The Vancouver Canucks three-game road trip to California produced three wins, but looking at the bigger picture, the team may have suffered a huge loss.
The Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night but a bigger concern is the status of forward Brock Boeser.
Boeser took a headshot from L.A.鈥檚 Tanner Jeannot midway through the first period which resulted in the Kings forward being given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for his dangerous hit. Boeser left the game and didn鈥檛 return with the obvious speculation surrounding a possible concussion.
It put a damper on what might have been the Canucks most complete game of the season.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet was reserved when commenting on the Jeannot hit after the game only stating that it was 鈥渙bviously a dangerous play.鈥�
What was also somewhat interesting was the lack of response from the Canucks after the hit.
It鈥檚 ironic that even good, clean hits will draw a reaction in today鈥檚 game yet no one on the Canucks challenged Jeannot after his cheapshot. Probably the most logical explanation is that no one on the ice saw the hit, which was late and away from the play.
Tocchet was happy with how his team overcame the loss of one of its top forwards.
鈥淚t was a next-man-up type of thing. Brock is a big part of our team and he plays a big chunk. I thought the guys did a nice job of filling in. We had to put some different guys out there,鈥� said Tocchet, who utilised Conor Garland to the extent of a season-high 22:43 of ice time.
The Canucks now return home to start a six game homestand that begins on Saturday when the Edmonton Oilers provide the opposition at Rogers Arena.
After the Oilers, Calgary, the New York Islanders, Chicago, Nashville and the New York Rangers will all pay a visit to Vancouver.
This homestand 鈥� along with another six-game set that starts on December 6th 鈥� will be the longest of the season for the Canucks.
Although it鈥檚 relatively early in the season, it鈥檚 vital that the Canucks pick up at least eight points in the next six games.
Sometimes it鈥檚 not as much who you play but when you play them.
They will face an Oilers team that is in disarray to start the season and is coming to Vancouver having dropped their last two games. The Flames reeled off four straight wins to start their year but have only one regulation win since in 10 contests. With a win over Ottawa on Thursday night, the Isles have won three of their last four. Nashville, meanwhile, has only one regulation win in their last seven games. The rebuilding Blackhawks are well below .500 and only have one regulation win in their last 10. The Rangers sit at 8-3-1 but they just got drilled 6-1 by the hapless Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
Notice a trend?
Yes, it鈥檚 the National Hockey League and there are no gimmies but catching teams that are struggling is a situation that has to be taken advantage of.
Case in point for the Canucks was their early-season dominance of the Oilers last year.
Vancouver took three games from Edmonton at the beginning of the season which contributed to head coach Jay Woodruff being fired after a 3-9-1 start. The Canucks (109 points) edged the Oilers (104 points) for the Pacific Division title with those three early wins being a huge reason why.
So when looking at this slate of games and how the visitors are performing, it鈥檚 important that the Canucks exploit the situation.
鈥淭his was a hard game. To be on the end of a long road trip in a playoff style game against a good team like that鈥hese are the games that will get you ready to go for the ones later in the season. Now we just have to keep it going when we get home,鈥� said J.T. Miller.
As Miller noted, the Canucks are playing well and are coming home after having swept the three California teams on the same trip for the first time in 15 attempts.
The question now is will Boeser be in the lineup?
OVERTIME:
*Garland, Jake DeBrusk, Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller with an empty-netter tallied for the Canucks. Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov scored for the Kings. Kevin Lankinen made 26 saves for the Canucks while Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 shots for the Kings.
*Hughes broke the 300-assist barrier when he picked up three helpers during the 5-1 win in Anaheim on Tuesday. It was Hughes鈥� 376th career game 鈥� which made him the third fastest defensemen to do so. Only Bobby Orr (346 games) and Brian Leetch (368 games) have reached 300 assists faster in their careers.
*Edmonton comes to Vancouver on Saturday with some major issues plaguing their special teams. The Oilers power play unit, which ranked 4th in the NHL last season with a 26.3% success rate, has plummeted to 27th with a 14.3% success rate. Meanwhile Edmonton鈥檚 penalty killing has also been abysmal as it ranks last in the league at 59.5%.
