Canucks confidence 'brewing' after ending losing streak

WASHINGTON --Bruce Boudreau usually focuses on the positives, and the coach had a few to latch onto after the Vancouver Canucks ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory against the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

One of those postives was related to forward Elias Pettersson, who has struggled for much of the season but scored two goals to end a seven-game drought. Another was Vancouver's power play, which was 2-for-4 after going 0-for-12 during the losing skid.
But the biggest was the momentum the Canucks could build if they can get another win against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; BSSO, SNP, ESPN+, NHL LIVE) in the finale of their stretch of nine consecutive road games.
"The confidence will definitely be brewing," Boudreau said. "We can't wait to get back in front of our fans. This is nine games on the road in a row. It's not an easy stretch. To stay at .500 or hopefully be above .500 on that, that keeps our nose above water. And there's going to be stretches during the last half of the year that we'll be at home for a while, and maybe we can make up a lot of ground like we did when I first started getting here."
Boudreau's start with Vancouver since replacing Travis Green as coach Dec. 5 couldn't have gone better.
The Canucks (17-18-3) won their first seven games and were 8-0-1 in their first nine, but following a nine-day break because of postponements related to COVID-19 and attendance restrictions in Canada cities, they lost their rhythm.
It didn't help that their first three games after that break were on the road against three of the NHL's top teams -- the Florida Panthers (5-2 loss Jan. 11), Tampa Bay Lightning (4-2 loss Thursday) and Carolina Hurricanes (4-1 loss Saturday) -- but Boudreau did his best to keep the players' spirits up.
"Bruce has been very positive and has really tried to encourage the group to stay positive," Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers said. "As players, we need to step up and make sure that we have the right mindset when things are not going our way. A lot of it is staying even-keeled and making sure that we keep pushing the same way no matter what."
The Canucks were able to do that Sunday despite falling behind 1-0 on a power-play goal by Alex Ovechkin at 10:31 of the first period.
Vancouver answered with three goals in the second period, the first two from Pettersson, before hanging on in the third and sealing the victory with an empty-net goal from J.T. Miller with 58 seconds remaining.
"I think we just came into this game with the right mindset: keep on working, keep playing the game," Pettersson said. "We played a good opponent today, and I'm very happy we got the win."
Of course, Boudreau knew the opponent well, having coached the Capitals for five seasons from 2007-2011. The 67-year-old said he sees some similarities between this season's Canucks and the Capitals after he replaced Glen Hanlon on Nov. 22, 2007.
Washington was 6-14-1 at that time, but some important building blocks were already in place, including Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Under Boudreau, the Capitals ended the regular season 37-17-7, finishing first in the Southeast Division and qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in three seasons.
As a result, Boudreau won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year.
"Very similar in that there were some great pieces," Boudreau said. "There were some great potential stars on the Caps. There were some great potential stars on the Canucks, and that's why I thought it would be perfect for a person like me."
Vancouver was 8-15-2 when Boudreau was hired but had key players like Petterson, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year in 2018-19, Miller, captain Bo Horvat, defenseman Quinn Hughes and goalie Thatcher Demko.
Although Pettersson has only scored 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 38 games this season, perhaps his two goals Sunday were a sign of good things to come in the second half.
"It seems like he's getting a turnaround and maybe getting some other philosophy in their system and stuff like that and getting people going," said Backstrom, who was a rookie when Boudreau was hired by the Capitals in 2007. "I think he's a great personality, too. He loves to be around the locker room talking to the guys. I think communication is a big thing in sports. He's good at that."
Boudreau's positive message has gone over well with the Canucks, but they still have work to do to get back in the playoff race.
Vancouver enters Monday five points behind the San Jose Sharks for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference, and each of the four teams between it and San Jose had played at least three fewer games.
Boudreau isn't dwelling on that, though. Instead, he sees an opportunity.
"If we sit there and go, 'Oh man, we're in real trouble. We're playing this team and that team,' of course, it's not going to be conducive to winning." Boudreau said. "So positive reinforcement. … It would be classified as a fabulous road trip if we were to win the [last] two games, and that's the way I'm looking at it right now."