Achi news desk-
VANCOUVER – Three years before Nathan MacKinnon became the current favorite to win the Hart Trophy as the best player in hockey, Conor Garland managed to make the Colorado Avalanche superstar the best bowler in the National Hockey League.
During the 2020-21 pandemic regular season, MacKinnon became so enraged after a reverse hit by Garland when the Arizona Coyotes visited Denver that he ripped off his opponent’s helmet and threw it underhand towards Garland’s face before the players come together and wrestle. on the ice.
“He threw me down and then we wrestled for a while,” Garland recalled Saturday. “He had four points. I said to him in the pile: ‘Why are you mad? You win 9-3 and you have four points.’
“The next game we played them was a scrum and I could see him come flying in and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, are we going to do this again?’ And he stopped and apologized. So I appreciated that.”
The point of this story is that Garland, who is five-foot-nine, is not a dirty player and rarely initiates contact, has a knack for unsettling opponents with the relentless manner in which he plays. Traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 2021 after that pandemic-shortened season as part of the Oliver Ekman-Larsson fiasco, the swirling winger is as fearless as he is relentless in teasing opponents for the puck.
This is important to remember because on Sunday, the 28-year-old from Boston will play his first true Stanley Cup playoff game when the Canucks face the physical Nashville Predators in Vancouver’s first playoff contest since 2015.
Like most of the Canucks’ young core players, Garland’s only previous playoff experience was in the antiseptic and artificial 2020 bubble in Edmonton amid the advent of COVID-19. (Fun fact: Garland’s Coyotes eliminated the Predators in the playoffs that summer).
As with Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Filip Hronek, Garland will be a popular target for Nashville.
“I’m not afraid of it,” Garland said after Saturday’s practice. “I’m not afraid of contact. I think there is a perception that smaller men are afraid of contact. But if you look at our men, we certainly are not. Huggy (Hughes) certainly doesn’t. Hoggy (Nils Hoglander) certainly isn’t. Jonathan Marchessault doesn’t and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy last year (with Vegas). You have to embrace it. You’re going to get hit, you’re going to throw hits. It’s fun. It’s better than playing shinny hockey. I’m looking forward to it.”
Seemingly prone to conflict on the ice, Garland is probably looking forward to this more than most after waiting eight years as a pro and 404 regular season games in the NHL to finally compete in a real playoff game.
“A chip on his shoulder,” Canuck coach Rick Tocchet said of Garland, who he also coached in Arizona. “All his life, you’re a little, little kid, you can’t play with the big boys. We laugh about it, but he has had to change his game from younger. We have had conversations about this. He was a heavy points guy (in the Quebec League) and he knew he didn’t want to come up here and score 100 points like in the junior division. Maybe one day he can. But it has a little bit of a chip. He likes to go in the corners, and he likes the confrontation. That’s his game. That’s why he drives lines.”
When Tocchet was asked about the broader combination of the Canucks’ first-class inexperience and the heightened intensity of the Stanley Cup tournament: “You’ve got to embrace the pain. There will be pain, and you have to love it. I’m being serious.
“You have to crave that walk to the bus when you’re tired and limping or have a break. That should be something you aspire to. Don’t be afraid of it. Obviously, (physical) is ramped up. It’s a different level. You have to make sure, you know, you can’t shy away. You have to play uncomfortable.”
Garland and teammate Dakota Joshua have been making it uncomfortable for opposing defenders most of the season, driving play and creating scoring opportunities. Now in partnership with center Elias Lindholm, the third line trio could be a huge X factor in this series.
Garland’s tally in Vancouver’s regular-season finale Thursday in Winnipeg made him a 20-goal scorer for the first time in four years. His 47 points were fourth among forwards, and he led the team with an expected field goal percentage of 59.6 percent. The Canucks scored almost two to one, 55-30, with Garland on the ice at five on five.
This distinction came after a troubled start for Garland, with reports the day before the season opener that he had demanded a trade. Canuck management was, in fact, exploring options to provide salary cap relief and, with the player’s permission, brought Garland’s agent into talks.
Ultimately, Garland made it abundantly clear that he had no desire to play anywhere else. But despite pushing possession for most of the fall, he had just two goals and five assists in the first 25 games before his play-driving with Joshua began producing goals in December.
“I think I would say I’m proud of myself,” Garland told Sportsnet. “You know, there was some sh– there at the beginning. I got a little help here from the staff, mentally and on the ice. I’m grateful for that, and we got through it. There were some other things that went on off the ice and we got through that as well. It was an angry start for me. But we made the playoffs and I felt our line was a big key to that. Now we have to be a big part of winning games at this time of the season.
“I told Toc – we had a meeting at the beginning of March – and I said that I felt I had made a leap in my game here. And, you know, I hadn’t felt that since the trade. The last time I felt that (jump) was in the summer before my last year in Arizona. I felt that I had improved a lot and I felt that again this year.
“I felt really good about my game. This is a different level, so you have to raise your game again to match it. But I feel confident that I can do it. There’s a first for everything, so we’ll find out (about the playoffs). But I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
He has a way of irritating people.
“Yeah, ask my family,” he said. “Come and play a card game at my house. You will see.”
• In the final practice before Game 1, Tocchet quickly promoted winger Sam Lafferty to play on the second line next to Pettersson and Hoglander, while Ilya Mikheyev was dropped to the fourth line. With the addition of Vasily Podkolzin, the forward ranks were: Pius Suter-JT Miller-Brock Boeser; Hoglander-Pettersson-Lafferty; Joshua-Lindholm-Garland; and Phil DiGiuseppe-Tedi Blueger-Mikheyev. The defense pairs were: Hughes-Hronek; Carson Soucy-Tyler Myers; Nikita Zadorov-Ian Cole.
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