Vancouver Canucks rely on a young core of talented players

The Vancouver Canucks, who will face the Golden Knights’ Sunday in a second-round playoff series, began the NHL postseason seeded seventh in the Western Conference.

The upstarts from Western Canada defeated the Minnesota Wild in four games in the play-in round, then dethroned the defending champion St. Louis Blues in six.

“I think what I’ve been most impressed with, they’re a different team than they were prior to the pause,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “They’ve got a heightened awareness of defending and being harder to play against defensively. And when you add some of the skill and speed and some of the offense they’re capable of generating, including their special teams, I think that’s made them a real dangerous team.”

Vancouver advanced by relying on an exciting young core of players who have adjusted well to the postseason spotlight. Six of the Canucks’ top eight scorers in the regular season were 25 or younger. Tanner Pearson, who turned 28 on Aug. 10, is the oldest of that group.

Vancouver has also had three straight finalists for the Calder Trophy for best rookie. Brock Boeser, a goal-scoring winger, finished second in 2018. Center Elias Pettersson won it last season. And defenseman Quinn Hughes, who led all rookies in assists (45) and points (53), is a current finalist. He’s considered one of two favorites to win, along with Colorado defenseman Cale Makar.

The Canucks have a few key veterans who supplement their young core. Left wing J.T. Miller arrived via trade from Tampa Bay in the offseason and led the team in goals (27) and points (72). The power forward typically plays with Pettersson on a dangerous top line.

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom, a pending unrestricted free agent, also had a strong year. The 30-year-old had a .918 save percentage and 2.75 goals-against average in the regular season. He’s performed well in his first playoff games, too. Markstrom has a .929 save percentage and has allowed more than three goals in only one of 10 starts.

“Their best player is their goalie,” Knights left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “We’re definitely going to have to have some traffic in front and try to bring pucks to the net and challenge him.”

Vancouver’s weakness is its depth. Captain Bo Horvat centers a solid second line, but the bottom six isn’t special. The Canucks’ blue line isn’t dynamic outside of Hughes, either.

They make up for that by being good on special teams. Vancouver had the NHL’s fourth-best power play (24.2 percent) and 16th-best penalty kill (80.5 percent). Their percentages were similar their first 10 playoff games.

“We’ve got to play physical against their skilled guys and I mean, they have a lot of good players over there, so it’s going to be a good challenge for us,” Marchessault said. “But it’s nothing I don’t think our group can’t handle.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.