J.T. Miller sent surprising text to Rick Tocchet after Game 4

Following a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of their second round series, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet expressed his disappointment and frustration in his players in the post-game press conference.

“There’s times there we have some guys, you know where the puck’s gonna go, you just gotta get there before the other guy, and I think we’re pausing. Some guys are playing pause hockey. And you can’t win if you have five or six passengers.”

“I mean it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with some guys I don’t know if they thought it was the playoffs. We can’t play with 12 guys.”

Tocchet always keeps his players accountable, and on Wednesday, he got the proof that he’s taught them well. The head coach revealed how his centre J.T. Miller texted him apologizing for his performance in Game 4.

“It’s an honest group,” said Tocchet on Wednesday. “I mean, J.T. Miller texted me today, ‘sorry, I had a bad (game).’

“This guy’s been unreal for me. One play, two plays doesn’t define (it). Who cares about that? That games over. He’s been a monster force, he’ll be a monster for us. That’s the way we work around here.

“We’re going to be ready to play a Game 5, we got great fans, it’s going to be a fun game to play in. We gotta embrace it. My message is its there. Don’t regret it in the summer, ‘I wish I would’ve played harder,’ (or) ‘I wish I would’ve blocked that shot.’ It’s there for us.”

Miller played 19 minutes in Game 4, and went 5/14 in the faceoff circle. He unfortunately couldn’t stop Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard from scoring the game-winning goal with 38 seconds left on the clock.

Since the series got underway, Miller has more than often been pined against the lines of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. On Wednesday, Tocchet confirmed that he will not break up Miller’s line.

“The Lindholm line has been good most of the series, the Miller line’s been good, I’m not sure breaking those guys up is the right thing to do,” he said. “But saying that, we do have to get some more offence and we have to get some more from certain people.”

Game 5 between the Canucks and Oilers heads back to Vancouver on Thursday night.

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