[MUSIC PLAYING] Oh, baby. Canucks Central Thursday. It's Dan Riccio and Sati Arshah here on Canucks Central in SportsNet 650. We're in the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google review sore feet. What are you waiting for? Canucks Central is for enzyme-Pacific Vancouver's premier Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep Superstore on 2nd Avenue between Canby and Maine, or at enzyme-Pacific- Chrysler.ca. Canucks and Nashville predators getting an extra day to ramp up for game three. First one in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena. And this is really dominating everything we talk about here in Vancouver. It's onto the next one. And we're having a whole two days to tee up game three. We do. And we were still digesting game two yesterday. And today we get to look forward to game three a bit more. And then tomorrow's game day. And I'm really excited because the series-- Well, game three, how many series do we see hinge on game three? A lot of them do. It's kind of the swing game, especially in a 1-1 series. Yeah, because it's a 1-1 series at the same time, it's only 2-1. Yes. And you can still come out of this weekend 2-2, no matter what happens. Often when you cite statistics like 70% of the time when the home team wins game three of a series that was tied at one apiece, well, generally, when you're taking such a large sample, yeah, I guess it can take context out of it. But-- or maybe subjectivity out of it. Because hey, here's a huge sample size that we have of NHL games through the years where this has happened. But also, are you looking at each one of those to say, well, the favorite one, game three, and then they went on to win the rest of the series? So that's maybe what I would say. But it tends to be a swing game if you look at the statistics of it all. It does. But at the same time, I think the thing I love about the playoffs is every single playoff series is an entity in and of itself, right? It lives in its own environment and biosphere. And things can happen to have affected it in really different ways. And that's why we've seen series where the Canucks have been up. Did you just say biosphere? Yeah, it is. [LAUGHTER] It is. Science sat coming out early in the day. Oh, a little bit early. Yeah. Love to see it. We got a biosphere going. It's time for the open. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to the open. Oh, that's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me. I think the ball should go into the biosphere to go to its home. It's the open on Canucks, central to the latest on your Vancouver Canucks. They are getting ready for game three. They had a full practice today in Nashville. A couple of news and notes that came out of it. We'll get to that in the roundup. But I did want to get to something that Rick Talkett mentioned, because all we've been discussing here in the last couple of days is what are the Canucks going to do? How are they going to counteract the Nashville Predators' commitment to pain and blocking more shots than the Canucks could get through on goal? Almost double as many shots as the Canucks could get through on goal. And while Rick Talkett had a pretty simple way of managing the Nashville Predators' commitment to pain, here's what he said. Yeah, it's a more, you know, more second stick type of shots. Try to look for sticks instead of, you know, around bodies. And tee it up. You know, you guys want to block and think it's going to hurt. So I wouldn't turn it out a shot for you guys. I'd be right in front of me. So, yeah, we're going to tee it up tomorrow. Is Rick Talkett going golfing? You're still in the playoffs. Golf season hasn't started yet for you guys. You know, he's like, oh, you guys want pain? We'll give you pain, tee it up. Remember when you were younger and you used to, like, get into, like, fights with your older cousins or older siblings? My older brother, yes. And, like, and you thought you could hang with them a little bit. They always, like, pulled a punch a little bit. And then you asked me, like, no, I can take it. I can take it. And then they gave it to you. And you're like, no, I don't want it again, right? Never worked out well for me, to be quite honest. I think that's what Rick is saying here. He's like, oh, they want the pain? We'll give it to them, you know? And there's a lot of shots, and he's right. Like, a lot of shots with, like, snap shots, right? Like, how often do you see a Preds player writing in pain? Not often, right? It was the one time McDonough got really felled by a shot. Yeah, that's the one, right? Outside of that, it wasn't like guys were, you know, getting felled or looked like they were in a ton of pain because a lot of the stuff was deflected by sticks, hitting their skates. Like, it wasn't the hardest shots going through, right? So, and how often do we look at the game and, you know, turn to each other and be like, why aren't they bombing it? Yeah. You have a chance to bomb it. Like, what are you waiting for? Hey, why are you passing up a shot where you can bomb it to a less dangerous shot by the goal line, essentially? Tyler Myers, Nikita Zadora, of Carson Susie. Like, all right, you guys have the instructions from the coach. Tie it up when you have the opportunity. Tie it up now. There is, I like the message, but also, there is the, hey, still you can block a shot and turn it into offense. If the bounce, the rebound, off the block shot, goes in a certain direction and turns the puck the other way. Now, all of a sudden, you're having to play defense quickly in transition. So, I think that's partly the message from Rick Talkett, but also there is, in actuality, there's probably a little bit more nuance to it from the coach. Yeah, for sure, right? Yes. And I don't think they were just saying go out there and, you know, close your eyes and tee it up and let it go and let loose, right? Like, I don't think that's what they're looking at exactly, but a lot of it does also come down to being more decisive and getting harder shots on goal, perhaps, you know? And, you know, how many times have we seen the past couple of games where even when they shot the puck, like, you know, we were promoting the fact that, yeah, they have a lot of volume, but there's a reason why only 18 of their 84 shot attempts got on net. Yeah. And it wasn't just because the preds were willing to sacrifice and getting in front of shots. There was a lot of missed shots by the Canucks, rushed shots by the Canucks, and bad decisions with the types of shots they were taking. So I do think that they can be a lot, I wouldn't say more selective 'cause you want them to be aggressive, but they can be a lot smarter about how they're shooting the puck, too. And they can be smarter with their positioning in the offensive zone. Yes. We're talking, I mentioned that to a couple of questions from me and McIntyre, where that was a big point of emphasis. And essentially, I, Max said, you know, isn't it on your guys, too, to find a way to get position instead of just, you know, allowing the Predators players to front them in the defensive zone? And Taka just said, "Bingo." Yeah. And kind of smiled and said, "You should coach." Yeah. (laughs) Do I, Max? Yeah, well, hey, I'm not surprised 'cause I'm, you know, very often is on point, but that's exactly what has to happen. Ooh, this is... (laughs) Oh, this is so good. I have no idea if we were still going out on air while that was happening. I think we're back now. We were? Were we? No, we weren't. We're back on air now. Yeah, we had a power outage. (laughs) And he got really dark in here. You should have seen Richel's eyes. (laughs) What just happened? Man, I'm afraid of the dark. I don't know about you guys. Are you? No. Okay. (laughs) I mean, it depends. Not every situation in the dark is created equal. No, that's true. That's true. You know? That's true. Sometimes it can be quite right. It can be creepy. Yeah, but if you don't know what's going on, sometimes it can be creepy. You're sometimes walking around the streets of Vancouver in the dark. It's, you know, it can be a little bit sketchy. It can be nowadays it's, yeah. I mean, is that why you don't like camping? (laughs) Definitely. That's the reason. Definitely one of the reasons. Yes. Definitely one of the reasons. Yeah, so where were we? We were talking about bombing the way. Getting body position. Body position. You know, and yes, Ian being on point with his question, but, and again, as we kind of discussed yesterday, for as much of the connects did a lot of good things, they did, right? But it's not like they were perfect. And there were a lot of things they could fine tune. And it wasn't as simple as, yeah, they had 84 shot attempts. They deserved to win the game. And perhaps you played that game 10 times. You might win it seven times. I didn't believe it was nine times out of 10. Seven, maybe eight, sure. But there were things you could have done better. And one of them was getting inside a lot more. Yeah. And it was interesting the comparisons he was drawing reached. To Zach Hyman with the, with the Edmonton Oilers referencing, you know, some of what the Oilers are able to do, that backdoor pass. So can you get your net front guy to flare out a little bit sometimes and create an angle, get into a lane that may be the fronting player isn't in. Now you got to time these things well, obviously. And, and so that, you know, you're, they're having to react to what you are doing. And, but finding different ways, different angles to attack the net is something I think is very important because far too often it just, the puck got to the top of the zone and they were just throwing it away, you know, throwing it into a sea of bodies and hoping for the best. And, you know, of course, as the game went on, that just got incredibly frustrating. Yeah. And they were playing a little frustrated two of the times, you know, and then you only get frustrated. You just try to force your way through. And there's a lot of forcing the issue for a lot of guys. But the comparison with Zach Hyman is interesting, you know, I mentioned this yesterday with Woodley. There was, you know, the one play where Miller got the tip in the slot and it ended up being coming in off the post. It took a couple of deflections before it hit the post. But, you know, if you're able to get underneath, if you're able to create space in a different area, then that's how you are going to adjust to what the predators are doing. And that's seemingly what the Canucks are going to try and do some of. We'll see if it works out in execution. And the other obvious thing that they can do to go along with teeing it up is to move the puck a little bit quicker in the offensive zone, right? Sometimes when the Canucks are in the ozone, they do create a lot of zone time. And this is the power play as well that we'll get to. But they tend to not be able, well, they tend to not move the puck quickly enough and create enough space where because they're moving the puck quickly, the defensive players aren't able to get into position. You know, we talked about this with the way that they will corral the puck before shooting or trying to cock their rister before they get it off it. Like those things, you got to move the puck quickly in order to get the defending players out of position or pull the defending players out of position a little bit easier than they were in game two. It's being too deliberate. And it's something the coach keeps talking about. And he mentioned being robotic at times or too mechanical at times. And when you're looking for that perfect play, you may hesitate an extra beat. And when you do that extra beat of hesitation, that's when you can't get that space open to open up for you. And you've got to get things moving a lot faster. And I do think a lot of it comes down to confidence too. You know, like getting into a flow again. And if we talk about confidence, it kind of comes back to one guy we talked about it quite a bit as well, the last little bit. But I think even JT, last game for instance, like his passing was off. So as much as we talked about Patterson for instance, I thought Hughes was slightly off as well, you know? And I don't think the sharpness was quite there fully. But it's not that like it's that far away. Like we had the discussion about Patterson even, right? Like the last couple of games, it's not like he's been AWOL, right? It's not like you haven't noticed him. It's not like he's not getting chances. He could have easily or should have easily had a couple of goals through the first couple of games. And if he does, there's a completely different discussion around his performance potentially, right? So it's not like it's that far off, but it's still things you can do so much better than you have so far. But I think a lot of that does come down to confidence still. - I do want to get in on Patterson because apparently I'm the biggest Patterson hater in the city now, because a couple of days in a row I put out tweets. - Did you get criticized for it? - Yeah, people are like, man, reach is just beating the same drum every single day on on Elias Patterson. Well, because it's rather obvious the Canucks need this guy to get going, right? Even going back into the season over his last 13 games, I think he's only got five points. - Yeah. - It's not good enough, right? It's not good enough out of your top player. He's only got one goal in those 13 games. And you're seeing it with the way that it's affecting his play and certainly affected his defensive play at times in game two, but also not being able to convert on empty nets or trying to find the perfect play. Those are some of the things I didn't like. But the Canucks made a switch on the power play today. In practice, Elias Lindholm getting back on power play one instead of Connor Garland. Now this is something I thought we would have seen a long time ago. One of Rick Tockett's explanations today is that he feels Lindholm is shooting the puck a lot better lately. So maybe it was to do with the injury, Lindholm, we knew it was a wrist injury that he was dealing with. Maybe he just couldn't shoot the puck the way that he wanted to and that was one of the reasons they moved him off of power play one. Now that that's a little bit better and in a better situation, they've put him back on to power play one and they liked the way he can tip the puck as well. So that's the solution they're looking for. They're all for six in the series. Of course, it could look a lot different if they converted on some of the glorious opportunities they created in the last game. But I mean, we can look for any situation or solution possible with the power play. And for me, it simply comes down to Elias Patterson. Like if he's going, then the power play will start to get going. If he continues to play in the manner that he has lately, then we're never going to see the power play hit the heights that it did early in the season when Hughes, Miller and Patterson were leading the league in points through like mid November, right? Like that's just, the power play has to get going to that. It doesn't have to get going to that level in order for this team to have success. But if you're ever going to see it reach a peak again like that or close to that, it needs Elias Patterson to be playing a lot better than he has been lately. - Yeah, you're not going to be a 26, 27% efficiency power play without Elias Patterson being a huge part of that. The hope is it's coming, right? And that it does get, again, like he missed that wide open net. It's not like he's not getting that chance, right? Like if he scores it again, it's a different discussion. The thing is, it needs to happen soon, you know, 'cause you don't have infinite time in the postseason, right? That you don't, you only have so much time. - It's like that Justin Timberlake movie where he's got the timer on his hand. - It's counting down. And every game you lose, that time going down. But you can't like steal time from somebody else. - No, it's not that easy. You can't just take a game. - You can't earn your more time, you know? - Yeah, you can't trade a loss for a win, you know? That doesn't work that way. You can't trade, the least you're going to lose a series anyways, can we take the one win you have? We'll give you the loss. We'll give you a second round pick. - No, you gotta earn it yourself somehow. You gotta earn that extra time. - Exactly. So I think there's only so much time you have. So obviously he has to get going. Now, what I do think is interesting though, 'cause I've asked around about Pedersen two, 'cause a lot of people are wondering, like hey, and we're wondering what's going on? What's the reason behind his struggles? And I don't think it's injury related, you know? And yeah, I'm not saying he's not banged up. I'm not saying any player that's through the regular season having played 82 games like Pedersen did doesn't have something yielding them. - There's been a lot of speculation for that though. - But yeah, from my understanding is there's nothing severe hampering him. And if there was, he probably wouldn't have played that last game he wouldn't pick. - Yeah. - So not to say he's not dealing with anything, but not to the point where he's debilitating or really the reason why he can't be performing. The organization still fully believes in Elias Pedersen. And I think the sentiment mostly is that he's trying to do too much. And he's trying to elevate in the playoffs where it's like it's not that simple. You're trying to force it a little bit. And I think the message to him is, you know, instead of trying to ride this emotional wave, you gotta be calm through all this. And I think that's something that, you know, they're trying to work through with him and try to get him to kind of feel better. I mean, I'm not saying he's feel better. Maybe that's a bad way of phrasing it. But I think internally it's, they still have a lot of belief in the player and think that he's pressing. And once he kind of relaxes a bit, it's all gonna kind of flow for him. - Yeah, it's similar to an amateur golfer's life. You've got a four footer for birdie or par. Good luck. You're not making it. Like read it for, you know, three minutes. You're gonna try and find every little thing that is going to happen with that putt. And then you're gonna pull it left. You tried so hard. But if you're making that four foot putt for like triple bogey or a quad, like you're one hand behind the back, you can do whatever you want. That putt is going in. - Yeah, you're feeling it. - It is so inconsequential to you at that point that you're just like, it's in and it's easier. Now, not to say that you need to be laid back like that if you're Elias Peterson, but there is an element to me of wanting it too bad or too much. And sure, maybe that sounds like a Homer-ish take, but I know guys like some of the spit and chicklets guys, I think it was Ryan Whitney mentioned, you know, he looks disinterested. I mean, that couldn't be further from what I feel of Elias Peterson's game right now. It's that, you know, you see the way his body language is after he misses that open net. And what I don't like is like he wants it so bad and that miss affects him beyond it. And that's what you can't have happen to you, especially in a playoff series. - Yeah, I mean, the confidence thing can snowball, right? As much as you can, the confidence can grow quickly and all of a sudden next thing you know, you feel great about things can snowball on you as well. And it's not to make it an excuse. It's more about, hey, this is what's happening. And the reality is these are things you have to learn to overcome, you know, the things you have to, handle a lot better than you have so far. Part of it probably is you want to prove to everybody that you're worth the contract you got. But I do agree, like even on the best of days, as Peterson looked like a guy who body language wise has this, you know, real vigor about him at all times, no, that's not like, I don't even think when he's playing at his absolute best, he looks like a player body language wise, like on the bench or whatever, or skating off, that you'd say, you know, has a lot of like energy to it. Like, so I don't think there's any like, I think that's a snare. - It's honestly, and I'm like this too. It's a classic sports fandom take where some guys just wear their heart on their sleeve and you can feel their emotion like running through the TV or when you're with them in the building and watching them play. JT Miller is very much like that, but because Peterson isn't like that, doesn't mean they don't want the same things. - Yeah, and I mean, if he wasn't involved, he wouldn't be in dangerous areas, almost scoring, right? And generating, and yeah, he made mistakes that led to goals as well and things that he has to do better, but yeah. - We pointed out like yesterday he shied away from a contact a little bit on that first Nashville goal before, you know, it creates towards the bavillier tip. So, you know, there's definitely a lot of things Peterson can do well, but ultimately, the power play has the chance to tilt this series heavily in the favor of the Vancouver Canucks. It hasn't gotten going yet. They had their opportunities, but I'm not sure putting Lindholm there or anybody else there is going to fix it in the way that, you know, Alias Peterson coming out of his slump would. - Although, I do think having Lindholm there as a legitimate shooting threat is an improvement on Garland. And I think Garland did really well digging some pucks out and bringing some energy and did some positive things on the power play, but his shot was never a threat and they never covered him. Like, you saw how power play PK's left him alone. It was oftentimes four on four and they just let, you know, Garland kind of stay off to the side. - Yeah, to a lesser extent, he's like a very poor man's version of Mitch Marner on the power play, where like your shot isn't really threatening to a team, but your playmaking ability has to be. And, you know, there's only so many situations where Garland's going to get enough time on the puck in a power play situation when guys like Hughes and Peterson and JT are there that he's going to have the opportunity to use his best skill set, which is his playmaking ability. - Yeah. - So I think that's part of it. And Lin Holm, if the shot gets going, then that could absolutely help the Canucks on the power play. So we'll see how that develops going into game three with the slight adjustment. The Canucks Central Roundup. Thatcher Demko, traveling with the Canucks to Nashville. Does this say anything to you? - I don't know if this specifically says anything. I do think, like Dollywall mentioned today, that all hope is not lost on Demko for the rest of the playoffs, that he's gone for sure, 'cause, you know, you know, we spoke too quickly yesterday about how maybe it's unlikely he's back in the second round, maybe Western Conference Final, but maybe sometime in the second round, but we don't know, maybe longer, who knows, right? And there was more skepticism elsewhere about what his status might be for the rest of the playoffs. But I checked in after I heard what Dollywall reported too, and very much the same, that there was a chance he could be back sometime in the second round. Like they haven't, that door hasn't closed. - Yeah. - Now, you still have to beat the national predators, right? Like before we even get ahead of ourselves talking about, you know, Demko coming back for round two, I don't think at the end of round one, that's gonna happen. And essentially, like we said, Tock had admitted that and said week to week at this stage, essentially puts him out of the first round, but sometime in the second round, maybe not game one or two, you could see Demko back if the Canucks can get past Nashville. So I do think maybe that in and of itself, I'm not sure whether it's a good sign or not. What I do think today is probably a better news day, if you're hopeful for a long run, that if the Canucks get past Nashville, there is an opportunity that you can have Demko back. - Game three, just to ballpark it, as far as timeline-wise goes. Game three of a second round series would come sometime around mid-May. If this series goes the distance, it would end May 5th. So you think about playing it out, you get a games one and two done, probably rounds May 10th, I would say, to ballpark it. So yeah, you're looking at mid-May for that sort of a timeline, but best news of the day, Thatcher, Demko, not all hope lost on him returning some point in the second round. Canucks show the same lineup in practice today, Myers back from illness, that was actually a difference. So not completely the same lineup. But as far as same lineup goes, the same forward lines in practice, no difference with how they went out. And I'm not overly surprised. I mean, for as much as the lines are, the way they are going through line rushes, the players that are playing the least for the Canucks right now are Nils Hoaglander, Phil Dijazep and Sam Lafferty. - Yeah, and I think the biggest issue there is Hoaglander. - Yeah. - Because of the impact he can have on the team, like PDG we know. - Well, what a big regular season performer he was for this team. - Yeah, and they need him. And like we talked about, if this team is going to have success beyond first round two or even get through this round, they're gonna need to have some pop. It can't just be Pederson Miller, right? It can't just be those guys and Pederson's thoughts get going, obviously. But you kinda need to get that guy going. And the other night, he played under nine minutes. And it doesn't take much for the coach to lose confidence in you. And especially if you don't force the issue, right? I think that's gotta keep the closest eye on 'cause there's at least a level of trust in PDG in certain levels of things to do. If Hoaglander is not gonna produce and he's not gonna be effective and he's not gonna have the same level of trust, I think if you're Hoaglander, you need a big game three. - And they continue to move Pederson through the lineup in-game into different situations. So if you get Hoaglander going again, maybe you don't have to do that as much. It could be one thing that the Canucks could benefit from, for sure. Besser left practice after being hit with a shot, but Rick Talkett didn't believe it was an issue of any kind when he spoke to media after practice. All right, we're gonna get to Cheech. John Garrett is gonna join us his take on the playoffs to this point and more. Canucks playoff coverage on Sports at 650 is brought to you by Merritt Kitchens, Canadian-made beauty, strength and craftsmanship. Find an authorized kitchen designer near you today at Merritt Kitchens.com. Your tailored kitchen awaits. You are listening to Canucks Central. - Hey, it's Mike Alford and Jason Bruff. Join us for Alford and Bruff in the morning, weekdays for 6 to 9 a.m. on Sports then 650. - Or on demand anytime through your favorite podcast app.
