We are two games into the NHL season and the Vancouver Canucks have not won a game. This means that Canucks fans are starting to get nervous and are preparing to hit the panic button. They shouldn’t, not yet anyway.
The Canucks are fresh off of a Friday night shootout loss at home to the Philadelphia Flyers where the team played a pretty solid game and got a really good performance from their new goaltender Kevin Lankinen. However, a theme popped back up in their game against the Flyers, which was also a major factor in their loss to the Calgary Flames on opening night. If this theme continues, Vancouver could be in major trouble.
Canucks Let the Flyers and Flames Stay in the Game
The Canucks got off to a good start against the Flyers. In period one, Nils Hoglander scored to go up 1-0 12 minutes into the game. Although a good start for the Canucks, this should have been their third goal of the game as Jake DeBrusk missed a golden opportunity on the power play during the first five minutes of the game and Brock Boeser was also robbed on the following power play.
Those are two big chances that could have given the Canucks a 3-0 lead early in the game. Tyson Foerster scored shortly after the Hoglander goal to tie the game before the end of the period. In the second period, Derek Forbort found Teddy Bluger to restore Vancouver’s lead. The Canucks had multiple chances after that goal to get a bigger lead but couldn’t cash in. Cam York scored early in the third to tie the game and after that goal, the Flyers held possession for most of the final frame until overtime. Then, you get to overtime and the shootout which is always a coin flip.
The problem for the Canucks is that the game should not have even gotten to overtime because they should have capitalized on their chances early to give them a better chance at winning the game in regulation.
This same thing happened on opening night against the Flames. Vancouver scored four goals in the first period and went up 4-1 after the first period. However, once the Canucks finished the first period, they took their foot off the gas and started playing defence instead of trying to score another goal to solidify a win. If Vancouver kept the pressure on Calgary and had a 5-1 or even 6-1 lead, the game would have been over in the second period. Instead, they hung back for the remaining 40 minutes and gave Calgary a chance to get back in the game, which they did.
The Flames started the comeback with a Rasmus Andersson goal near the end of the second and scored three unanswered goals in the third to go up 5-4. Luckily, JT Miller scored to bring the game to overtime but he should not have needed to score because the Canucks should not have been in that position. Once again, their game went to overtime and Connor Zary scored an amazing goal to win the game for Calgary and send the Canucks fans home with their heads down low.
How Can the Canucks Fix This?
This is a simple fix for Vancouver as it is only the second game of the season. What the team needs to do is find a way to capitalize on the chances that they are given in their next game on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. The club has not had a problem generating offence in the attacking zone and even though they were not able to score on the power-play chances that they were given against the Flyers, they had several good looks that they just couldn’t put in the net. This is where the problem stems from. In the modern NHL, we see teams come back from three-goal leads all the time.
Related: Vancouver Canucks Sign Nils Hoglander to 3-Year Extension
The Canucks should by no means press the panic button, but these last two games have been a cause for concern. In their next game against Tampa Bay, the Canucks should focus on converting their open chances because they missed several of those in the previous games and it cost them.
