VANCOUVER — It got a little hairy Thursday for Nikita Zadorov. Really, there was hair everywhere. It was a little hairy for the Vancouver Canucks at times, too.
But both Zadorov and his team handled the messy strands, as the Canucks beat the competitive Arizona Coyotes 2-1 at Rogers Arena to open a five-game, pre-All-Star-Break homestand that Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said must illustrate “the fabric” of the team.
At 12:19 of the first period, Zadorov entangled himself in the angry ball of hair that is Arizona shift-disturber Liam O’Brien. All shaggy, matted beard and flying fists, O’Brien was pounded in a fight a few minutes after the Coyote threw five unanswered punches at Sam Lafferty as the Canuck was trying to get through the bench door on a change.
Zadorov shoved O’Brien’s head down as long as possible after the fight, then barked at him as they sat in the penalty box.
“I mean, the guy’s going by the bench and calling everybody bad words, and then jumped my teammate,” Zadorov explained. “I feel like that was a little payback for sure.”
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So was the outcome, as Dakota Joshua scored his 12th goal of the season — and fourth game-winner — on a rebound at 19:02 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie and extend the Canucks’ points streak to 6-0-1.
Back from a seven-game trip that was their longest of the season, Vancouver played Thursday like the West Coast’s few savvy winter drivers handled a foot of snow: carefully and mostly in second or third gear.
But with the game in the balance, the Canucks yielded just six third-period shots and only one quality scoring chance as the team improved to 27-0-1 when leading after 40 minutes. The one loss came Monday when the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied at home before beating Vancouver 4-3 in a shootout.
Still combative after the game, Zadorov took issue with the idea the Canucks’ managed the game and won without playing their best.
“What’s best, like scoring six goals every game?” he asked. “I don’t think we gave up any scoring chances today, and I think that’s our playoff mentality. So I think this game was better than our other games when we won 6-4 or 6-3. I will take this game over those games for sure because you don’t win 6-3 in the playoffs. I think this game was a lot of grind. It was stick to it. I don’t think we gave up anything at all in the third period.”
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Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko’s biggest save came with about 25 seconds remaining when he challenged and stopped Clayton Keller on an open look from the back of the slot.
Except for a 10-minute spell at the start of the second period, when defenceman Tyler Myers took consecutive minor penalties, the Canucks appeared to have their focus sharp, as Tocchet had implored coming off the road trip.
Vancouver outshot Arizona 14-4 in the first period, when Elias Pettersson and Coyote Travis Dermott traded goals as quickly as Zadorov and O’Brien had traded punches.
“This focus level for five games, to me, is a very key part of our fabric,” Tocchet said before the game. “Like, I’m really interested to see — and I’m very confident that it will be — the focus level of this team. This five games for me is going to be a big part of our moving forward.”
Tocchet and five Canucks will represent the organization at the National Hockey League All-Star Game in Toronto, but the rest of the players will have a week off and go 10 days between games.
“I personally think it’s better to get five wins before the break, and then have a good break,” Zadorov said. “You lose a couple of games and have a bad mood. I would say for sure our focus is still here. You know, it’s our home ice, we’re playing for our fans, playing for the city, playing for ourselves. We’re still reaching our goals.
“I think today was definitely a challenge for us and we stick to it, we won the game. I think we’re improving every game, improving every practice, and getting better for sure.”
Veteran centre Teddy Blueger said: “I think that’s something that we’ve done a good job with — just approaching each game as it comes and not looking at the big picture too much. Whether we’re coming off a win or loss, we just kind of refocus and try to get the two points every game. We’re not really paying attention too much to where the (opposition) is in the standings because I think they can be foolish. We’re just resetting and going out there and competing and trying to win.”
The Canucks are 30-11-4 and the four opponents they have remaining before the break are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Columbus.
“Some of (the games on) the road trip, we just won purely because we were better that night,” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said. “The New York (Rangers, 6-3 win) and Islanders (5-2) and the Devils game (6-4), we kind of blew it open in the first and second. I think this game was a little bit tighter. But if we want to be a really good team, we’ve got to find a way to get points out of that, and that’s what we did.”
