Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from 4-1 loss to Blues

After an excellent 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, the Vancouver Canucks reverted to their old habits on Friday, losing 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues. Here are three things we learned from the game.

The Vancouver Canucks had plenty of answers for the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, but absolutely none against the surging St. Louis Blues on Friday. That’s the best way of explaining how they were 5-1 winners, followed by 4-1 losers.

A faster, deeper and more skilled Blues team skated around the Canucks, unsurprisingly pulling off the season series sweep. While St. Louis moved to within one point of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, Vancouver fell down to 30th in the NHL standings — as the Arizona Coyotes win the tiebreaker with fewer games played.

Sam Gagner finally busted his slump and scored the lone Canucks goal. Other than that, no positives. Chris Tanev left the game after blocking a shot, Anders Nilsson was shaky and the offense missed Brock Boeser.

Here are three takeaways from the team’s eight loss in their last nine.

Too much ice time for Sutter

Head coach Travis Green has certainly made a number of questionable decisions this year, but few are more curious than the choice to give Brandon Sutter so much ice time these days.

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The 29-year-old isn’t exactly a big-time scorer, with just eight goals and 19 points in 53 games this season.

Sutter has been okay in his defensive role, but there isn’t much of a reason to give him all this ice time. He got 17:58 time on ice in this contest, 22:03 in Chicago and 19:18 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

For a player that’s strictly being used for his shutdown defensive role, Sutter is getting too much ice time.

Why did Jake Virtanen only get 12:43 in this one, even though he’s clearly making strides and working extremely hard to impress coaches. At this point in the season, why limit his ice time?

Nikolay Goldobin has also been playing better. Questionable to have him only get 14:28 of time in this contest. Sutter is a good player and gives it his full effort every night, but the man should only be getting 15 minutes a game. No more.

Anders Nilsson’s struggles continue

Many fans are clamoring for top goalie prospect Thatcher Demko to be brought up, and you have to think he’ll be forming a tandem with Jacob Markstrom next year. That’s because Anders Nilsson has struggled mightily since November, and it’s hard to envision the Canucks keeping him on after this season.

Luckily, general manager Jim Benning was safe in only giving Nilsson a two-year contract worth $6 million. This makes Nilsson expendable in the offseason, and goalie-desperate teams like the Buffalo Sabres Calgary Flames and New York Islanders could all be willing to take him on.

Nilsson has one win since December, and has allowed three goals or more in his last six (!) outings. Yes, he’s not playing with good defence in front of him. Not the slightest bit.

But up until this season, Carey Price was masking all the problems for the Montreal Canadiens, winning them division titles and all. That’s what the best goalies do. They steal games, and Nilsson hasn’t done that.

Team tank is back on

For those who want the Canucks to tank and get a higher chance at drafting Rasmus Dahlin, you got your wish. The Canucks lost and move down to 30th in the NHL standings, and the Coyotes have a game in hand.

Vancouver may not quite fall below the Buffalo Sabres after all. They’ve also reverted back to their hold habits, and it’s going to be tough for the Canucks to match them in terms of losses. That’s just the way it’s shaping up to be.

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But that’s fine for Canuck fans. Winning more games is quite meaningless, considering it could cost them a chance at Dahlin. And only if they finish 30th, it ensures the Canucks pick no lower than fifth overall.

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