"Embrace the pressure": Tocchet feels good about Canucks before Game 6
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The Vancouver Canucks are about to play their most important game in years.
The team has a chance to advance to the second round tonight with a victory against the Nashville Predators. A loss sets up a do-or-die Game 7 back at home.
Their Jack Adams finalist head coach, himself the winner of three Stanley Cups, had some words of encouragement before the big game.
“I think guys are going to embrace this moment. I had some good talks with some players. This is what you play for; you can’t dread it,” said Rick Tocchet this morning in Nashville.
“Embrace the pressure; this is what you play for.”
The Canucks enjoyed their third-best regular season ever and are looking to carry over that success to the postseason. They already missed one opportunity to end the Predators’ season with a Game 5 loss. Despite that, they’re keeping a positive mindset.
“If we started training camp and said, ‘We have a Game 6 to close out, would you take it?’ I’m sure everyone in Vancouver would say, ‘Book it right now,'” continued Tocchet today.
“We’re in a really good position. We haven’t played our best hockey, we’ve played some good periods, but we haven’t played our best Canucks hockey yet.”
The Canucks and Predators have been remarkably even throughout the series thus far, as both teams have scored exactly 12 goals. The margin for error in this series is so small, and the difference between a win or a loss has often come down to a single play.
“You want that puck in a certain situation, you want to be on the ice when you have to defend a faceoff, there’s going to be some points in the game where we are counting on this individual to get it done,” continued Tocchet. “Whatever the play is, I think that’s what we play the game for; you want to be counted on.”
The puck drops at 4 pm PT tonight for a crucial Game 6 in Nashville. The Canucks have won both games at Bridgestone Arena thus far and will be looking to sweep the road battles.
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