Vancouver Canucks: Long road trip could make or break the season

The Vancouver Canucks are off to a solid 9-6-0 start on the season, but that could all go to waste if this six-game road trip doesn’t go well. It’s imperative that they maintain the focus and discipline while away from home.

Things couldn’t be going a whole lot better for the Vancouver Canucks, who have won nine of their first 15 games despite injuries to key players in Elias Pettersson, Alexander Edler, Brandon Sutter, Sven Baertschi and Chris Tanev.

All things considered, a 9-6-0 start to the season is impressive. Throw in the struggles of their Pacific Division rivals — the three California rivals and the Vegas Golden Knights — and the Canucks have every reason to feel good about where they stand.

More from The Canuck Way

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

But as the Canucks know, it just takes one big-time slump to erase an excellent start. Remember, they stood at 14-10-4 on Dec. 5 last year. They went on to lose 13 of their next 16 games, falling all the way down to the Western Conference basement once again.

The Canucks begin a lengthy six-game road trip on Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings. They’ll follow that up with contests against the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild.

The Red Wings and Rangers may be among the bottom feeders right now, but the Bruins, Islanders, Sabres and Wild are all off to strong starts in 2018-19.

Those are all very difficult games, and the Canucks should be happy if they can simply take two of those four, especially given all the injuries they have right now.

For the Canucks, this six-game road trip could very well determine how the rest of 2018-19 plays out. That may sound ludicrous considering it’s only November, but it just takes that one bad slump that can send a team off the rails.

But what if the Canucks can come back home with four wins on those road trip? Maybe even five? Taking at least seven of the 12 available points would be a huge win for head coach Travis Green and company.

That would keep this team surging with confidence, and with key players returning soon from injury, it could give Vancouver the swagger they need to retain their status as a potential playoff team.

Most things have gone right for Vancouver thus far in 2018-19. If they can avoid what many believe is an inevitable collapse — especially on this six-game road trip — then it may be time to start taking them more seriously.

But if the Canucks return home with no more than five points, the sky could begin falling in Vancouver yet again.