s bottom four, Cole (6-1, 225 pounds), Tyler Myers (6-8, 229) and Carson Soucy (6-5, 208) average six-foot-five and 228 pounds. That’s a lot of reach to defend, a lot of weight to protect the front of Vancouver’s net, which the Canucks did as well against the Predators as they have all season.

“Yes, that’s fair to say,” Tocchet said. “I think all year defense has been kind of the fabric of our team: the way we play defense. But I thought they did a great job with the interior. They did a very good job protecting the high danger interior things. I thought that was probably for the best.”

Against the Predators it became clear why general manager Patrik Allvin rebuilt the Canuck defense the way he did, signing Cole and Soucy as free agents last summer and acquiring Zadorov in a November trade from Calgary.

The Vegas Golden Knights won last year’s Stanley Cup with a defense nearly identical in size, although Zadorov noted Tuesday that there are some key differences, including the zone system Vegas employs compared to the Canucks’ hybrid zone model. defensive.

But a common denominator is how hard defensemen fight to win pucks and protect the slot.

“Does size matter? Sure,” Cole said. “Longer limbs, longer legs, longer reach: all these things are important for sure. But I think you need to combine that size with battle level and desperation, otherwise. .. I mean, there are a lot of big guys in the league. But are you able to win battles with your size? Are you able to push yourself and get ahead and do the things that help you take advantage of your size? It is what we have done much better.”