VANCOUVER — Tyler Motte knows he and his linemates have earned the trust of Vancouver Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Now the fourth line is transforming that trust into confidence on the ice — and putting up points in the process.
Motte notched a goal and an assist Monday as the Canucks topped the Seattle Kraken 5-2. His linemate Juho Lahmikko chipped in with two helpers and Matthew Highmore rounded out the line's production with another assist.
“When we’re playing with confidence and we’re rolling, it’s nice," Motte said. "We play simple, we play hard and fast, create a few turnovers and we’re going to continue to generate a little bit of offence. I think for us it’s making sure we’re taking care of the d-side of it, too. We’re not giving them much there.
"I’ve got to be honest with you, it’s fun playing with those guys.”
The trio takes direction really well, Boudreau said.
"They do what you ask them to do and they can all skate," the coach said. "They pressure, pressure, pressure. Where they used to just hold their own, now they can score some goals and that makes them even more valuable in my mind.”
Several others in Vancouver's lineup contributed to the offence in Monday's bounceback performance.
Travis Hamonic, Vasily Podkolzin, Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Canucks (24-22-6), while Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each contributed a pair of assists.
Jared McCann — playing in his 400th NHL game — and Mark Giordano replied for the Kraken (16-32-4), who dropped their fourth game in a row.
Vancouver was coming off an ugly 7-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, but is 6-3-1 in its last 10 outings.
Thatcher Demko stopped 25-of-27 shots for the Canucks and Kraken goalie Chris Driedger made a season-high 41 saves. Vancouver's 46 shots was also a season high.
Boudreau started Motte and his linemates Monday in a bid to get a better start out of his team.
"They could all skate and if we won the draw and got the puck deep, I knew they would just be hounding the puck really well and that’s what we hadn’t been doing in recent games," he explained.
The decision paid off quickly. Fans were still filtering into Rogers Arena when Vancouver opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the game.
Lammikko picked up the puck behind Seattle's net and fed Motte from below the goal line. The centreman jammed a wrist shot past Driedger and put the Canucks up 1-0 with his sixth goal of the year.
Motte's goal was the quickest an NHL player has scored this season, topping the tally L.A. Kings winger Viktor Arvidsson put in the back of the net 12 seconds into a battle against the Philadelphia Flyers on New Year's Day.
The Kraken drew level 3:12 into the game off a two-on-one rush. Marcus Johansson carried the puck up the ice and dished it across the top of the crease to McCann, who was waiting back door for the easy tap it.
McCann's 21st goal of the season came against the team that drafted him 24th overall back in 2014.
Seattle took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission thanks to Giordano's short-handed tally.
With Vince Dunn in the box for interference, the veteran defenceman beat Pettersson to a pass in the Canucks end and zipped up the slot, sending a shot in over Demko's stick 14:26 into the opening frame.
The Canucks came into the second with renewed fervour and outshot the Kraken 18-4 across the period.
Stationed at the side of the net, Podkolzin restored Vancouver's lead 16:41 into the frame. Quinn Hughes' initial shot hit Adam Larsson in the crease and Podkolzin quickly capitalized, batting in the lose puck to make it 3-2.
It was the Russian rookie's first goal since Jan. 1 and he celebrated with a double fist pump.
“I was so happy for him. He tries so hard and works so hard," Boudreau said. “When you get into a bit of a prolonged slump, scoring a goal makes you feel an awful lot better.”
Hamonic buried his first goal of the season earlier in the frame and the 200th point of his NHL career. The defenceman fired a blast into a sliver of space between Driedger and the post to knot the score at 2-2.
The Kraken goalie said the second period wasn't his team's best.
"I don't know exactly what happened but they just outworked us out there," he said. "I thought we actually had a pretty good first. We recovered well after that first one against, which is good to see. I thought we showed a little bit of resilience in the first, score two goals to take the lead. We just needed to keep that up and unfortunately we didn't do that, didn't have the answer.”
Vancouver started the final frame on a power play after Alex Wennberg was called for slashing late in the second.
Horvat was quick to use the man advantage, scoring just 35 seconds into the third. Miller sliced a pass to the Canucks captain from along the boards and Horvat sent a rocket soaring past Driedger.
“The goal early in the third, that's one we need a kill on," said Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol. "It's a big difference, one goal game than a two-goal game so that made it a little steeper hill to climb. That being said, we had some pretty good energy in the third period and we just weren't able to get it within one.”
Seattle got a prime chance to cut into the deficit late in the third when Vancouver's Matthew Highmore was called for interference after toppling Morgan Geekie in the neutral zone.
The best shot of the man advantage came from the Canucks when Motte picked off a pass, orchestrating a two-on-one with J.T. Miller, only to see Miller's shot stymied by Driedger's pad.
Vancouver was 1 for 4 with the man advantage Monday, while Seattle failed to score on four power plays.
Pearson put away an empty-net strike with 92 seconds left on the clock to seal the score at 5-2. The goal drew chants of "Bruce, there it is!" from the crowd in tribute to Boudreau.
The Canucks will close out a three-game homestand Thursday against the surging Calgary Flames. The Kraken host the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
NOTES: Miller extended his point streak to four games, with seven points (two goals, five assists) across the stretch. … Giordano now leads all active NHL defencemen in short-handed goals with 11 over his career. … Vancouver recalled defenceman Madison Bowey from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Monday marked the Kraken's first-ever regular-season game in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2022.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
