Dakota Joshua and Sheldon Dries scored goals 34 seconds apart in the third period as the Vancouver Canucks battled back from two one-goal deficits to defeat Chicago 5-2 and give Rick Tocchet a win in his first game as Vancouver’s head coach.
“It felt a little different having a new coach back there,” said Joshua, who collected his seventh goal of the season plus fought Chicago’s Connor Murphy in the first period. “It was everybody pulling together, wanting to take a step in the right direction.
“We seemed to all be on the same page for most of the night. We’ll be looking to follow up that performance tomorrow [in Seattle].”
There was a mixture of boos and cheers when Tocchet was introduced to the crowd during the first period. The game was just 3:30 old when a fan threw a Canucks jersey on the ice.
The Canucks outshot Chicago 48-14 and failed to score on five power-play chances.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored twice for the Canucks (19-25-3) who snapped a three-game losing streak. Elias Pettersson had two assists, giving him six goals and 22 assists in the last 16 games. Bo Horvat also scored shorthanded into an empty net at 18:34, matching a career high of 31 goals in a season.
“The players bought in,” said Tocchet, whose last coaching job was with the Arizona Coyotes from 2017 to 2021. “There’s been some tough circumstances the last few days.
“There was a lot of emotions and head spinning. I threw some stuff at them today, we had longer meetings than I like, too. For them to take it in and play good, I commend the players.”
WATCH | Dries leads Vancouver past Chicago:
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Sheldon Dries puts his stick between his legs and fires in a rebound while falling in Vancouver’s 5-2 victory over Chicago. Rick Tocchet picks up a win in his debut as head coach for the Canucks.
Patrick Kane and Sam Lafferty scored for Chicago (14-28-4) who lost their second consecutive game.
Vancouver goaltender Collin Delia stopped 12 shots.
Petr Mrazek made 43 saves for Chicago.
The Canucks go-ahead goal came just seconds after Kane whiffed on a good scoring chance in the Canuck end.
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Defenceman Quinn Hughes sent the puck up the ice. Brock Boeser tried to bank a shot in from a sharp angle. Mrazek stopped the puck but Joshua chipped it over the sprawled goalie for a 3-2 lead at 11:34.
On the following faceoff, Mrazek stopped a Conor Garland shot. Dries directed the rebound into the net with a shot from between his legs.
Kuzmenko scored his 20th and 21st goals in the second period to tie the game 2-2 after 40 minutes.
His first goal came off the rebound of Ilya Mikheyev’s shot to tie the game 1-1 at 7:02.
Lafferty gave Chicago a 2-1 lead when his innocent looking shot went through Delia’s five-hole at 12:06.
Kuzmenko tied the game again at 15:47 with a pretty deflection of a Pettersson pass.
Vancouver trailed 1-0 after the first period despite outshooting Chicago 21-6. Kane scored with 2:11 remaining with a seeing-eye shot through traffic that sailed over Delia’s shoulder.
Mrazek made several great saves during the period. He stopped Vancouver’s Curtis Lazar on two shots from in close, got a blocker on a Bo Horvat blast during a power play and stopped defenceman Luke Schenn on a breakaway after he stepped out of the penalty box.
We are honoured to have Mayor Ken Sim, the first Chinese-Canadian mayor of Vancouver, participate in tonight’s <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LunarNewYear?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#LunarNewYear</a> ceremonial puck drop. <a href=”https://t.co/DLWF5gjpvD”>pic.twitter.com/DLWF5gjpvD</a>
—@Canucks
Tocchet had one practice and one game-day skate to prepare for Chicago. The Canucks wore special warm-up jerseys to celebrate the Lunar New Year Vancouver failed to score on a four-minute power play early in the first period when Chicago’s Seth Jones was called for high-sticking. Kim Sim, Vancouver’s first Asian mayor, dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening faceoff.
Chicago centre Max Domi was assessed an instigation minor, fighting major and 10-minute misconduct for a fight with Vancouver’s Dakota Joshua at 8:13 of the second period. Chicago saw a three-game win streak snapped in a loss to L.A. on Sunday. Chicago forward Tyler Johnson, who had 14 points in 22 games, has been placed on injured reserved after aggravating a left ankle injury.
It’s a quick turnaround for the Canucks who play Wednesday night in Seattle. Vancouver returns home to face Columbus on Friday, then begins a four-game road trip Feb. 2 in New Jersey.
Chicago continue their road trip with games in Calgary on Thursday and Edmonton Saturday before returning home to face Anaheim Feb. 7.
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