SUNDAY BEST: NO BROKEN HEARTS THIS VALENTINE’S DAY

TORONTO, ON — An eventful week in Vancouver finished up with a message from ownership and a much-needed win for the Canucks to snap a six-game losing streak.

The Canucks have performed better in their last three games and were finally rewarded with a 3-1 win over the Flames Saturday night.

Prior to the game, Canucks chairman and co-owner Francesco Aquilini poured water on the fire overtaking the city and voiced (via Twitter) his support for GM Jim Benning, head coach Travis Green and the management staff. If change is coming, it’ll take the form of roster moves.

Yes, the Aquilini family was frustrated by the team’s performance. And yes, they had considered their options – multiple sources confirmed to TFP. But as Francesco Aquilini said in one of his tweets, “we’re sticking to the path were on.”

So now the attention refocuses on Jim Benning (for a different reason) and the Canucks roster.

Jake Virtanen and Loui Eriksson jumped back in the lineup Saturday and played on a line with Jay Beagle. The team won, so last night’s lineup (and pre-game wardrobe call) will probably stay the same for Monday’s game. But how much longer depends on how well the team performs.

The vultures were circling, and Benning certainly hasn’t been dealing from a position of strength – which is probably why he hasn’t pulled the trigger on a trade. He’d like to further bolster the team’s defence, so we’ll tabs on that. Benning’s trade gun may be holstered, but his trigger finger is itchy. He just needs to find the right target.

Huby Duby Doo

It was curious to see Jonathan Huberdeau’s ice time fluctuate over a four-game span.

After putting up a five-point night on Feb. 4 in just 14:55 of total ice time, Huberdeau played 17:19 and 19:06 in the next two games, respectively. Then, his TOI dropped to 12:27 on Feb. 9 where he had two assists.

Now, I understand the frustration from Panthers fans about the topic. He’s one of the team’s best players and he loves playing in South Florida, so why make it a story? Well, when multiple people bring it up, I’m forced to look into it.

As I mentioned on NHL Network this past Thursday, Huberdeau in no way wants out of Florida. He has a full no-movement clause and has no desire to be traded. But some hockey people around the NHL speculated the club was trying to send a message – not necessarily to him, but to other teams. If that were the case, his NMC would squash that attempt pretty quickly, right now.

Huberdeau’s powerplay time, analytically, has surpassed his five-on-five performance, so it’s easy to suggest his coach wants to see him more responsible at even strength. Huberdeau is currently the fifth highest forward in even strength TOI per game; he is tops in powerplay and second in overtime minutes.

His total ice time did go up the last two games – 16:39 on Feb. 11 and 18:25 Saturday night – to a figure I’m sure he’s more comfortable with. Consistency is key, though, both from a TOI perspective and a performance one (just look at the Montreal Canadiens, who scratched Tomas Tatar last night for his deficiencies lately).

With how well the Panthers are playing this season, I can’t imagine this evolves into a bigger issue.

Penguins not targeting Fleury, says Vegas

Depending on who you want to believe, the Pittsburgh Penguins either reached out to the Vegas Golden Knights about bringing back Marc-Andre Fleury or they didn’t.

In the off-season Penguins then-GM Jim Rutherford inquired about re-acquiring Fleury from the Golden Knights. Obviously, those attempts didn’t work out as Vegas had no interest in retaining any salary. On Wednesday night, The Bobfather, Bob McKenzie reported on NBCSN then interim-GM Patrik Allvin made an offer to acquire Fleury during his brief stint in that role.

While there’s no reason to ever place any doubt in McKenzie’s reporting, the Golden Knights are fully denying this took place. Personally, I’m sure some kind of discussion occurred. But a high-ranking Vegas source told me the incident in question never happened and Fleury isn’t being moved back to Pittsburgh.

And to squash other talk that’s floated around in recent weeks, Fleury isn’t being dealt to the Buffalo Sabres or New Jersey Devils, either.

‘Flower’ has been outstanding in net for the Knights this season; he is 6-1-0 with a 1.58 goals-against-average, a .934 save percentage and one shutout in seven games. Those are Vezina-campaign numbers. Even with Robin Lehner in the fold, I can’t imagine Vegas wants to move one of the hottest goalies in the NHL right now.

Could Pittsburgh address their goaltending position elsewhere? Possibly. But I suspect GM Ron Hextall will first try to bolster that blueline.

Seattle’s on track

A quick note about the NHL’s 32nd franchise... The Seattle Kraken are on track to make their final expansion fee payment in early-spring and once they do, they will officially become part of the National Hockey League.

Kraken GM Ron Francis and his staff are going to be getting into the nitty-gritty of shaping a roster in the next few months and that will include trade talk with the 31 other teams in the league. Keep in mind, Vegas will not be part of the expansion draft, so any discussions with Seattle could simply be related to shedding salary. The Golden Knights also do not get a piece of Seattle’s expansion fee.

Not So, Quick!

Are in seeing a changing of the guard in Los Angeles? Cal Petersen has played in five straight games for the Kings – six of the team’s last seven games – and his numbers have been significantly better than those of veteran, two-time Stanley Cup champ Jonathan Quick.

In eight games this season, Petersen has a 2.49 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Quick, in six games, has a 4.05 GAA and an .867 save percentage. Cal’s also nine years younger than Quick.

I’m curious to see how Kings head coach Todd McLellan maneuvers his goaltending tandem the rest of the season. The Kings aren’t out of the playoff picture, but they need to play much better, and consistently, if they want to sniff the fourth spot in the West Division come May.

We spoke with Kings captain Anze Kopitar on our show “The Hot Stove” on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio on Saturday and he reaffirmed the confidence the team has in both Petersen and Quick.

“Even last year, we saw quite a bit of that too,” he said of Petersen’s emergence. “I think he’s very steady, and at the end of the day what you need from your goalie is to just give you a chance each and every night. Cal has certainly done that. So has Quickie. This year, they’ve been good for us back there and hopefully they can continue playing like that.

“Cal has established himself as an NHL goalie, and that’s very good for us.”

[You an listen to the full Kopitar interview here]

Quick has two years left on his contract after this season and comes with a $5.8 million salary cap hit. The Kings have the most salary cap space in the NHL, so moving him isn’t due to finances. I’ll be interested to see if teams call Kings GM Rob Blake leading up to the April 12 trade deadline about the veteran netminder. And even if Quick stays in L.A., I’d be surprised if Petersen is exposed in the July expansion draft.