Monday night was Conor Garland’s 400th career NHL game and J.T. Miller made sure everyone knew it.
When Garland arrived at the rink, every single player on the Canucks was decked out in a bright blue t-shirt with Garland’s name and face emblazoned on it, commemorating the milestone event. Miller had them made for the team, though he regretted not making enough for everyone in the organization to wear one.
“We had a meeting today and I’m like, ‘What are these t-shirts?’” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “I look and 23 guys got Gars t-shirts on. That’s pretty cool.”
It was a chirp, of course, from a master of chirping. 400 career games is a milestone, yes, but not one that typically gets much attention. Players who reach 1,000 games get a silver stick but there are no sticks made of lesser precious metals for previous centennial milestones along the way.
The funniest thing is, the t-shirt wasn’t even Miller’s idea.
“That was my idea,” said Garland after the game. “Not for me! For someone else. They got me.”
“I gotta admit, it was his idea to get somebody else and I thought that was a great opportunity to get him with it,” said Miller. “I’m sure he told you it was his idea…It’s good to see the guys get a chuckle.”
Notably, Elias Pettersson played his 400th career game just one week ago on April 2, also against the Golden Knights. If Pettersson was indeed the original target, perhaps the timing was just ever so slightly off with his 400th game coming on the road.
That kind of silly joke can make a serious difference for a team like the Canucks, who have had to strike a balance between their business-like approach and keeping things light across a long, 82-game season.
“Of course! I wish it wasn’t me on it,” said Garland when asked if a goofy t-shirt can help the group. “That’s what Millsy does so well for us. It’s nice to come in and everyone has a laugh in the morning. It was a big game for us tonight and it relieved some stress. I know one guy wore it to the game — that was uncalled for.
“But it’s nice. It is. It’s a long year and when you’re in a bit of a stretch, you can use something like that and that’s what makes Millsy Millsy.”
The lightness certainly seemed to help in the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Despite falling behind early, the Canucks rallied, led by none other than the man of the hour, Conor Garland, who had a two-goal game. The crowd even chanted Garland’s name, not after one of his goals, but after a power move down the wing where he set up a scoring chance with a one-handed pass.
Meanwhile, Brock Boeser hit a big milestone of his own with his 40th goal of the season, while J.T. Mille reached 100 points for the first time in his career with three assists.
“I wouldn’t say my milestone’s the same,” said Garland self-effacingly. “It’s games played, I just have to put my gear on. They’re getting 100 points and 40 goals, that’s the cool stuff. Those guys are elite players.”
After the game ended and Garland was named the first star, the crowd chanted Garland’s name again. When rinkside reporter Kate Pettersen mentioned he had scored his 100th career goal in his 400th career game, the crowd roared, cutting off any attempt he might have made at actually answering her question. Garland seemed to get a little misty-eyed and perhaps a little embarrassed by the adulation, and said, “That’s good for me, thanks guys,” before saluting the crowd as he left the ice.
"I might go down as the worst player ever to have their name chanted in a stadium," said Garland. "It's obviously cool. That's the reward of playing in a Canadian market, playing in a big market like Vancouver. The first two years were tough for our whole group; this one's been pretty good. If the environment's anything like that in the playoffs, it's going to be a really cool place to play."
As much as 400 games may not seem like much against some of the grander totals played by NHL stars, it’s a major accomplishment for someone like Garland. He was a fifth-round pick in his second year of eligibility and worked his way up to the NHL despite a couple of underwhelming seasons in the AHL and a stature that is very generously listed as 5’10” by the NHL.
“Obviously, he's not the biggest guy but he shows heart and he finds a way,” said Elias Pettersson.
“Not many people probably thought I could ever come here but when you make it and you get your foot in the door, you never want to have it slam shut on you,” said Garland. “It's just about staying and playing as hard as you can for as long as you can.”
Garland played his 400th career game on Monday night and all he got was this lousy t-shirt when I watched this game.
- Tocchet has known Garland the longest of anyone on the team, having coached his first three seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. So, it was extra special for him to see Garland get lauded by the crowd.
- “The players kid me that he’s my favourite, you know, teacher’s pet sort of thing,” said Tocchet. “There’s a little bit of fun there. Millsy always busts my balls about that…[Garland] had to change his game into being a more complete player…I told him when we were practicing, ‘You’re not a 17-minute player, you’re just not.’ And he looked at me and goes, ‘Well, you better make me one.’ It helped my career, to be honest with you. Like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I’ve got to help you out.’ We have a good bond, me and Gars.”
- The Canucks started this game with two excellent shifts and looked hungry to make up for their last loss to the Golden Knights but it was completely undone by a Brock Boeser penalty on the backcheck and a quick power play goal by Jack Eichel to open the scoring. The puck went right through Arturs Silovs like he was Kitty Pryde.
- That was Vegas’s first shot of the game and they scored their second goal on their second shot. Carson Soucy inexplicably left Eichel — who is, I would remind you, Jack Eichel — all alone on a Vegas rush and Jonathan Marchessault found him with a cross-seam pass for a wide-open net after Silovs failed to push all the way across the net on the pass. Perhaps Silovs assumed that Soucy must have been covering someone in front of the net and that Marchessault’s pass was going to that someone rather than a player 20 feet away from Soucy.
- That could have been a breaking point for the Canucks but they instead rallied thanks to the most urgent PP since I drove eight hours straight on a road trip without a rest stop break. With both Pettersson and Garland screening a Quinn Hughes’ point shot, Logan Thompson coughed up a rebound to the side of the net and Garland did the spade work to shovel it in to make it 2-1.
- Pettersson and Garland provided the screen again on the Canucks’ second goal, this time mashing together side-by-side to make a double-wide screen. Like Sir Mix-A-Lot, Thompson had a big round thing in his face as he tried his best to look around the right side of Pettersson’s butt, only for Hughes’ point shot to go past Thompson on his left.
- After getting beaten for two goals on two shots, Silovs settled in admirably, recovering to stop 20 of 21 shots the rest of the way. His biggest save came on a similar cross-seam pass as Eichel’s second goal but this time Silovs read it like a children’s picture book — quickly and easily — sliding across to rob Noah Hanifin.
- Silovs had one more shaky moment to get through, however, as an undisciplined penalty by Soucy away from the play gave the Golden Knights their third power play of the game. Silovs couldn’t quite get a good look at Hanifin’s wrist shot from the point and whiffed on it with his blocker to make it 3-2.
- After that, the Canucks took over the game, with Brock Boeser scoring his 40th goal of the season to tie things up a few minutes later. Boeser took a pass from Pettersson, then wheeled to the top of the offensive zone. His check, anticipating a drop pass to Hughes, stepped away from Boeser, giving him room to rotate into a shooting position like a Marder III Tank Destroyer and whip the puck past yet another Pettersson screen.
- “That sucks,” quipped Miller about his now-former linemate hitting 40 goals. “I’ve been telling him he can’t score without me, so he’s been shoving it in my face a little bit right now. He’s a hell of a player and he’s proved that he can score a lot of goals in this league and I’m really glad to see all of that coming together for him…I’m just really happy for him.”
- “[Pettersson’s] net-front was terrific,” said Tocchet. “He was in front for all three goals. It’s hard to be in front of the net taking an ass-kicking and I thought that was the key [for him].”
- Soucy had a bit of a rough night but he made a fantastic play on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. He neatly knocked down the puck in the neutral zone, then skated up the left wing. His cross-ice pass didn’t connect with Garland, but Dakota Joshua jumped on the loose puck and fed it back to Miller for a cross-body one-timer that Thompson couldn’t snag, dropping the rebound into the crease for Garland to jam in for his second of the game.
- Miller’s assist on the goal was his third of the night, bringing him to 100 points on the season, a new career high after reaching 99 points two years ago. He’s just the seventh player in franchise history to hit the century mark.
- “You know I downplay everything but it’s pretty special,” said Miller. “We have a lot of work to do and I keep going back to that. I mean, I’ll have an extra beer tonight but other than that, it’s going to be something I can maybe enjoy in the summer.”
- Garland certainly seemed to appreciate Miller’s accomplishment, giving him a playful smack on the arm on the bench after watching the replay on the big screen.
- “Two years ago in Edmonton, we were on the same line,” said Garland, referencing the team’s final game of the season in 2022 when Miller was stuck on 99 points. “I must have missed, like, three or four in the third, so I always tell him it’s my fault he didn’t hit [100 points].”
- The third period saw the dirtiest play of the game from Brett Howden, who hauled Nikita Zadorov down from behind in what was part can-opener and part slew-foot. Zadorov is lucky he didn’t blow out his knee or badly twist his ankle on the play, which hopefully wasn’t retribution for Zadorov’s hit on Howden in their last meeting, because if that was an intentional attempt to injure Zadorov, that would make it far worse than if it was just getting tangled up in the heat of the moment.
- The Canucks played an outstanding third period to defend their one-goal lead, giving the Golden Knights little room to operate. I thought Ilya Mikheyev was solid all night but was particularly good on a third-period penalty kill to hold the lead. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come from Mikheyev.
- Pettersson made a big defensive play to break up the Golden Knights’ most dangerous offensive zone possession of the period. With Anthony Mantha holding the puck down low, Pettersson took away the passing lane tot he slot, then took away the puck, forcing it up the boards where Mikheyev and Boeser were able to clear the zone. Then Mikheyev pursued the puck up ice to get it deep and ensure his linemates could change behind him. It was a bunch of little things adding up to a huge play.
- As involved as Pettersson was all night, it’s kind of amazing he only ended up with a single assist. He came inches away from scoring an empty net goal with a bank shot off the boards, which would have been pretty cool. Instead, it was an icing, which only sounds pretty cool, on account of the ice.
