In a time when the Canucks needed to be ramping up their intensity, the boys stumbled out of the gates and dug themselves a 3-0 hole they couldn’t climb out of. A third period push was decent, but it wasn’t enough and wasn’t as dominant as was required. The scoring woes continue for the team, and things aren’t going to get easier on sets of back-to-backs this week. Not much time to figure things out when they play Calgary tonight in a pivotal playoff-race game. If you missed it, here are the highlights:
“We pushed, but it was too late,” Canucks winger Dakota Joshua said. “We had some good looks but just not good enough at the end of the day. We've got to find a way to make it happen.
“We don't really need consolation (prizes) at this point. We need to find a way to score. Tomorrow, it only gets more heated and bigger games, so we need to find a way.”
“We can’t put ourselves in positions like that,” Elias Pettersson said of his team trying to come back from a 3-0 deficit. “It’s hard to win in this league.”
This team is having a hard time scoring, and the expectation the top lines are going to carry you isn’t coming through in Vancouver. This is from Drance at the Athletic (from before last night’s game):
If you want to understand why the Canucks have lacked any offensive venom since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, here’s the key statistic: Across the Canucks’ last eight games, Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil, the club’s top two centremen, have been on the ice for roughly 212 minutes at five-on-five. In those minutes, the Canucks have scored just two goals and have surrendered 12 against.
When your top six is being outscored by a margin that severe, there’s no winning games. You can blame the coaching or goaltending or refereeing all you want, but no team can survive when they’re being outscored 6-1 at the top of their lineup. Honestly, that Vancouver has managed to win three of its last eight games in these circumstances is kind of incredible.
“We didn’t have an answer for their top line,” Tocchet said, flatly. Obviously. Suzuki scored 66 seconds into the game against Petey’s line. Not great, but it was the only shot against that the Canucks surrendered at five-on-five through the first 40 minutes with Pettersson on the ice. Unfortunately it was the one that went in.
“Yeah, quick turnaround,” Tocchet said. “No excuses, even though it's a back-to-back. We can't have that excuse. I think I rolled the four lines (on Tuesday); I don't think anybody was taxed tonight, so I think we should be okay.”
The most positive news from all that was Tocchet talking about Hughes after the game…
“A good possibility he could be in,” Tocchet said as he walked away from the microphones post-game.
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