The lack of shots and the lack of goals has been a problem for far too long now. And there are a number of reasons for that. Yet this isn’t a column about that. It’s just a cold hard truth for the Vancouver Canucks. But let’s put it aside for a moment. Because while the Canucks have to recognize their inability to create offence is the team’s biggest issue and has been a for a while now, the hope was that defensive solidity could carry the day and allow the hockey club to remain competitive in what is turning out to be one of the ugliest playoff chases in recent memory.
Sure, maybe they can’t score to save their lives, but just look at them defend. That was the battle cry leading into the 4 Nations break when the Canucks went on a 6-1-1 roll and gave up next to nothing for the better part of two weeks.
The team felt it had addressed one of its biggest early season weaknesses by reallocating assets gained in the JT Miller trade and shoring up its blueline with the addition of Marcus Pettersson. And he’s come very much as advertised. Furthermore, the club couldn’t deny the growth and development of rookie Elias Pettersson in Abbotsford and plugged him into the line-up in late January. And he’s arrived ahead of schedule and has been everything the organization could have hoped for from a just turned 21-year-old in his first full season in North America.
Add in Filip Hronek’s best stretch of hockey of the season, Tyler Myers turning back the clock, and Derek Forbort quietly going about his business and this team looked set to try to defend its way to a Western Conference playoff berth. Oh and almost all of the success prior to the 4 Nations came with captain Quinn Hughes on the shelf. Once he returned, look out. The Canucks would surely be cooking with gas.
All of that good will about an improved defence went out the window with brutal beatdowns in Anaheim and Seattle. This supposedly stout Canucks defence was torched for 11 goals by two teams below the Canucks in the standings. The club’s shaky third period performance in Los Angeles on Wednesday was forgotten when Conor Garland scored in overtime. The thinking at that point was that the Canucks could – and would – salvage their five game road trip with wins over the Ducks and Kraken.
Instead, they imploded at Honda Center on Thursday incapable of defending Anaheim’s rush attack. And on Saturday, it wasn’t so much that Seattle’s speed did them in, it was shoddy in-zone defending that was their undoing.
Sure, the Canucks could have used a few saves both nights and it should be made abundantly clear that Seattle had good fortune on its side with three consecutive deflection goals – all tipped out of mid air.
Clearly Quinn Hughes is playing hurt. That much was obvious before Rick Tocchet confirmed it following Saturday night’s loss. But it doesn’t excuse the rest of the bunch.
On the five game road trip, the Canucks managed just the one win in LA and were outscored 18-10. That, in itself, is not a good look. But it’s made particularly worse when you consider the team was in every game, had a lead in the second period in all five contests and was somehow outscored 9-0 in the five third periods.
Yes, they needed goals to win those games. But they also needed to defend better in crunch time. This group as currently constructed isn’t going to suddenly become a high-scoring offensive machine. Its only path forward is to choke the life out of opponents by sticking to the buzzwords: staples, structure and protecting the guts of the ice.
And when that plan goes out the window as spectacularly as it did in the past two games, then there is no foundation for this team to build on.
The goal scoring, well that remains a work in progress. But now suddenly the defence looks like it’s an issue again, too. Maybe it was just two bad games at the wrong time. Maybe. But after the Ducks and Kraken skated circles around them, it’s fair to wonder if the talk of this team’s beefed-up defence being the Canucks new-found identity was a tad premature.
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