LEAFS NOTES: Much to Toronto's chagrin, Canucks overcome dressing room distractions

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The day couldn’t have been going any worse for the Canucks when they deplaned around 1 p.m.. in Toronto, about 12 sleep-deprived hours late.

It was about to get a lot better.

They turned their three-game losing streak, their high anxiety travel and the lingering story of the Elias Pettersson-J.T. Miller personality clash into a 3-0 upset of the Maple Leafs. The setup, which  seemed too good to be true for Toronto was caused by bad weather in Carolina after the Canucks’ 2-0 loss, the third of their Eastern swing.  

“A lot of character in here,” said captain Quinn Hughes. “No one was feeling sorry for themselves, not because of what happened last night and not how the last couple of games have gone. Guys desperately needed the win. (Saturday) was a little bit of adrenalin and professionalism as well.” 

The Canucks came back to the Raleigh airport in the morning to encounter more delays and finally reached their Toronto hotel in early afternoon with a 7 p.m. puck drop. 

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” insisted Hughes. “In junior hockey, you grew up with a lot of different things going on and the weather was nothing we could control. I’ve seen crazier in the NHL.” 

Defenceman Tyler Myers had energy for two helpers and a game-high 24 minutes. 

“It was a hectic 24 hours,” he said. “But guys handled it well, came out with a lot of swagger.” 

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

No one in the Canucks orbit could complain about Pettersson’s persistence on Saturday. He had five shot blocks to go along with an assist. 

“One of Petey’s best games of the year, I thought he was terrific,” coach Rick Tocchet praised. “That one (stop) at the end where he dove when they had a back-door play, that was high hockey IQ. He didn’t press for it, he went back because he saw that was going to happen.” 

Pettersson said the Friday night disruptions were hard for him because he struggles to fall asleep post game, but it didn’t bug him after O Canada played. He and wingers Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser figured in on the opening-minute winning goal.  

“Trying to be reliable,” Pettersson said. “When it’s my time to step up, I always try to do it. After we got to the hotel, it was eat, sleep and back here. But we got the win. If we play like this, I like our chances.”    

Vancouver’s dual protagonists weren’t the only high-profile pair in the NHL to quiet their critics on Saturday. Around the Boston Bruins, Toronto’s seemingly unshakable division rival, a sports radio host’s report of discord between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak had dominated news this week. As in the Pettersson-Miller mash-up, Marchand hotly denied the dressing room was a “disaster” (three wins in seven games prior to Saturday) and that he didn’t want Pasta on his line.

Both were on the ice for a couple of Bruins goals, including the latter’s overtime winner in Florida.          

“I’ve been on teams where there are teammates that you just don’t like and you don’t go over to their houses for dinner, or whatever,” former Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau told the Vancouver Province this week. “When it comes to the rink and you put that jersey on, everybody is on the same side. That was the case when I was there. It wasn’t a question of Miller and Petey liking each other, but if something good happened, they hugged each other. And, for the most part, they played on the same line for crying out loud. 

“But the more we make out of it, the worse it is in my mind.” 

ALL PATCHED UP 

Max Pacioretty put on his best face being a healthy scratch on Thursday. 

The 35-year-old Leaf winger came off a lower-body injury and had played 16 straight games up to then. 

“I like where I’m at,” he said before another 14 minutes, 41 seconds on Saturday. “There have been a lot of back-to-backs, which is the only thing I’ll say. Now, I don’t think we have one for a while. One thing people always say: Take care of your body on those back-to-backs. It just takes one wrong move to feel something unusual. 

“Everyone has their own routines and there are a lot of modalities and treatment people here. Obviously, sleep, nutrition and hydration are important. Here, they monitor everything, so you have no excuse not to be optimal.” 

TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’ 

Canucks-turmed-Leafs Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were given the age-old NHL question is it harder to adjust to a three-hour road trip time change going East-West or West–East? 

“I try to prepare the same way, no matter what because each game is so different,” Ekman-Larsson said. “It’s more on the body clock, but I’m fortunate, I can sleep anywhere, anytime.” 

Toronto native Tanev said coming home from Vancouver and Calgary for more than a decade was more difficult.
“You lose a lot of time when you get in and it’s tougher to get to sleep. You lose half that day, then have to get to bed early (the night before a game), not used to that time being 6 p.m. (local).” 

LOOSE LEAFS 

Leaf coach Craig Berube says defenceman Jake McCabe has resumed skating. He’s on IR with a suspected concussion. Berube also expects goalie Anthony Stolarz to start working out on his own soon after minor knee surgery last month … The Scarborough-born Tocchet’s only regret was that the condensed visit gave him no time to chat with Berube. “Chief is one of my best friends (from their playing days). A day earlier, we might have had dinner, but I’ll probably see him in Vancouver (where Leafs conclude play before the 4 Nations Face-off tourney break)” … The farm-team Marlies were on the losing end of a 4-1 score in Utica on Saturday. Alex Steeves had their only goal, his 19th, with Vyacheslav Peksa making 29 saves as the new second goalie after fellow Russian Artur Akhtyamov suffered a leg injury … Saturday was the Leafs’ annual Indigenous Celebration Game, which included a themed logo and special pre-game and intermission guests and entertainment. It resonated with Berube, who is part Cree. “It’s important for me, growing up in my town, Calahoo (Alta.,). It means being around a lot of indigenous people and I was very involved in and around the town growing up with sports.” 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

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