‘It was a protracted journey’: Canucks’ Tolopilo caps NHL debut with win over Sharks
VANCOUVER – The 40th participant to put on a Vancouver Canucks jersey this season, goalie Nikita Tolopilo mentioned Monday that the Nationwide Hockey League is a great distance from his residence city. He’s from Minsk, in Belarus.
However, actually, the NHL is a great distance from wherever you’re from.
One of the best league on the planet is only a fantasy, an inconceivable dream, for many gamers rising up. It’s an extremely tough vacation spot to search out, and even tougher to remain for these fortunate sufficient to get that chance.
On Monday, every week previous his 25th birthday, Tolopilo, the undrafted “mission” who spent this season and final within the American Hockey League, stopped 15 of 16 pictures in his NHL debut because the Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Recreation 81.
Abbotsford Canuck defence prospect Kirill Kudryavtsev made the quick drive with Tolopilo, his AHL roommate, to Vancouver and likewise performed his first NHL sport.
One other late-season recall, Aatu Raty, received two key attracts in extra time to offer the Canucks possession earlier than shortly scrambling off for a change, together with simply earlier than Jake DeBrusk’s game-winner with 18 seconds remaining.
Linus Karlsson, who got here up from the AHL 4 weeks in the past, tied the sport on a rebound at 9:03 of the third interval because the Canucks rallied to win after North Vancouver’s Macklin Celebrini, the Sharks’ excellent rookie-of-the-year candidate, put a puck bar-down behind Tolopilo within the second interval.
The gamers on Canuck media-relations post-game menu have been Karlsson, Tolopilo and Vittorio Mancini, one other rookie defenceman already auditioning for a roster spot subsequent season.
Vancouver’s lineup included seven gamers who spent swaths of this season within the minors.
So, sure, rubbish time feels a little bit totally different on the finish of an NHL common season. (The Canucks have been eradicated from the Stanley Cup playoff race 5 days in the past).
However these are like playoff video games for the prospects, and most of them will advance to a different one Wednesday when Vancouver’s season formally ends in opposition to the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Area.
“That is like playoff video games for me,” Karlsson, a 25-year-old who has spent most of three seasons within the AHL, mentioned after his third objective in 22 NHL video games. “I like to play within the NHL, and I attempt to present that each sport. Sure, these video games are essential, for certain.
“I’m simply looking for a task to make the NHL, and proper now they want net-front guys and I’m attempting to be one.”
Sturdy on the puck and alongside the boards, Karlsson scored from Teddy Blueger’s rebound to cap a three-on-two rush that was began by 21-year-old defenceman Elias Pettersson, who all of a sudden arrived within the NHL in January and doesn’t seem like he’ll be going again to the American League subsequent season.
“Yeah, there’s plenty of Abby guys,” Raty mentioned. “Abby’s had an incredible season thus far, so plenty of guys are getting the possibility to indicate for subsequent 12 months, which is nice. I am certain it is a little bit bit totally different right here than the tip of final 12 months as a result of we’re not enjoying for the playoffs anymore. However I imply, these are large video games for everybody to. . . make an impression. And clearly, making your debut within the NHL is an unbelievable feeling.”
Tolopilo and Kudryavtsev, who blocked three pictures throughout 13:33 of ice time, have been the fifth and sixth Canucks to play their first NHL sport this season.
“I want my mother and father might watch the sport, but it surely’s so sophisticated for us to get a visa,” Tolopilo mentioned. “However I feel they loved the sport at 5 within the morning again residence in Minsk. I feel my mom was so nervous, greater than me, for certain.
“I am simply so glad that I get an opportunity. Like, it was a protracted journey for me. I am so completely happy, like, what I’ve achieved earlier than. Now. . . much more, put in laborious work in the summertime. We’re not achieved in Abby (for the AHL playoffs). I wish to have a long term there, too. Simply to construct from this sport, I feel it’ll give me a little bit bit extra confidence, for certain.”
Tolopilo mentioned he was informed on Friday that he would begin in opposition to the Sharks, and insisted his game-day preparation was the identical as all the time: skate, sleep, eat, play.
“My resort, it was a little bit bit loud upstairs,” he informed reporters. “I do not know what occurred, so my nap wasn’t lengthy sufficient, however nonetheless good.
“I do not suppose it’s essential to discover plenty of motivation; the NHL, it is the very best league. Like, I used to be dreaming about that since I used to be a child. I watched highlights, tried to look at the (video games) on-line. My hometown in Belarus is way away from right here. You simply, like, wish to play right here.”
Raty, who spent many of the final two seasons as Tolopilo’s AHL teammate, mentioned: “Certainly one of his strengths is simply nerves of metal. I do not suppose he is ever been nervous in his life. And he is actually huge on the market.”
The six-foot-six goalie was strictly organizational depth when the season started, the projected backup within the minors. However his type – and the sudden struggles of Arturs Silovs, final season’s Stanley Cup playoffs hero for the Canucks – has allowed the Belarusian to play 34 video games this season.
“Tolopilo, I assumed he was huge, he was good,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet mentioned. “You recognize, he did not have plenty of motion, however generally it is tougher to play these video games. I assumed he did a pleasant job.
“It is good they’re getting a style. However nothing’s assured. That is one thing that, you understand, they see the sunshine on the finish of the tunnel. Now, the place are you? What are you prepared to do that summer season?”
• With the second help on the successful objective giving him 409 factors within the NHL, Canuck captain Quinn Hughes tied Alex Edler for the franchise document for factors by a defenceman. It took Edler 925 video games to amass that whole; Hughes has performed 432.
