The Canucks lost the special teams battle and their composure in a matchup against a stingy Jets team on Saturday night. They didn’t play poorly, but a few mistakes here and not capitalizing on their chances there were the difference against a solid playoff team. Here are your highlights:
“A couple plays: they made the plays, we didn’t.”
That’s how Tocchet summed up the game. A couple breakdowns in the third, some frustrations with officials, and not capitalizing on their power play opportunities when they had them. Overall it wasn’t a bad game from the home team, but going against the Vezina favourite who hasn’t let in more than 3 goals in 31 games now… they had to be closer to perfect.
“I thought five on five we were really good,” Tocchet continued. “Yeah, they won the special teams battle but I thought we were better five or five. There’s there’s a lot of care in that room so I’m actually happy with the effort.”
There was lament about the officiating – the second game in a row – but that’s something a team has to battle through to win. You can complain, or you can get through it. Myers took the former approach after the game:
“The first hit of the game is not a penalty and he calls it a penalty because I'm a bigger guy. It felt like we were battling two teams tonight. It's unfortunate.”
Garland, however, saw it from a different angle:
“I mean, you know, they're human beings. If they make a mistake, they're not doing it maliciously or for the wrong reasons. I make mistakes, they mistakes. And I really don't know if they made any tonight. I’d have to go back and look. But it was a 2-2 game going into the third and they scored two five-on-five goals.”
Tocc was asked about those two third period goals. “Lost a little composure on those plays,” he said. “So yeah, it's a good learning lesson for us. We've just got to be careful on those things (and) not run out of position.”
And that was it: the Canucks were tied heading into the third, and the game and their composure got away from them. Had their power play stepped up when they need it to (going 0-4 on the night) or the penalty kill staved off another goal (going 2-4 against the 26th ranked PP), things might have been different. But, it’s another needed lesson to learn heading into the postseason about managing emotions within the game.
“Just don't get frustrated,” was Tocc’s advice after the game. “I think we were getting frustrated with some things out there, and just don't let it fester. Because then what happens when you get frustrated, you run out of position or you do something that's uncharacteristic. We've got to build a resolve when you're in tight situations that you've got to make sure you keep your head. That's all.”
I think frustrated was the word of the day.
“Of course, there’s frustrations but nothing we can’t handle,” Hughes said afterwards. “All we’re going to do is just move on to the next day.”
Thankfully they can put this game behind them soon, as they head to Minnisota to play tomorrow afternoon.
To the comments:
(Quotes from MacIntyre, Patrick Johnston, and NHL.com)
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