Canucks Player Grades: Who moved meter, who didn’t against Canadiens

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Nikita Tolopilo knows about the long road to The Show.

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“You don’t need to find motivation,” the towering Vancouver Canucks goaltender said of leaving home in Minsk at age 15 to pursue his dream. “NHL is the best league in the world. I’ve been thinking about this since I was a kid and watching highlights.

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“It’s tough to get here. They just don’t give it to you.“

The Canucks gave the undrafted Belarus native a two-year contract extension in the offseason because the 6-foot-6 stopper was an intriguing work in progress. Add the summer trade departure of Arturs Silovs, and starter Thatcher Demko succumbing to lower-body in injury Saturday in Toronto, and the curiosity about Tolopilo suddenly became a reality.

On Monday in Montreal, the recalled Tolopilo was under siege early and often but remained calm, square to pucks, and full to resolve before a third-period push by the Canadiens erased a 3-3 deadlock for a 6-3 victory. Tolopilo finished with 35 saves as the Canucks’ losing streak stretched to seven games.

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The high-octane Canadiens played as advertised.

They turned on pucks quickly. They were creative off the rush with quick cross-ice feeds and no-look passes. They bolted through the neutral zone and forced Tolopilo to be resilient by piling up an early 8-1 shot advantage that drew to 27-14 after two periods.

Tolopilo had to have his head on a swivel because the Canadiens were adept at executing precise passes to spring odd-man rushes and get to the net for a pair of screened goals. The quick-strike Habs put the game away early in the third period.

Just 29 seconds into the frame, a quick transition resulted in Mike Matheson’s wrister from the high slot getting by Elias Pettersson and finding the short side on a screened Tolopilo. And 38 seconds later, Jurag Slafkovsky made it 5-3. Tolopilo then looked fatigued as a puck went through him.

Game over.

“He was really strong early,” Canucks head coach Adam Foote said of Tolopilo. “It was just such a fast game for him with the pace and a couple (of goals) he might want back.

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“We weathered the storm early and were able to make it 3-3, but in the third, we had mistakes and gave them a lot of momentum. We can’t have those against a potent team like that. We have to make sure we don’t over-backcheck.

“Our plan was not to lose it (puck) at their blueline and we did that early. We had four turnovers at their blueline, or just inside the blueline, and once we started to get pucks below we had some success. We were right there and when we made them defend, we had a lot of good things happen.

“Two quick mistakes in the third. It’s hard to come back from that.”

Sherwood setback sends shock

The first impulse, of course, is to second guess.

When it was revealed Monday morning that Kiefer Sherwood is nursing an injury that could have the Canucks’ hardest hitter, top point producer, most valuable player, and top trade asset sidelined for several weeks, the questioned beckoned:

Why wasn’t the unrestricted free agent moved sooner? After all, his full-throttle, bump-in-the-night bravado is impressive but also invites injury. And the Canucks are in the NHL cellar, so no urgency to retain anybody for a playoff push that faded away long ago.

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Management is playing the waiting game with Sherwood and holding out for a first-round draft pick, or perhaps a second-rounder and prime prospect, to help trigger the franchise transition to a rebuild. Will this setback cool trade interest, or can Sherwood return to form to satisfy bidders? He’s pretty durable.

The very nature in which the fiery right winger goes about his business to make life miserable for opponents — second overall in hits with 210 and leading his club with 17 goals and 23 points — has several suitors seeking his services as not only a playoff rental, but to extend the undrafted and undaunted fireball.

“He’s trying to go through something and my gut is it’s going to be a week to three weeks probably,” said Canucks head coach Adam Foote. “It doesn’t look promising.”

Added Evander Kane: “We can’t start the third period like that and get scored on the first two shifts to get behind the eight-ball, when we did a good job of hanging around in the first two periods.”

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Karate-kick Garland makes return

Conor Garland returned after missing five games and his speed and creativity were true to form.

The winger, who suffered a suspected head injury after being slew-footed in a Dec. 30 matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers, was a spark to help get his club’s game to another level until the third period.

His leadership was obvious and his karate-kick on a defender’s stick to gain offensive-zone entry will make the highlight reels. Garland was a figure skater in his youth and it showed. It came in handy.

REPORT CARDS

Jake DeBrusk (C-)

First-line deployment but was hard to find. Two third-period shots.

Elias Pettersson (C+)

Four shots, five attempts. Scored early. Nine goals in last 19 games.

Linus Karlsson (C)

Nice wall work and grind to do the dirty work on Pettersson goal.

Conor Garland (C+)

Almost scored. Five shot attempts. Creative. Karate kick zone entry.

David Kämpf (C-)

If you’re not defending well, do something else. Won 6 of 10 draws.

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Brock Boeser (C)

Goal funk at 20 games. O-zone minor. Three shots, seven attempts.

Liam Öhgren (C)

Stride allowed a stronger forecheck. Strength for good wall work.

Max Sasson (C+)

Used speed off rush to get into scoring position for O’Connor feed.

Drew O’Connor (C+)

Barged through two defenders, set up Sasson goal to make it 3-3.

Evander Kane (C)

Had four give-aways but good net presence for his rebound goal.

Aatu Räty (C)

Sped into slot for Grade A and rebound for Kane snipe. Four hits.

Nils Höglander (C)

Applied pressure on forecheck to start the Kane goal sequence.

Tom Willander (C)

Took hits to exit puck, jumped up, but late in retreat on third goal.

Filip Hronek (C+)

Three shots, six attempts. Smart shot to force rebound on opening goal.

Marcus Pettersson (C)

Paired with recalled Mancini, had one shot, two giveaways, three blocks.

Victor Mancini (C)

Tempo test for blueliner to keep pace. Two shot attempts, one block.

Pierre Olivier-Joseph (C-)

In third pairing and impact was minimal. Getting pucks out a challenge.

Tyler Myers (C)

Two shots, five attempts when jumped into play, played with Joseph.

Nikita Tolopilo (C+)

In shot siege early, often. Hung in. Took screened shot finally beat him.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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