First star of the game: Cory Schneider (and, by default, Rollie Melanson).

Does it hurt? It should hurt.

After scoring an impressive six goals against the Washington Capitals just last week, the Canucks came into their game against New Jersey desperately needing to find the offence they lost in their game against the Dallas Stars.

While they were unable to find it in the first period, things at the very least remained close between the two clubs; both Vancouver and New Jersey recorded 11 shots on goal in the early frame, and no one found the back of the net.

The next two periods, though, would prove frustrating for a multitude of reasons.

Although Vancouver would outshoot New Jersey by 13-8 in the second period and 13-7 in the third, the first goal of the game came from none other than the revitalized Jimmy Hayes.

After spending nearly half of the 2016-17 season as a healthy scratch for the Boston Bruins, Hayes – who managed just two goals in 58 games for Boston – found his third goal of the season on an opportunistic rebound allowed by Jacob Markstrom. A turnover by the Canucks down near Cory Schneider’s net would result in a Taylor Hall shot from just below the point, which Markstrom allowed to bounce right to Hayes and back into his net.

It was clearly a maddening moment for Markstrom, who is STILL searching for his first NHL shutout:

He wouldn’t allow another goal before his night ended, but an empty-netter from fellow former Boston Bruin Drew Stafford would seal the deal with 16 seconds left in the final period and further Vancouver’s losing streak to two games.

Let’s be completely honest: Vancouver was facing one of the NHL’s best goaltenders, who has been reunited with one of the NHL’s best goaltending coaches this year (they would know since both Schneider and Melanson were once part of the Canucks organization).

It’s frustrating to watch how well Schneider plays for New Jersey, and even more frustrating to watch Melanson guiding him through it. While there were outside circumstances that led to the netminding coach preferring to remain on the east coast, the fact still remains that he – and the goaltenders he guided – were the one thing Vancouver did unquestionably right for years.

It was even more frustrating to watch the one goal that Markstrom allowed, since he did start off the game on much better footing than he has in a number of contests this year.

In terms of good credit: Brock Boeser is still one of the best young players to watch in the NHL, and he’s not getting nearly enough attention outside of Vancouver for it. It’s also worth pointing out that Thomas Vanek had four shots on goal tonight (he always seems to play passably well when I’m covering the game) and Bo Horvat was the team’s saving grace on the faceoff dot.

That being said, though, we need to talk about Erik Gudbranson.

He’s been injured. I get it. He’s never going to be particularly fast, or an offensive juggernaut. Sure.

But for a guy who’s supposed to be an excellent shut-down option – and one that Vancouver gave away a quality young offensive asset for – he just isn’t cutting it. He’s supposed to be on a ‘prove it’ deal – but if he doesn’t start doing that soon, it may be time to accept that Benning didn’t grab the right piece.

Also, let’s talk about this for a moment:

Discuss amongst yourselves. I sure don’t understand.

Anyways. Here are your possession trends through the game:

The good news is that I don’t really hate this for Vancouver! At all! But the bad news is that it’s against the New Jersey Devils – who have been fun this year, but aren’t a top-tier threat. I want to see this, and consistently, against a team like Los Angeles, Nashville, or Tampa Bay.