Canucks 4, Sabres 3 (OT): An overtime, keep-away, moment-defining win

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When you’re under the gun, undermanned — as the Vancouver Canucks currently are — and under pressure, it becomes essential that you pull yourself tight and focus on the details.

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Friday’s effort in a 4-3 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres was very much in this mould.

Sure, they lost a 3-1 lead in the third period, the tying goal coming off a wild bounce up and over Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen, but the process here does matter.

A day after learning they were going to be without defenceman Filip Hronek for a while — how long isn’t known, he’s still got to see a specialist or two, head coach Rick Tocchet says — the Canucks, already down J.T. Miller, knew they would have to grind hard if they were going to beat their expansion cousins in an American Thanksgiving-influenced matinee.

Perhaps the best analogy to all this was the way the Canucks managed their overtime.

They could have been rattled by giving up two goals late in the third, but instead they came with a special performance in overtime.

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The Canucks held possession for nearly three minutes to open the extra frame. They created all kinds of chances, but couldn’t quite finish.

The winner defined it all best: Conor Garland scoring a goal while sitting on his rear, jamming in a rebound created off yet another Quinn Hughes point shot.

That’s how the Canucks are going to have to play for the next while — opportunistic, led by their best players.

Hughes, for instance, was at his electric best. He had seven shot attempts (exceeded only by Garland’s eight), and the Canucks out-attempted the Sabres by seven at five-on-five with their captain on the ice. Plus, his assist on Garland’s goal, his second of the game, now has him tied for the all-time assists lead amongst Canucks defencemen with Alex Edler, but in 537 fewer games.

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Kevin Lankinen was beaten off a brutal bounce to tie the game — an unfair outcome given how he stoned the Sabres more than once.

Garland remains the Canucks’ best two-way forward. His ability to win pucks back, then retain possession, then create opportunities for himself and his teammates continues to be remarkable. Just as we have asked where would the Canucks be without Lankinen, the same can be said about Garland, who has been a constant from day one, while Elias Pettersson took a while to warm up and then again while J.T. Miller’s game slumped and also while Brock Boeser was out with his concussion.

Boeser was also at his best in this one. He didn’t score — he looked to the heavens after his best chance, a clear breakaway on Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen — but he picked up two assists and his forecheck and overall two-way excellence was very much in evidence. Boeser’s return was always going to be an underrated thing, but perhaps with the team on the ropes as it is, people will notice more.

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Pettersson has had better games, but the fact he has been so much better over the past month is reason to think the Canucks can keep playing his tight-checking game effective. Defensive smarts remains a highly underrated part of his game.

Will this be a win that we’ll look back as the day the Canucks found their collective rallying cry? The win off which this season’s narrative will be built?

It’s certainly a candidate.

More than anything, it is the latest example of how the Canucks have been successful on the road this season — tight-checking, disciplined-with-the-puck hockey. Plus essential saves from Lankinen when called upon.

This is how life will have to be for the next while. Tocchet came into the season talking about how he knew his team needed to do more on the rush this season. They had become too one-dimensional last season, essentially trying to create rebounds and tip chances in close after shots taken from the outside.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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