Canucks 2, Capitals 1: All hail Quinn Hughes

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If there's one thing the Canucks have managed to do this season, it's play well on Saturday nights

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Published Jan 25, 2025  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  4 minute read

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As far as we know, Quinn Hughes still wants to be a Vancouver Canuck.

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And thank goodness for that because in the midst of this miserable season, the Canucks’ captain is putting together one of the great all-time seasons by a defenceman.

It’s been a blessing, it’s given us something to watch, but also depressing since it should add up to so much more.

Facing up against the team with the most points in the NHL so far this season, you figured this won’t go well given how badly the rest of the week has gone.

But this is also Saturday night, and if there’s one thing the Canucks have managed to do this season, it’s play well on Saturday nights.

Remarkably, the Canucks are now 8-2-2 on Saturday nights.

That included impressive wins the previous two Saturdays over the Oilers and the Leafs.

Now this win wasn’t quite as impressive as those games, but it was a win and that’s all that matters.

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Hughes scored both Canucks goals as the home team ground out a 2-0 lead against the Washington Capitals, who came into this game having won six straight games.

That goal

Hughes’ first goal was a remarkable feat of skill. He attacked a gap in the Capitals’ zone coverage and with an almost supernatural understanding of the three-dimensional space between him and the goal, lifted a perfect backhand shot towards the goal and past a helpless Charlie Lindgren.

It was as magical as Hughes has been this season.

“That was amazing. It was perfect,” J.T. Miller said. “When you’re playing like that, you’re not even thinking you’re just playing, you’re just making the play in front of you.”

Elias Pettersson the defenceman, playing his first NHL game, was in awe.

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“I was shocked,” he said, with a wide smile. “It was an unbelievable goal.”

Unbelievable, perhaps, if you didn’t see it with your own eyes.

The goal was exactly the kind of play Rick Tocchet says he’s been encouraging his team to go after.

“When he gets the puck he attacks the inside,” Tocchet said. “He’s not scared to go the interior. That’s how you score goals.”

It’s something that Tocchet knows he and his assistants really have to press on his team about: that’s what they want to do. They did it pretty well last year, after all.

“We’re trying to dive into that. I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing. I don’t knoww what it is, but as coaches, we’ve got to keep preaching it. We got to practice it. … We’ve got to really, really harp that more than ever.”

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An eighth time on Saturdays

None of Rick Tocchet, J.T. Miller nor Kevin Lankinen knew the Canucks’ Saturday night record was so good.

“That’s a cool stat,” Lankinen said, pausing. “That’s a really cool stat.”

“Saturday night’s, the best time to play hockey anyway.”

That’s also three Saturdays in a row where the Canucks have defeated top opponents.

“Maybe the atmosphere? It’s a little more heightened game and we’re playing good teams, so maybe it brings the best out of us? I don’t know,” Miller said.

Tocchet said despite the overall struggles of the season, it didn’t surprise him to learn that his team had played so well on Saturdays.

“I’m just glad we won.”

Minute muncher

Hughes plays huge minutes every night.

And yet again he was the Canucks’ minutes leader.

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The Canucks consistently get out of trouble when he’s on the ice.

And then there are nights like this one where he scores two goals and is the entire offence.

Mediocre offence

This was a boring game at both ends of the ice.

The Capitals are the NHL’s best defensive team by goals against.

They gave little away to Vancouver. And the Canucks, who have had some defensive struggles lately, were stout at their end of the ice too.

“I thought played a little faster. I thought our breakouts were better, like that was something we worked on yesterday,” Rick Tocchet said. “You know, I thought, we had a little bit of intensity from everybody … That win hopefully gives us confidence.”

All hail Lankinen

If there’s a vice-MVP this season, it’s Kevin Lankinen, as everyone knows.

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It’s because of games like this one where he came up big on the few moments he needed to.

There were a couple goalmouth scrambles where he covered the goal line well and kicked away problems well.

Dedication

J.T. Miller’s time as a Canuck may be numbered, but he’s still finding moments. They haven’t been every night, but he was pretty good in this one.

The best moment was him laying out for a block in the game’s final moments, taking a shot away from Jakob Chychrun, the Washington blueliner who was hammering away point shots with abandon.

Dubois loves the Canucks

Pierre-Luc Dubois has just 10 goals this season: three are against Vancouver.

NEXT GAME

Monday

Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues

4:30 p.m., Enterprise Center, TV: ESPN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650

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