Playing better than ever, Canucks’ Quinn Hughes is leading by example

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TEMPE, ARIZ. – As coach Rick Tocchet exhorts the Vancouver Canucks daily to find their top level ahead of the Stanley Cup playoffs, captain Quinn Hughes may be playing better than he has ever played.

Wednesday’s 2-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes was a step in the right direction for the Canucks. They dominated, albeit against a minnow of a franchise that is still nowhere near the playoffs.

But it still took a magnificent deciding shift by Hughes, who was unfairly in the penalty box when the Arizona power play tied it the game halfway through the third period, to help the Canucks win it. 

Fired up by referee Carter Sandlak’s ridiculous tripping call, Hughes skated laps around Coyote defenders and had a couple of chances to score before his near-miss bounced off the end boards and on to the stick of teammate Conor Garland, who shot from an angle into the semi-open net with 1:51 remaining.

Hughes scored the only goal of the first 50 minutes, his third in two games, shooting between goalie Connor Ingram’s pads on a Vancouver power play at 9:33 of the second period. Shots were 24-8 for the Canucks through 40 minutes.

In the last 14 games, as the Canucks have scuffled, Hughes has 16 points and Vancouver enjoys a 14-6 scoring advantage and expected goals of 61.9 per cent when the defenceman is on the ice. Truly, Hughes is leading by example.

Through 76 games, the 24-year-old from Michigan has 16 goals and 86 points and a plus-39 rating, and with two weeks remaining in the regular season must be the favourite for the Norris Trophy.

“He’s unbelievable,” Garland said. “Whenever he plays, the ice is tilted in our favour. And the scary thing — and I know him pretty well and how hard and how serious he takes his game — he’s going to keep getting better. He’s always thinking hockey, always looking at ways to get better. That’s why he’s him. This isn’t the best he’s going to be. He’s going to be a completely different player in four years and he’s going to be even more unbelievable.

“We have good talks and he knows when, you know, we need some juice. He’s the guy who can drive our team. Millsy (J.T. Miller) can do it, and we have other guys. But Quinn does it on a consistent basis. He also takes it personally when we don’t play well. That’s why he’s such a good captain, such a good player. I knew he was going to have a big game tonight.”

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The Canucks were awful at the start of Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to the National Hockey League champion Vegas Golden Knights. Even allowing for the downgrade in opponent, Vancouver’s performance 24 hours later, especially defensively, was profoundly better.

“He was moving his feet all night,” Tocchet said of Quinn in the visitors’ tent outside Mullett Arena. “I mean, he controlled a lot of the play and that was obviously a great play on the Garland goal.”

Asked if Hughes has elevated his play down the last month, Tocchet said: “He’s trying to take some responsibility when things don’t go well. I thought he really managed the game well, too.”

Hughes managed to focus his anger at the referee to generate the winning goal.

The Canucks captain was legitimately penalized for hooking at 7:28 of the final when he reached in on Coyote Josh Doan. But after Vancouver killed that disadvantage, Hughes was penalized again by Sandlak at 10:03 after Michael Carcone made a strong play to take the puck around defenceman Filip Hronek and to the Canuck net, where he was stopped by Arturs Silovs and appeared to trip as contacted the Vancouver goalie.

“I gave it to him (Sandlak) for something and I felt like the next minute. . . I don’t know, I didn’t think it was a penalty,” Hughes explained. “I just don’t like when I say something to him, it’s almost like. . . you know what I’m trying to say.”

Punishment? Payback? Revenge?

Tocchet said: “I didn’t like that second (penalty) at all. It gave me flashbacks to the Dallas game.”

The same referee appeared to get a tripping call completely wrong on Vancouver defenceman Noah Juulsen during the third period of the Canucks’ 3-1 loss to the Stars last week. 

Wednesday’s call turbo-charged Hughes’ determination to decide the game.

“At that point, you’re fuming and don’t really need anything to get you going,” he said. “So I just tried to make a difference, had some looks and Garland made a really nice play.”

Has he found another level?

“I think I’m getting there,” he said. “I think I’m playing some really serious hockey. I’ve just got to keep going.”

The Canucks don’t play again until Saturday in Los Angeles against the Kings. With injured goalie Thatcher Demko practising again and eligible to return from long-term injured reserve on Saturday, it is difficult to say when Silovs will play again.

The minor-league callup was outstanding when he had to be against the Coyotes, stopping 20 of 21 shots and making 13 saves in the final period.

“He looks like a veteran in there,” Tocchet said. “Very solid, looks big in the net. I really like the poise in the kid. Even some shots and the rebounds, he’s right there. He’s not flipping and flopping. Like, he’s right there. He looks like he’s been watching Demko tapes.”

• After the disappointment in Vegas, Tocchet made two lineup changes, removing forwards Arshdeep Bains and Pius Suter and replacing them with Nils Aman and Mark Friedman. A defenceman, Friedman played as the fourth-line winger in his first game since March 3.

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