ST. LOUIS, MO – The Vancouver Canucks may be injury-riddled at the moment, but between a Kiefer Sherwood hat trick and Jake DeBrusk shootout winner, Vancouver defeated the Blues 4-3.
“I try to keep it simple,” DeBrusk said of his approach in a shootout. “Honestly I kind of come in the same way every time. I haven’t switched it up I think as a Canuck yet, but as a [Boston] Bruin I had a couple different variations off the same routes. You can think a lot, crowd’s going, things are happening, but I’ve been in that position a lot.”
He said he just tries to keep it to two.
“I look for the first thing, if it’s there I go with it, if it’s not then I change it up, I liked what I saw and I got lucky,” DeBrusk said.
Last season, Vancouver went into St. Louis and emerged victorious 5-2. However, since then a main catalyst in that game, JT Miller was traded to the New York Rangers among other moves.
Brock Boeser went down the tunnel early after getting hit with a shot, which was not what Vancouver needed with the injuries the team is already battling. It was announced by the Canucks on their X account during the second period that he wouldn’t be returning to the game.
“If we can handle it and be resilient, stick to what we’re doing, we’ll all grow from it and once we get another guy back, another guy back, another guy back, now we’ve got depth,” Foote said.
Foote said he’s proud of the group and that they’re becoming a very good team.
Coach Adam Foote noted losing a great player like Boeser early.
“Feel like ‘no here we go again’ and I just told them it’s pretty incredible for me as a coach, been here two and a half years, maybe almost three years, that’s the best team win I’ve seen since I’ve been here as far as being resilient,” Foote said.
Postgame, Foote said he expects Boeser back for the team’s game Saturday night at Minnesota as the Canucks face the Wild at 4 p.m.
He mentioned the team’s leadership group has allowed the young guys to come in, get comfortable and play with confidence. Additionally, he noted how the leaders don’t get mad at them when they make mistakes.
“These young guys are getting good minutes right now and these guys up from the minors and even Lank’s [Kevin Lankinen] game tonight, how he played was pretty good,” Foote said.
Foote noted the desperate St. Louis team they were facing who had lost consecutive games and how they had a couple guys out as well.
“What’s going on with our group, to be that resilient is the key to build on,” Foote said.
DeBrusk noted Boeser going down early in the first and that other guys had to step up.
“Woody [Kiefer Sherwood] had an amazing game, guy can’t miss right now, Kevin [Lankinen] kept us in it,” DeBrusk said.
Lankinen finished with 36 saves in net for Vancouver. Foote said it’s no fluke that Lankinen did what he did Thursday night.
Anyways, after Boeser went down, St. Louis took the early momentum as Dylan Holloway put it home from the right circle to put the Blues up 1-0 just 3:23 into the contest.
Then with 6:52 remaining in the period and on the power play, the Canucks tied it at 1-1 as Kiefer Sherwood poked it home from right in front of St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington. For Sherwood, that goal gave him his sixth point in his last six games against the Blues.
Like the first period, St. Louis stuck early to pull ahead 2-1 on a laser of a shot by Jimmy Snuggerud just 58 seconds in and on the power play. Then again, identical to the first, Sherwood put it home as he tucked it behind Binnington for his second of the night at the 10:42 mark. That goal gave him his second two-goal game in his last three games.
In the third period, Vancouver struck first on a broken stick shot by Sherwood to get himself a hat trick at the 7:04 mark and his second career hat trick. That was his fifth goal against St. Louis in two games and nine on the season, which tied him for first in the NHL.
“He’s a motor, he loves the game,” Foote said of Sherwood. “What I love about him is early in the season he was good then got off real quick, his emotions were in play. Our forward coaches did a good job just talking to him going ‘you control 20% and you’re going to have some fun here’ and he listened to them and they’ve worked together as a group.”
Foote attributed Sherwood being tied in leading the league in goals to playing with the fire he has in him and when his emotions are under control, he’s very effective with his speed and resilience.
But St. Louis tied it up on the power play with 9:12 left in the period on a shot by former Canuck Pius Suter. But Vancouver responded with 2:42 left as Evander Kane gave Vancouver the 4-3 lead or so the Canucks thought. St. Louis challenged it for goaltender interference and were successful.
After that goal was called back neither side was able to score in the remainder of the third period or in overtime. It ultimately came down to the final round of the shootout where Jake DeBrusk put it home.
“To come out on top, it’s a character builder, it’s good for the young guys to feel that and also as a group to try to build on it obviously starting with this one tonight,” DeBrusk said.
Northwest Sports Desk 