Canucks Notebook: Cool Hands Luke Enjoys Being Back With Quinn

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Luke Schenn’s game is pretty simple – don’t get caught chasing when defending as you don’t have foot speed, and make smart plays when the puck is on your stick.

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He’s perfectly suited to be a No. 6 defender on a National Hockey League roster.

But in this iteration of the Vancouver Canucks, there is a lot of competition for that role – hello Tucker Poolman, Travis Hamonic and Kyle Burroughs – which means there are plenty of opportunities to play higher up the lineup.

That’s not really a good thing – a number 6 should still be a number 6, but here we are.

Lately, Schenn has met Quinn Hughes again. It’s a partnership that first became Hughes’ pre-rookie taste in the NHL, at the end of the 2018-19 season, Schenn’s first round in Vancouver.

And it is a couple that has worked. Hughes is back to his self-confidence and Schenn, well, the goal he scored on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators might have been off the mark, but it was a sign that he’s really enjoying playing with Hughes.

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The numbers agree: They are preventing quality shots against and creating, in return, very good on offense.

Schenn scored a goal very similar to Wednesday’s a decade ago against Boston, which drew laughter from the veteran rear.

“I think Tim Thomas was on the net so I’m really dating myself here. I guess I’m good at it once every 10 years. So the next one will come when I’m 42. ” joked on wednesday .

There haven’t been many bright lights of late for the Canucks, but there’s no question that the Hughes-Schenn partnership has been one.

NEXT GAME

Saturday

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vancouver Canucks

7 pm, Rogers Arena. TV: CBC, Sportsnet Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

Shots shots shots

“Shots, shots, shots,” was what Kevin Bieksa joked a long time ago when asked what his team had to do to get out of a losing streak. In the case of the current Canucks power play, it’s proving to be the right cure. Again.

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Since their power play struggles are a never-ending topic of conversation, the Canucks now have power play goals in three straight games and it’s surely no coincidence that their power play shooting rate is fine as well.

According to HockeyViz.com, they have exceeded more than two shot attempts per minute of power play time over the past two weeks, after making shot attempts at a rate of about two-thirds of that during the first month of the season.

Obviously, not all shots are of the same quality, but this group of forwards was always too talented to go too long without figuring out how to score goals with the man advantage.

At the moment, they are.

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