Vancouver Canucks turned Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet just advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in his first year with his new club.
The Flyers scored in overtime on Wednesday night against his 2024 Vancouver playoff goalie Arturs Silovs, now with the Pittsburgh Penguins, to close out their opening round series in six games.
Flyers defenceman Cam York ripped a shot from the point through traffic off the right post and in for the 1-0 victory at the 17:32 mark of OT.
Tocchet won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL with the Canucks in 2024, and although the playoffs have nothing to do with it, he’s a worthy candidate to win it again this spring.
His Philadelphia club surged in the second half of the regular season to finish 3rd in the Metropolitan Division.
Despite the loss, Silovs was outstanding in three playoff starts, taking over for Stuart Skinner before game four. He’ll finish his brief stint with a goals against average of 1.66 and a save percentage well above 92%.
Canucks fans in Vancouver and Abbotsford had a love affair with the now 25-year-old Latvian. In 2024, with club number-one Thatcher Demko injured, Silovs backstopped the local NHL club to within one win of the Western Conference Final, losing game-7 of the second round series 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers.
One year later he was voted the Calder Cup playoffs most valuable player after winning everything with the Abby Canucks. His AHL goals against average that postseason was 2.01 and his save percentage a whopping .931.
With both Demko and Kevin Lankinen locked up in contracts, Vancouver traded Silovs last July 13th for winger Chase Stillman and a 4th-round NHL draft pick in 2027.
That move came two-and-a-half months after Tocchet decided to move on to greener pastures.
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