Why fatigue this early is a red-flag for Canucks

Willie Desjardins offered up an interesting theory in the wake of the Canucks 4-2 loss in Anaheim on Sunday night. The coach suggested that his team may have exerted too much energy digging out of a 3-0 hole the night before in Los Angeles and, as a result, had little left in the tank to face the Ducks less than 24 hours later.

In essence, the coach suggested his team’s pursuit of a single point at the Staples Center hamstrung their ability to compete for two points the following night ably.

“I don’t know if we paid for it a little bit trying to come back against LA — I hope that’s what it is,” Desjardins said post-game at the Honda Center.  “I thought we were tired as a group. I thought our D was tired. LA is a big heavy team, and I think they wore out our D a little bit.”

Whatever the reasons, there was no question the Canucks were the second-best team on the ice in Anaheim. Certainly playing six games in nine nights is a grind. But if this team is tired now, it certainly raises questions about what lies ahead over the remaining 76 games of the compressed National Hockey League schedule.

Back to backs in Los Angeles and Anaheim are as benign as they get in the NHL in terms of travel and no change in time zones. And those two games are the team’s only road games in the month of October.  

After a day off Monday to rest and recover, the Canucks host Ottawa on Tuesday at Rogers Arena. Then starting on Friday night, they play back to back against Edmonton and Washington and those games launch a stretch of seven games in 12 nights. It’s not getting any easier concerning travel and time away from home. If they’re a tired team now, what will they be a week from now? Two weeks from now? Two months down the line?

Such is the challenge facing a team led by a pair of 36-year-olds who’ve looked at times already this season like they’re struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing pace of the game. With the Sedins, Alex Edler and Loui Eriksson, four of the Canucks top seven ice-time leaders in the early going are over the age of 30. And keep in mind, the team’s top players are healthy now. That won’t always be the case.

Falling behind as they have in five of their first six games, the Canucks have been forced to shorten their bench in an effort to come back in hockey games. Their ability to rally has been remarkable allowing them to pick up points in each of their first five games of the season, but make no mistake that it’s a dangerous way to play on a regular basis. And as the coach suggested, it can have a compounding effect as was the case in Anaheim where other than Ryan Miller, the Canucks offered little resistance against the Ducks.

Saturday, already having lost Derek Dorsett to injury in the second period, Desjardins limited the third period ice times of Brendan Gaunce and Jake Virtanen. On Sunday, understandably, Jack Skille and converted defenseman Alex Biega didn’t see much third period ice time. It’s asking an awful lot of the same nine forwards to carry the load in a compressed schedule. So you can understand if it all caught up to the Canucks on Sunday. Remarkably, the Canucks had just one shot on goal over the final 11 minutes – and none in the final six minutes — of a hockey game that was there for the taking.

“We need to try to be really smart about our energy level,” Desjardins said. “We know what we want to do. We showed that we’ll battle hard. It’s not like there’s a lack of effort or character in the room. Owe just have to make sure our energy level is there, and we’ll play our game. I believe in this group.”

The coach may believe in his players, but he has to do his part to maximize the effort level those players can give him. Getting leads would allow him to roll four lines and would force opponents to alter their game strategies. That, in turn, may lead to more offensive opportunities for the Canucks.

By the time the Canucks host the New York Rangers on November 15th, they will have played 17 games. Between opening night October 15th and November 15th, the Canucks will have burned through more than 20% of their 82-game schedule – and will have travelled back and forth across the continent having played four sets of back to back games in the process.

If this is a tired team now, that doesn’t exactly bode well for the second month of the season – and beyond.