As much as he doesn't want to do it because of how well Henrik and Daniel Sedin play together, Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella knows there are times he is going to have to split up the twins in order to jump-start the offense and give the coach on the other bench a tough decision on which twin’s line to check. He did it Oct. 6 at the Calgary Flames and it led to third-period comeback and eventual overtime win. Tortorella went back to the well Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center, and it paid immediate dividends again, leading to another victory, this time in regulation. Tortorella broke up the twins roughly six-and-a-half minutes into the third period, and the new top line of Henrik Sedin, Chris Higgins and Ryan Kesler cashed in on the game-tying and game-winning goals as the Canucks came back for a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers to snap a two-game losing streak and start their seven-game road trip off on the right note. They continue the trip Thursday at the Buffalo Sabres.
"Listen, [the twins] play really well
together, and it's very tough to split them up, but I think at times
that's going to happen," Tortorella said. "I think
as you go through the game, those are calls we'll make, but it's
awful tough to keep them away from one another because they play so
very well together."
Henrik
Sedin set up Higgins with a pass from behind the net to the slot
for the tying goal with 12:29 to play. It was Higgins' first goal of
the season. Kesler's second goal of the night (he also scored 12:36
into the first period to tie the game at 1-1) came off a rebound of
Higgins' shot with 2:25 to play and proved to be the winner. Kesler
outmuscled Nicklas
Grossman to get to the rebound before depositing it past Flyers
goalie Steve
Mason. Henrik
Sedin had the secondary assist on the goal.
"Maybe it's a change of scenery,"
Kesler said of why the Canucks have been scoring when Tortorella
splits up the Sedins. "You just try to spark something, see
if something else works. We were getting chances, just not getting
rewarded and that change helped a lot."
Flyers rookie Tye
McGinn scored twice to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead early in the
second period, but Canucks goalie Roberto
Luongo made 20 saves and Vancouver blocked three shots on a
penalty kill after Higgins tied the game to help the veteran goalie
out. Mason made 22 saves as the Flyers lost their third game in a row
and fell to 1-6-0 on the season.
"You gotta go out and take it to the other
team in the third period and win the game," Flyers coach
Craig Berube said. "We're kind of sitting back a little bit
and waiting for something bad to happen. You know how that goes, but
we've gotta get over that hump."
Flyers captain Claude
Giroux thought the team played its best game of the season in the
loss. That sentiment was not lost on right wing Jakub
Voracek, but he also said the talk of playing well and losing is
already tired and has to stop.
"When I came here (in 2011), we had that
attitude, no matter if we were down 5-2 in the third period, there
was no hesitation for anybody on the bench that we couldn't come
back. The last two seasons, it feels if we're up 2-1, down one goal
or it's even tied, we are scared to make something happen on the ice.
We've just gotta stick with the same gameplan for all 60 minutes.
We're losing points this way."
Voracek said he wasn't sure how or why the team's
attitude changed since the start of last season, but he knows right
now it's killing them.
"It's a lot of experienced players in the
locker room and nobody is going to help us; we have to find a way to
win those games," Voracek said. "That's what it's
all about; find a way in the third to try to get those two points."
Higgins and Kesler needed someone with Henrik
Sedin's skill to help them find a way. They had been getting
plenty of quality scoring chances prior to the game in Philadelphia
on Tuesday (they had a combined 40 shots on goal in the Canucks’
first six games), but had just one goal between them. They started
the game against the Flyers with Jannik
Hansen on their line, but they finally cashed in when Tortorella
gave them a Sedin.
"You can see he's a fun player to play
with," Kesler said of Henrik
Sedin. "He's always looking for you and your job is
pretty easy when you're playing with him; it's get open and get ready
to shoot."
Higgins didn't have to do much on his goal except
find an open patch of ice and wait for the pass. Sedin started to
come around the left side of the goal and Grossmann went to challenge
him, but both Giroux and defenseman Braydon
Coburn didn't move, leaving Higgins alone in the slot for a
one-timer.
"If teams are going to leave him back
there or chase him, it doesn't really matter; you just gotta get
open," Higgins said. "He feathered a saucer pass
right in the slot for me."
Kesler's winner was a result of some of the things
Tortorella is preaching, such as getting pucks and bodies to the net.
Dan Hamhuis
kept the puck in at the point and wheeled it down to Henrik
Sedin, who threaded a pass across to Higgins for a one-timer from
the right circle. The rebound came out on the opposite side and
Kesler had his stick down and enough position on the Flyers’
defense to shoot it in. Philadelphia's same defense pair of Coburn
and Grossmann was on the ice for that goal, too.
"They have been around the puck,"
Tortorella said of Kesler and Higgins. "[Higgins] could have
had a couple [Tuesday night]. They just need to stay playing in the
areas they've been playing in and keep banging away."
It's easier when they have Henrik
Sedin as a linemate. That won't always be the case, but at least
now Tortorella has faith that it can work when he does split up the
twins.
"You put a 100-point player on any line,
it's going to give them some confidence and some offense,"
Higgins said.
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