Conor Garland scored three times leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-4 overtime win in Arizona. It was Garland's first National Hockey League hattrick.
The Vancouver Canucks have reached the end of the line for the 2022-23 National Hockey League season. They closed out their schedule with a 5-4 overtime win in Arizona on Thursday night. It looked early on like the Canucks were going to blow the doors off Mullett Arena jumping out to a 4-1 first period lead. But as they've demonstrated all season, nothing comes easy for the Canucks who took their foot off the gas and allowed the home team back in the hockey game. Here are some postgame thoughts and observations:
- For a second straight season as a Canuck, Conor Garland provided plenty of hustle with a healthy dose of spins. What he hadn't produced, however, was goals. At least not enough of them for his $5 million dollar price tag. Some of that was due to his deployment lower in the line-up for much of the season and the fact the 27-year-old doesn't generate much on the power play. But on Thursday night, Garland brought his A-game against his former team. He scored twice in the first period -- once with the man-advantage and once at even-strength. And then capped his first NHL hat trick with his third of the night and 17th of the season a minute and 19 seconds into overtime. Garland circled high in the Coyotes zone, recognized he had a step on Coyotes defender JJ Moser and took the puck hard to the net before beating Karel Vejmelka with a backhand deke. Even with the three he scored against the Coyotes, Garland still finished two goals behind his total of last season meaning he has yet to reach 20 goals as a Canuck. That part of his story is disappointing. Thursday was anything but. If he's a trade chip in the off-season for a team looking to get its salary cap under control, then Conor Garland finished his time in Vancouver with a flash.
- The Canucks beat the Coyotes, but didn't play particularly well start to finish. They won the special teams battle handily, but were outscored 4-1 on the night at 5-on-5. That's because the Canucks scored twice with the man-advantage, opened the scoring with a 4-on-4 goal and then Garland scored in 3-on-3 overtime. In the second period, the Coyotes controlled 89% of the scoring chances at 5-on-5 and outshot the Canucks 7-1. On the night, the 5-on-5 scoring chances were 27-15 in Arizona's favour. Remember, this is a Coyotes team that went meekly into the off-season wining just one of its final 12 hockey games (1-8-3). If it's about the process, then the Canucks have to be honest with themselves as they assess the team performance at Mullett Arena. They may have come out on top on the scoreboard, but for much of the night they were the second best team on the ice.
- Kyle Burroughs is a fascinating player heading to the off-season. The ultimate teammate, Burroughs went down swinging on Thursday night giving up height and weight in a third period scrap with Coyotes defender Josh Brown. When the Canucks have a full complement of healthy defenders, the Langley native is clearly a depth piece at this level. But with injuries down the stretch, Burroughs managed to suit up for the final 26 games of the season. He brings next to no offense although he did pick up a pair of assists on Thursday and finished with 2+3=5 in the 48 games he played. But he plays much bigger than his listed size and after the Canucks dealt Luke Schenn at the trade deadline, Burroughs offered much of the team's toughness. He's a pending unrestricted free agent and may seek a greater opportunity elsewhere. He's earned that right and as a right-shot defensemen, he may attract outside interest. But if he's content remaining a depth piece for his hometown NHL team then the Canucks should have plenty of interest in bringing him back.
- It was good to see Quinn Hughes finish his incredible season on a high note setting up three of the five Canucks goals including the overtime winner. That brought his season totals to 7+69=76 in 78 games. With those figures, he finished solo second among NHL blueliners in assists and tied for second in points with Winnipeg's Josh Morrissey. It likely would have eaten at Hughes had he gone into the off-season without a point over the final seven games on the schedule. And that's what he faced after being held off the scoresheet for a career-high six straight prior to the game against the Coyotes. But it's impossible to keep players like Hughes down for too long and he wasted no time setting up Elias Pettersson just 3:53 into the hockey game and then added another assist on JT Miller's power play goal midway through the first. It would have been an incredible accomplishment had he managed to get to 70 assists on the season. But coming up one shy in no way detracts from what was a second-straight record setting season for the Canucks defenseman. And sometimes you have to remind yourself he's just 23-years-old. With 241 career NHL points, Hughes is tied with Kevin Bieksa for sixth in franchise scoring among defenseman and is already just 84 points out of second place on the list. It'll be fascinating to see how close he is to Mattias Ohlund's 325 points at the end of next season. Alex Edler's franchise mark of 409 is safe -- for a few more seasons.
- The Canucks finished the season 38-37-7. That yielded 83 points in the standings. No matter how you assess it, this season was a disaster as the Canucks finished nine points behind the 92 they had a year ago. Their record certainly improved under Rick Tocchet who guided the Canucks to a 10-12-4 mark picking up 44 points in the 36 games he was behind the bench. But as Bruce Boudreau mentioned on his way out the door on January 22nd, the schedule certainly softened for the new coach. As the Canucks racked up wins down the stretch, they posted a 13-5-2 record over their final 20 games, but only three of those victories were against teams that made the playoffs. And in their final 14 games, they went 8-4-2 yet only one of those wins -- a March 25th triumph in Dallas -- was against a team that qualified for the post-season. There is plenty of work ahead for the team's front office. And what is certain to be an intriguing off-season in Vancouver starts right now.