The Vancouver Canucks kicked off their six-game road trip with a hard-fought win over the Ottawa Senators.
The Canucks’ first line of Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, and Keifer Sherwood combined for three goals and seven points. Sherwood had 10 hits to go along with one goal and one assist.
The group pressed on with their “next man up” mentality as everyone stepped up in the absence of J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Thatcher Demko. Quinn Hughes left the game at 7:31 in the first with a game misconduct for boarding Sens’ Josh Norris.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet felt his team handled the pressure of losing Hughes midway through the first period and that they managed the puck well throughout the game.
“That’s a lot to throw at the team and I thought we handled it well,” Tocchet said of losing Hughes mid-game. “I’m proud of the guys. We hung in there and grinded out the win.”
Sherwood felt it was a statement win and while there’s things they want to improve on, he liked how the group responded to adversity. He says his line is having success sticking to the systems and playing structured hockey.
“When you play with world-class players, it’s fun. I think we’re just playing the right way, we’re taking care of the puck, we’re forcing pucks in and getting them back, and then from there, we let their high-end IQ and playmaking take over. I think it’s just predictability, playing north and we’re supporting the puck and making plays from there,” Sherwood said.
Canucks’ forward Max Sasson played his first NHL game and got to take his first NHL solo lap before the game. Sasson joined Abbotsford call-ups Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty on the fourth line and he tallied an assist in the contest.
“I really liked his game,” Tocchet said. “To just get called up out of the blue, he seized the moment, so it was nice to see him go out there and contribute for us tonight.”
