“I have faith in myself,” the 31-year-old said during his postgame press conference. “And I speak honestly with you guys, whether it’s good or bad. I just really didn’t like my game the other night and I thought that transitioned into being the reason we got scored on late in the game. So, I mean, I was just honestly evaluating myself.”
And looking to make amends.
“Yesterday and today, I was really focused and just thought, as a team, we all played a solid hockey game today,” Miller said.
Did they ever, especially in the final two periods, when they outshot the not-so-high-flying Oilers 24-12 and outscored them 2-0.
“Almost every single guy gave us everything they had,” Tocchet said. “They were resilient. I thought they were terrific. They really came to play.
“It was obviously one of our best games of the playoffs.”
The same could be said of Miller.
At no point did Tocchet feel that his veteran center would have any mental hangover for his part in the last-minute goal by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in Game 5. He was confident Miller would rebound.
He was right.
“I’ve known J.T. for a year and a half now, and he obviously wears his heart on his sleeve,” Tocchet said. “And he’ll tell you when he [stinks] he [stinks]. That’s what I love about him. And there haven’t been many [awful] games from him.
“I mean, he’s been a monster for me since I’ve been here from Day One. That was a monster effort.”
One that now has the Canucks one victory away from the Western Conference Final. They’ll attempt to punch their ticket to the third round with a win at Edmonton in Game 6 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, TVAS, SN).
In their quest to do just that, the Canucks should be buoyed by the performance by forward Elias Pettersson, who broke out of his Stanley Cup Playoff funk with an impressive performance.
The 25-year-old has looked lost at times during the postseason with four points (one goal, three assists) in the previous 10 games. But with the crowd chanting “Let’s go Petey” almost every time he stepped onto the ice in the first period, Pettersson looked more like the dynamic presence who had 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) during the regular season, registering three shots on goal and assisting on Miller’s winner Thursday.
“It’s so encouraging to have the fans behind you,” Pettersson said. “I’ve always had that. But to hear them chant my name makes me want to work even harder for them.”
Especially if it helps push Vancouver into the third round.
