Tell me if you’ve heard this before: Canucks give up first goal, battle back, get lead, blow lead in third period, lose in overtime. The script writers are getting lazy. The team found themselves in a rerun on Monday night in Montreal, losing 5-4 in OT. If you wanna see:
Remember last year, when the Canucks were unshakable and they defended extremely well? This year they’ve lost 6 times in 19 games when holding the lead, and in the last 5 games they’ve done it 3 times with leads of 4-1, 3-1 and, last night, 3-2.
“It seemed last year we were a lot more comfortable protecting the lead,” Miller said after he put together a two goal two assist performance. “(We) still played aggressive, didn't just sit back. Right now, it seems like we're getting overwhelmed with the lead a little bit and, I don't know, obviously. . . we've done it a handful of times now.
“You've got to want to be out there. I think whenever it starts to go against you, you start to maybe double guess and squeeze a little tighter, and that goes for the whole team. So we’ve got to find a way, when we get a lead, to bear down on our battles and keep being aggressive.”
The others on the team know it and feel it. They can see it happening, they just haven’t been able to do anything about it.
“We're probably sitting back too much,” Blueger said. “You know, we've got scored on a couple times, so I think we're probably trying to be too cautious. Then you're just inviting pressure. And when they pressure. . . mistakes are inevitable. I think we need to do a better job of kind of staying on the front foot, possessing the puck a little bit better and not just trying to dump it in and change.”
“I don't know an answer for what's different this year from last year,” Garland said. “Just not good enough.”
The team generally did enough to win last night. JT Miller had a big game (either upping his trade value or showing he wants to stay), Quinn Hughes came back from a four game injury-absence (with a heavily-braced hand), Lankinen made some huge saves to keep the team in it, and Lekkermaki scored a sweet goal in his first game back up… but the team’s inability to defend and defend a lead resulted in another loss.
To put it in perspective, the Canucks have only won one game since November when scoring fewer than four goals. They’re also 7-4-6 this year when scoring first, when they went 38-11-4 last year with the same lead.
“You know, we're really good at times throughout a game,” Myers said. “And then we slip a little bit. We get away from our details within our system, and we've got to clean that part up.
“A lot of good things, but we're not doing good things consistently enough.”
Tocchet is usually a pretty optimistic guy, but even this season is wearing on him. There’s been a lot more adversity this year, but the team is going to have to find some strength to get above it.
“With the process we’re going at, we’re too inconsistent, but in all fairness to the guys there has been a lot thrown at this team,” Tocchet said following the morning skate. “Injuries and lot of different lineups and free agents. A lot of different things.
“I’m going to take the positives. We’re (five games) over .500 and we’re not far off from some really good teams. If we can regain ourselves and get some players back and get back to the identity we had last year. Get back to a team that can be good.”
As good as last season?
“That’s a good question,” admitted Tocchet.
The team is back in action Wednesday night in Washington, with Petey expected to draw back into the lineup.
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