Canucks Week Ahead: Discipline key in crucial Rogers run of home games

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There’s been a lot of talk about how far the Vancouver Canucks’ goaltending has carried them this season.

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And rightly so. Thatcher Demko, in particular, gives his team a chance to win just about every night.

But a smaller item bears notice as well: The Canucks have become a much more disciplined club.

Since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach on Dec. 5, the Canucks have taken the third fewest penalties in the National Hockey League (105) and have the second-best penalty differential in the NHL (+22).

You may recall how their historically bad penalty killing was hurting them night in, night out — the Canucks still have the league’s worst PK rate at 70.9 per cent. Boudreau’s predecessor Travis Green regularly lamented his team’s indiscipline from him.

Well, somehow they’ve gotten better discipline-wise.

NEXT GAME

tonight

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Washington Capitals vs. Vancouver Canucks

7 p.m., PT, Roger’s Arena. TV: Sportsnet. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

And it’s yet another reason they find themselves in a playoff chase.

Here’s a look at the week to eat:

The story

The trade deadline is in just over a week’s time. The Canucks are in the midst of a seven-game homestand.

They opened this crucial window with a win on Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens. Tonight they host the Washington Capitals.

After tonight’s game, they play five games in eight nights. There are winnable games in that stretch — two opponents are coming in off back-to-backs — and realistically, to keep pace, the Canucks need to win five of the seven games on this homestand to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff chase, even if rivals like Vegas and Dallas are dealing with injuries.

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The opponents

After tonight’s home game vs. Washington, the Canucks host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Tampa are two-time Stanley Cup champions for good reason, but they’ll also be coming in tired, having played in Edmonton on Saturday night. Tampa’s No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is a perennial Vezina contender as the NHL’s best goalie, but there’s a good chance the Canucks won’t have to face him.

On Tuesday, the Canucks host the New Jersey Devils, who made the Canucks look silly last week. The Canucks were playing their second game in two nights, came out flat and never recovered. They’ll want to do a lot better this time around against a team that has underwhelmed this season.

Thursday is another weak opponent in the Detroit Red Wings. They’ve got some fun young players in Mo Seider and Lucas Raymond, but overall they give up too many goals. The game will also mark the first return to Vancouver for former defensemen Troy Stecher — ownership declined to re-sign him after the 2019-20 season — and Olli Juolevi, who was traded to Florida for Juho Lammikko before the season and has since moved on waivers to Detroit.

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The Canucks then have a two-games-in-two-nights stint on the following weekend, but we’ll leave that discussion for next week.

stock-rising

Elijah Pettersson: Aside from JT Miller’s offensive exploits, the Canucks’ penalty kill is slowly improving. Since getting blown out 7-4 by the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 19, the Canucks have killed off 14 of 16 power plays. Part of their improved performance is Elias Pettersson, who has become a regular in the Canucks’ PK rotation. He started killing penalties when Boudreau took over as head coach in December and in the 17-plus minutes he’s spent as a penalty killer, the opposition has yet to score.

falling stock

Jaro Halak: Will the backup goalie play again this season? He’s never played this little and has posted the worst save percentage of his career from him. Even at age 36 and the realities aging brings to any player or goalie, he can’t be happy with how little he’s playing. Plenty have speculated if he’d waive his no-movement clause, perhaps it’s better to ask if he’d ask for a trade?

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Question of the week

“Who’s going to play top-right defense minutes if Tyler Myers is traded? They just don’t have the horses for a move like this in my opinion.” — Geordie D, Toronto

A lot happens when Tyler Myers, nicknamed by some the “Chaos Giraffe,” is on the ice.

It was well known when he was signed by the Canucks in the summer of 2019 that he shouldn’t be looked at as a defensive dynamo.

And much of his utility relies on his team getting the puck up the ice, out of the offensive zone.

The opposition, with Myers on the ice, has generally spent more zone time in the Canucks’ end of the rink than the Canucks have spent in their opponents’ zone — an observation that would hold true without even having to resort to data-tracking websites like Natural Stat Trick.

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This season, though, has been a little different for Myers’ ice time in one specific way: Canucks goalies are playing lights out when he’s on the ice and as a result the Canucks have scored more while No. 57 has been in the mix.

Indeed, he’s five per cent better than his average teammate in how goals for and against have split over the season.

So if it seems like Myers is playing better this season, like so many other things in 2021-22 it’s really just best to credit Demko.

And so worrying about “who will replace Myers” is looking at it the wrong way. The Canucks’ defensive record as a whole hasn’t been good enough, so the question really is, “how can this defense be made better?”

If that means trading Myers — and teams have called — there you are. This team is in a playoff chase because of outstanding goaltending all season and, of late, some very timely goal scoring. Don’t credit its defensive play, and improving the defense is a clear priority for Canucks management.

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