Times have indeed changed this season for the Vancouver Canucks. Just winning is not good enough.
As the Canucks head to San Jose to face the Sharks Thursday, it comes with the joy of Tuesday's 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators, which has them on a 4-0-1 run and continuing a solid start to the season.
While Elias Pettersson collected a hat trick and Quinn Hughes netted three assists, coach Rick Tocchet is not about to sing his team's praises.
"That's not our brand of hockey. We were pretty loose. Too many turnovers. It wasn't a great game for us identity-wise," Tocchet said. "We got to be careful we don't get fat and happy around here."
Tocchet was not pleased even during the game. For example, veteran forward J.T. Miller was benched in the second period after receiving his third penalty. Miller was back in the rotation in the third period and scored.
"It makes everybody know they're accountable," Tocchet said. "Some guys get a little longer leash. ... I'm not going to sit him in the third period. He's done too many good things for me and his teammates, and when he scored his teammates were so happy for him."
After all that, expect a confident but more focused Canucks squad.
"I was pretty hot and took some bad penalties," Miller said. "The team did a great job killing it off, so it was just letting me cool off for the last couple of minutes of the second period. That's pretty much all it was."
The Sharks are back home, still looking for their first victory of the season. San Jose, at the bottom of the league standings, has just one extra-time loss with eight regulation-time defeats.
The Sharks scored only three goals during a fruitless five-game road trip and have nine goals in nine games this season, having tallied more than one goal in only one outing.
"Right now, we have such a thin margin for error," said coach David Quinn, who has a tough task keeping elevated his players' spirits. "Usually, if you only give up two goals, you like your chances, and right now, we're really snake bit."
San Jose is coming off a particularly disappointing 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals Sunday, having blown a third-period 1-0 lead.
"I hope we're going in the right direction to putting a full 60 (minute performance) together," forward Luke Kunin said. "We just fell short there the last little bit. So, it obviously stings. It's frustrating. It's hard. Everyone in that locker room, everyone in this organization wants to win, and that's our mindset. So, when you're not, it's tough."
San Jose, which has been without captain Logan Couture all season due to injury, has seen veteran Alexander Barabanov knocked out of action for four-to-six weeks due to a broken finger. They also will remain without key defenseman Matt Benning for at least another week due to injury, who will receive an infusion.
Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk and forward/defenseman Jacob MacDonald are expected to play their first NHL games of the season. Okhotiuk, who was injured when the Sharks acquired him in the trade that sent Timo Meier to New Jersey last season, is yet to play for San Jose. He had core-muscle surgery in April. He played in five AHL games this season. MacDonald is yet to play this season after an injury suffered early in training camp.
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