Rick Tocchet comments on the team's win: Lekkerimäki surprises
Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet shared his thoughts on the team's preseason win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
The Vancouver Canucks opened up their preseason schedule on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena against their Pacific Northwest rival, the Seattle Kraken. It was quite the physical affair, with the teams combining for 44 penalty minutes including two fights - Vilmer Alriksson vs John Hayden & Mark Friedman vs Brandon Tanev.
Vancouver got the best of the Kraken, taking their preseason opener by a score of 3-1 thanks to goals from Nils Hoglander, Filip Hronek and Pius Suter. Arturs Silovs played the entire game, making 18 saves in the win.
After the game, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet met with the media and was asked about his team's performance on Tuesday, Tocchet said that the team played well overall, especially Arturs Silovs, but there were still some sloppy moments, which is to be expected early on in the preseason.
"I thought it was a good effort. A little sloppy at times with some turnovers, but I thought our powerplay was good, getting a couple goals. I thought some of the kids played well. Silovs obviously played very well. So it was a good effort from some guys." Tocchet said.
Tocchet was then asked about some individual performances in the game, including from the team's top prospect and 2022 first-round pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who had a pair of assists.
"Yeah, just a really crafty, smart guy. Pretty good patience with the puck. I really liked...even on the empty net goal, he didn't rifle it down, he made a nice bank pass. Things like that, I think his hockey IQ, he's a pretty smart kid. I think he's going to get more comfortable." Tocchet said.
Canucks fans won't have to wait long at all to see their team back in action as Vancouver makes the trip to Abbotsford tonight for a neutral site game against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is set for 7 pm PT.
| POLL |
Who impressed you the most in last night's game? |
| Jonathan Lekkerimaki | 43 | 30.1 % |
| Arturs Silovs | 69 | 48.3 % |
| Nils Hoglander | 28 | 19.6 % |
| Linus Karlsson | 3 | 2.1 % |
| List of polls |
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