The Vancouver Canucks entered Saturday evening looking to build on their first win of the season in the previous game against the Florida Panthers. They also had revenge on their minds, after losing 3-2 via a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers in the second game of the 2024-25 campaign.
In respect of these factors, the Canucks went on to achieve both as they beat the Flyers 3-0 behind a phenomenal effort between the pipes by Kevin Lankinen. However, with due respect to Lankinen and the Canucks, the evening was all about Tyler Myers.
That's because Saturday's contest versus the Flyers doubled as the 1,000 NHL game of Myers' career, with him the 400th player to reach this remarkable milestone. Now in his 16th season, this is a of course a testament to his durability, toughness and commitment to the game of hockey.
It's also an indication that the 34-year-old is pretty decent when it comes to playing in the NHL. Certainly, you don't last anywhere near as long as he does, without having some ability!
The Canucks come together to celebrate Myers' achievement
Everyone involved with the Canucks contributed towards making the evening a special occasion. The players all wore 1000th game t-shirts, which had a photo montage of Myers.
The Houston, Texas native's family were in attendance at Wells Fargo Center and pregame in the locker room, he received a surprise from his three young children. A monitor in the dressing room played a video his wife had prepared earlier in the day, with the eldest child Tristan reading the Canucks’ starting lineup and calling out dad’s name
As per Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, this was particularly special, as there were complications surrounding Tristan being born. As Myers said: "He had a traumatic birth. Basically, it led to him having cerebral palsy and bilateral cochlear implants, which allow him to hear. He had a little bit of a speech delay, but he's thriving, and both his mom and I are just incredibly proud of him."
As such, it was no surprise that Myers was extemely emotional about the moment. He said: "To get the video of the starting lineup with the kids, that was an all-time moment. I didn't know it was coming. It really threw me for a loop. ... Tristan did the whole read, which was very emotional just given what he's been through. And to hear him speak the way he does, let alone doing the starting lineup, it was pretty special."
Emotional all around for the Canucks
The emotions extended to the rest of the Canucks. As per the team's X social media account, head coach Rick Tocchet said: "I think everybody got a little emotional. His son and his family doing it, it was actually pretty nice. It was really nice. And just to see Mysie, you could tell it was special for him."
As for the actual game, wouldn't you know it that Myers picked the occasion to register his first point of the 2024-25 season, and it was a beauty. His nifty no-look pass found Brock Boeser, who fired home his third goal of the campaign, to make it 2-0 to the visitors in the second period.
You can decide whether or not Myers meant to set up Boeser in the manner he did. As per X, he had some fun postgame, as he said: "I saw a shade of white fly behind me as we were searching for the puck there, I just threw it in the area and luckily Boes was there. It's cool, I did it on purpose."
All about Myers
Just 50 seconds later, Kiefer Sherwood scored to make it 3-0 to the Canucks and it was effectively game over. Again though, Myers was the main storyline of the evening, and his overall performance resulted in him taking home the game's Second Star.
Myers was asked about reaching 1,000 games, but typical of the man, he made it about the team as a whole. He said: "It means a lot. More so to do it with this group. I love this group. Thinking back to this summer, and not knowing what it was going to be like (about signing a new deal with the Canucks) to be able to come back and do it with these guys and get a win, it's just a great night."
Some Canucks fans might not realise the full extent of just how important the 2008 12th overall draft pick is to the team. As Tocchet said: "He plays off how I am in the room. He's good at cleaning up. If I get upset at the team he's a good guy, when I leave, to keep the guys together, or vice versa. I just feel that he helps us out almost as a coach, because he's an older guy. Guys respect him."
Overall, it's clear how much Myers means to the Canucks both on and off the ice, and it's why there was so much love for him on Saturday evening. There's no way of knowing how much hockey he has left, but however long it ends up being, it won't be long enough for anyone who is connected to him.