Well, the Vancouver Canucks’ 6-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils was something we hadn’t seen since 2006. A blowout of that calibre on home ice is something you can’t just brush off. It’s important to move on from it and focus on the next game, but Rick Tocchet and the players need to watch the tape and get back to the drawing board.
“Obviously, everything went wrong right from the beginning,” Tocchet said about the loss. “Some guys were struggling and it rolls like that. You’re going to have games like that in an 82-game schedule. We’ve just got to flush it down the toilet.
“[We’ve] Got to credit them. They shot the puck really well. We started to unravel a little bit, got frustrated, and, you know, everybody started going rogue a little bit, and that’s what happens. You’ve got to stick together. Like I said, you’ve got to let this thing go and learn from it and move on.”
The power play was a focus in practice all week for this Canucks team. There were rumours they would switch up the units, but ultimately, all they switched up who carried the puck up the ice. The guys just struggle to shoot the puck on the power play, registering just three shots on goal on their four power play opportunities while they allowed two. Tocchet addressed this issue after the game.
“We’re not shooting when we’re supposed to shoot, and we’re shooting when we [aren’t] – we’re so caught in between. We’re slowing the power play down. It’s a frustrating thing for us right now. It’s a mental aspect for us right now. We’re going to have to keep working with the mind, [play] more than the physical.”
The club gets a day off today but is back at practice on Friday before they look to redeem themselves as they hit the road for a three-game road trip starting in San Jose. Here’s Tocchet’s review of his players and what he saw tonight and so far this season.
“If you think you’re playing well, I don’t think anybody in there – I hope not – thinks we’re playing well. But there’s a sorts of stuff we liked about our game. But obviously, we’re not yet to put a [full] 60 [minute] game. We need to buckle down, get some leadership here to make sure that we’re ready to play – and myself, that’s on me too. I’ve got to get these guys ready to play.
“You have to look at your game. What am I doing wrong? Some guys are doing some right things, don’t get me wrong. I think some guys are just trying to go A-Z without going through the progression. Your job first on the forecheck is, you don’t have to kill it, but go through a guy. Our odd-man rush coverage was probably the worst I’ve ever seen since I’ve been here. It reminded me when I took over the team. That’s how bad it was tonight. We were out of sorts tonight.”
This was Arturs Silovs’ first start since opening night where he allowed six goals in an overtime loss to the Calgary Flames. Tough performance from the 23-year-old, but Tocchet wasn’t putting the blame solely on him after such a lengthy sit between starts.
“You want to have a solid game. Right from the first 10 seconds, we give up a two-on-one. That’s probably not the greatest thing to give a guy who hasn’t played in two weeks.”
Tyler Myers also commented on Silovs.
“It wasn’t Arty’s fault. We hung Arty out to dry tonight. He doesn’t need to worry about it.”
Here’s what Myers had to say as he reflected on the game as a whole.
“It was embarrassing. We should be embarrassed. Even through some wins the last couple weeks, there’s some things within our game right now that we’ve got to clean up. We’ve got to find our identity. Right now, we’re not there yet and we know it. As tough as tonight was, we just have to keep working and come out next game and be ready to respond.”
On the Devils’ first goal of the game just a minute into the game, Myers pinched up, springing Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer on a two-on-one.
“On the first one, [I] would’ve liked to just pull out on that one. Seems like we had two-on-ones and three-on-twos against the whole night – stuff we have to clean up.”
It’s important not to dwell on the loss and look forward to the next game with some hard work in practice.
“It’s a wake-up call for us,” Myers said. “It’s a lot easier to look at now with nights like that. Whether we lose 6-0 or 1-0, we just have to keep working on our team game and get to the level we need to to be consistent in this league. It starts in practice. It was addressed after the game.
“We have to realize what we’re doing within our system, what we aren’t doing. And then it just comes down to work. We’ve got to get back to work. We’re not working hard right now.”
To spark the team down 3-0, the Canucks’ 5’10” forward Conor Garland tried to spark the team as he fought Erik Haula. Assistant captain JT Miller touched on Garland’s tough efforts.
“That was a hell of a fight. You’d think maybe we’d play a little better after that. That sucks. The guy’s getting punched in the head for you.
“We make it way too easy on the other team. There’s not enough F you in our game.”
Listen to the full Rick Tocchet availability here.
"We got to let this [game] go. Learn from it and move on."
🗣 Head Coach Rick Tocchet's post-game media availability.#Canucks | @theprovince pic.twitter.com/39FoxG0C0I
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 31, 2024
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