They are hoping it's a sign they can compete even without Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo. They are hoping it proves they have drawn closer as a team and relearned lost lessons. They are hoping they have found themselves, finally, in this fumbling, bumbling start to the season.
"Unfortunately, it took a bunch of our players going down. But it's been a blessing in disguise," Willie Mitchell said. "Absolutely, I'd say, no doubt [the injuries to Bieksa and Salo] brought the team closer together.
"Who's kidding who? We're better off with those guys in the lineup, there's no doubt about it. But sometimes there are lessons learned through stuff like that and I think our lesson learned is that we have to get back to playing like we did last year when a hard-working team was our identity and we were very well-positioned.
"I think this week we've been working on those things and those are the things that are going to bring our team success."
Before the Canucks embarked on their trip to Denver last week, head coach Alain Vigneault pulled his squad aside for a private 10-minute speech. It was the type of motivational talk a coach spreads sporadically through the long NHL season.
It came on the heels of the traumatic injuries to Salo and Bieksa, with the team's outlook seemingly grim.
"We had this feeling that everyone was against us," Roberto Luongo said. "People were saying our season was over. Stuff like that is motivating for us. It does bring a team together.
"And what you saw was our best effort yet in Colorado."
Vigneault explained to his players, in that speech, that they no longer had any choice if they wanted success. They had to buy in, they had to play hard and they had to play as a team.
"He basically explained that we're all in this together, we're facing this adversity as a group and there was only one way to overcome it," Brendan Morrison said. "I think, initially, in that game [against Colorado] everyone bought in to what we had to do. We didn't have guys trying to deviate from the plan.
"Now, it's a matter of continuing. It was only one game. The big test is to keep it going consistently."
The implication from Vigneault's team meeting, and one made by many players since, is that too often this season, in too many games, the Canucks have deviated from their prescribed game plan and played selfishly.
"Any time you go through adversity, like we have with injuries, it brings the group closer," Matt Cooke said. "It just makes yourself a little more aware of helping each other out on the ice.
"Last year, we had a lot of breakdowns but we had four other guys recovering for the one guy. We didn't have that [until the Colorado] game.
"Unfortunately, it took the loss of two guys who got injured."
jbotchford@png.canwest.com |
