2 weeks Ago By Patrick Johnston
You’ve heard this before but it bears repeating: When J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser are on their game, there’s just no getting the puck off them.
Over the past two seasons or so — certainly since the arrival of Rick Tocchet as Vancouver Canucks head coach — the duo have been among the game’s best at controlling play in their own zone and then burying teams at the offensive end. The numbers are truly staggering when you look at how the Miller-Boeser line has performed this season, especially when Jake DeBrusk has been with them. According to MoneyPuck.
com , in the nearly 71 minutes of five-on-five ice time they’ve played as a trio, the Canucks have controlled a remarkable 71.2 per cent of the quality shots taken. Also known as expected goals, it’s the probability a shot taken from a particular spot will wind up a goal, based on the history of shots taken from there going back a decade and a half.
That rate is third-best in the league, behind only the Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman trio in Edmonton and the Aho-Svechnikov-Jarvis line in Carolina. It might be a surprising stat, given Miller has had some sub-par games so far this season. But the fact he and his lineups have been producing even as he battles through elbow, back and ankle issues is impressive.
DeBrusk laughed a little when asked about learning to play with Miller and now Elias Pettersson . “Oh man, I’m still figuring it out,” he said with a laugh. Both centres play the game with high pace.
“It’s about learning the tendencies, where they like to go,” he explained. In DeBrusk’s case, so far so good. Tyler Myers has watched Miller and Boeser excel as a duo for several seasons now, raising the game of whichever winger lines up with them.
“You can just tell they spend a lot of time in just knowing where each other is going to be,” he said. “Boes, I think one of his elite skills is knowing where to go to get open for a shot.” And with a slick passer like Miller, that’s a deadly combination.
“J.T.’s got such tremendous vision .
.. they mesh really well together,” former teammate Bo Horvat said Thursday, before his New York Islanders faced his old team at Rogers Arena.
Beyond the pair’s offensive prowess, that expected-goals number doesn’t happen without strong play in the defensive zone as well. Miller has worked hard on his two-way game, but Horvat really sees Boeser as raising the duo’s play to a new level. “Brock’s under appreciated in how well he plays defensively.
Obviously, we all know he can put the puck in the net. He has his whole career. Last year spoke for itself.
But it’s little things that he does in the D zone to create those opportunities,” Horvat added. “He’s so good at his timing. He’s really good, too, in the offensive zone, being able to hit those holes and know where he’s got to be to score that goal.
” Miller is known for spending time after practice talking the game on-ice with his teammates and coaches. Tocchet has noted many times how Miller will come to him or an assistant coach with a question about a play, video tablet in hand, ready to break down what worked and didn’t work. Boeser, Myers said, is much the same.
He’s constantly breaking down game footage. Boeser’s hockey sense is severely underrated. “Brock’s hockey sense was always one of his special skills.
And I think each year that we’ve played together, he’s grown in that way. Even with it being so good to begin with,” Horvat said. Boeser remains out with a suspected concussion and there remains no time frame for his return.
Whenever he is back, his impact will be pretty obvious. There are many reasons why the Canucks have been successful so far this season, but No. 1 has been strong defensively play.
They’ve yielded the fewest shots off rebounds in the league this season, for instance, just 24. The lack of rebound chances against tells us Vancouver’s defence corps is doing a good job of boxing out the opposition. Further to this defensive prowess: The Canucks have given up the fewest high-danger chances against this season as well: a total of 100.
Their game is rounding into form. [email protected].
