Sports
Canucks’ Ohgren, Lekkerimaki put chemistry on display vs. Maple Leafs
VANCOUVER – It was like an upside-down playoff game, two teams battling desperately to win near the wrong end of the National Hockey League standings.
The Vancouver Canucks, at least as an organization, have the advantage of clarity. They are last in the league, traded away the best player in franchise history six weeks ago, and have pivoted irrevocably towards a rebuild.
Well below the playoff bar themselves, the Toronto Maple Leafs still have to decide what they are and where exactly they’re trying to go. White-knuckling their way to a 3-2 shootout win here Saturday against the Canucks was hardly reassuring about their direction.
Look at the matchup this way: the Leafs’ second-line centre was John Tavares, and the Canucks’ second-line centre was David Kampf, the castoff who Toronto management decided wasn’t good enough for their fourth line.
It took shootout goals by William Nylander and Auston Matthews to grind out a victory against this Vancouver team that has lost 15 of its last 17 games to buttress its top seeding for the draft lottery.
“It was a good hockey game, a good effort,” Canucks coach Adam Foote summarized. “We played against a desperate team. It was a good game.”
In the context of the darkest January in franchise history, the Canucks’ game on Saturday was actually pretty great.
They played with structure and led after 40 minutes, didn’t look too uncomfortable absorbing the Leafs’ perimeter pressure in the third period, had chances to win in the wildy back-and-forth overtime, and lost because Matthews and Nylander beat Canuck goalie Nikita Tolopilo in the shootout while Elias Pettersson was stopped by Joseph Woll after Jake DeBrusk hit both Toronto posts with his one shot.
And given that this was another in a long string of rebuild games for the Canucks, the most impressive part for Vancouver was the contribution from prospects who will be key to whatever comes next for the franchise.
Rookie defenceman Tom Willander scored from Evander Kane’s brilliant cross-ice pass on a rush, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki, the top forward prospect in the organization, sniped a world-class goal from friend and countryman Liam Ohgren’s pass after a terrific keep-in by Canuck defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
Ohgren was acquired Dec. 12 from the Minnesota Wild in the Quinn Hughes trade, but he and Lekkerimaki have been waiting three years to play together again – since they were teammates for Djurgardens in Stockholm.
Ohgren, who turned 22 on Wednesday, and Lekkerimaki, 21, were so good as junior teammates in Sweden that the Canucks drafted Lekkerimaki 15th overall in 2022 while the Wild chose Ohgren 19th. Their centre at Djurgardens, Noah Ostlund, went 16th to the Buffalo Sabres.
“First of all, we’re good friends outside (hockey),” Ohgren said after the game. “That helps a lot. We’ve known each other for a long time, played with each other a lot. And I think my playstyle and his playstyle fit pretty good together. I’m a hard worker and he plays with a lot of speed. I try to win puck battles for him to make plays and, like today, he uses his shot.”
Playing just the third game of his third NHL stint this season, Lekkerimaki quickly loaded and released a snap shot from the high slot that beat Woll stick-side to open scoring at 1:55 of the second period. It was the first game Foote reunited Ohgren and Lekkerimaki, playing them beside veteran centre Teddy Blueger.
“Yeah, that has happened before, I can tell you that,” Ohgren said of his scoring play with Lekkerimaki. “We had a lot of those combinations back in the day, so now it’s fun getting one here in the NHL as well.
“It’s nice to get that going again. I think we had some good shifts, and we got that goal, which was important. Obviously, it was super fun to play with him.”
Mostly as linemates, Ohgren had 33 goals and 58 points in 30 games for Djurgardens’ junior team in his draft year, while Lekkerimaki had 20 goals and 35 points in 26 games.
Before his recall this week, Lekkerimaki had 10 goals in 16 games in the American Hockey League, twice missing time with injuries. He is still in just his second season of North American Hockey, and Lekkerimaki’s game on Saturday was only his 93rd at the NHL or AHL level. Ohgren has played 70 NHL games for Minnesota and Vancouver, and 53 in the AHL.
“I played a lot in the Abby,” Lekkerimaki said of the Abbotsford Canucks farm team, “so I’m just trying to keep my confidence when I come up here and try to keep going. Obviously, (scoring) is good for my confidence. I thought we played solid, our line.”
Lekkerimaki didn’t play in the final nine minutes of the third period or in overtime. He made a coverage mistake on Nicolas Roy’s goal for Toronto in the second period. Ohgren, however, had one shift late in the third period and two short twirls in overtime while finishing with 15:03 of ice time, his third-most as a Canuck. Lekkerimaki logged 12:06.
“It’s more of the defensive side of it,” Foote explained of his late deployments. “(Lekkerimaki’s) getting there, for sure. The more time he’s with us, the more he’ll know certain things and the trust will be there. It’s just being young; it’s not even a mistake. He’s a smart guy, he’ll get that pretty quick.”
Both Lekkerimaki and Ohgren think the skills and chemistry they developed in junior can translate to the NHL.
“Yeah, I think so,” Lekkerimaki said. “I mean, our passing game is really good. We know where you are. So, yeah, I think we can build from this game and try to bring the same next game.”
Ohgren said: “I think we will only get better and better, every game and every year that we spend together. I mean, we have already spent a lot of time together playing, so if we just keep going I think it can be even better.”
ICE CHIPS – Tolopilo was down at his post too early on Max Domi’s tying goal from the faceoff dot at 2:32 of the third period, but the Canuck callup made a lot of good saves and finished with 39 stops after getting a second straight start from Foote. . . Kampf had a solid game against his former team, finishing 15-6 on faceoffs. . . Before scoring in the shootout, Matthews and Nylander combined for 12 shots for Toronto. Pettersson, who had the second assist on Willander’s goal, had no shots for Vancouver, and was destroyed 11-1 in the faceoff circle. . . The Canucks’ final pre-Olympic games are Monday in Salt Lake City and Wednesday in Las Vegas.