J.T. Miller is the heartbeat of the Canucks right now

After losing their first three games, there was certainly some concern about the Vancouver Canucks start to the season. But on Thursday night, they managed to avoid any further concerns by sneaking away with an overtime win against the Florida Panthers, led by an overtime goal from J.T. Miller.

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked on Daily Faceoff Live about how there shouldn’t be a ton of worry over the Canucks start to the season, especially with Miller on the team.

Frank Seravalli: I don’t know if this year is his coming out party because last year was pretty damn good, but I really like everything about J.T. Miller’s game, how much it’s grown, how passionate he is. I think all of that rubs off on the rest of the team. You spend five minutes around that team and you understand not just that he’s the heartbeat, but he’s also the soul of that team too. He cares.

Here’s the thing. I think the Canucks have probably been a little bit unlucky. They blew a couple of leads that they shouldn’t have. They’ve scored fine for surviving to this point, again without their number one goalie Thatcher Demko. They’ve had some miscues defending, but nothing super egregious.

And I’ll say this: the Canucks, four games in, have the exact same number of points that they had four games in last year. So as much as people were concerned about the start, concerned about them being one of the final four teams that didn’t have a win heading into last night’s game, they can all probably breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief today, just knowing that they’re on the board.

You saw how important that was for the Edmonton Oilers getting on the board against the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s just this feeling of relief. Then you carry that over into the next game in Nashville, which they did on Thursday as the Oilers picked up their first road win of the season. All of a sudden, they have a chance to get through this week being three and three and all of a sudden, it’s not really a topic of conversation anymore. The Canucks, going into Philly on Saturday, have the ability to do the same.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, it’s funny how a couple of years ago, fans wanted Miller gone. I remember the conversations about trying to trade him quickly before the extension even kicks in, and again, it just goes to show sometimes patience is the best route.

You can watch the full episode here…