Vancouver Canucks: Takeaways from 5-2 loss to New York Islanders

It was another frustrating night for the Vancouver Canucks, who fell 5-2 to the New York Islanders for a third consecutive loss. Here’s what we learned from Tuesday night’s letdown of a game.

New York is a beautiful state that attracts millions of tourists every year, but the Vancouver Canucks won’t be going home with any fond memories.

Following a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday, the Canucks visited the Blueshirts’ rivals in the New York Islanders. What followed was an ugly 5-2 loss — perhaps Vancouver’s most disappointing effort of the season thus far.

Couple the loss with the San Jose Sharks defeating the Nashville Predators 5-4, and Vancouver is officially out of first in the Pacific Division. They finish up the six-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, then a much-needed return home awaits.

Here’s what we learned from Brooklyn.

1. Jacob Markstrom needs a rest

I don’t understand why all these NHL teams think it’s a good idea to force their starting goalies into heavy workloads. Jacob Markstrom is only in his second season as a No. 1 goalie, and the Canucks are playing him like he’s the legendary Glenn Hall.

While Anders Nilsson continues to recover from a finger injury, Markstrom was forced to play in his ninth consecutive game. So don’t fault the 28-year-old for having an off game against the Islanders here.

The Canucks don’t exactly run a shutdown defensive system like the Los Angeles Kings or Tampa Bay Lightning, so it’s not as though they’re minimizing the amount of shots against Markstrom.

Head coach Travis Green needs to give Richard Bachman a start or two over the next week. There’s no reason for Markstrom to play tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild. He needs some rest before the Montreal Canadiens come to town. It’s that simple, really. Give the man a few days off.

2. This team is missing Brock Boeser

Talk about stating the obvious.

Yes, Pettersson has been doing a fine job carrying the offence throughout the season, but imagine if they had second-year sniper Brock Boeser right now.

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He’s missed every game on the road trip, and Vancouver’s inability to score goals without Boeser has been evident.

With the exception of that eight-goal outburst against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, the Canucks haven’t mustered a whole lot without No. 6. They’ve now been held to two goals in less in three of the four losses on this road trip.

Vancouver did score three goals against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, but they also had plenty of chances to put the game away.

The Canucks couldn’t do it, and the Sabres rallied to score twice in the final minutes — before winning in a shootout.

Jake Virtanen and Loui Eriksson have stepped up with some much-needed secondary scoring in Boeser’s absence, but the other Canuck forwards haven’t been producing.

There’s really no sugarcoating it now: The Canucks need Brock Boeser if they’re going to rely on the scoring to win games. They won’t rush him back, but boy does Vancouver need the 21-year-old back more than ever.

3. It might be time to panic

Well, here’s the part everybody was worried about.

In each of the last two seasons, the Canucks hung around in the playoff race until late December – before an inevitable long-term slump sunk them to the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The Canucks would never recover and finished among the worst teams in each of those two years.

Well, now this team has lost four of its last five games — the last three being quite lackluster efforts, too. When Elias Pettersson isn’t scoring, the Canucks are suddenly struggling to generate offence — and the losses are quickly piling up.

Maybe the Canucks are just going through a rough stretch on a road trip that everybody knew would be difficult. But it’s not too early to push the panic button, not with four losses in their last five outings.

After all, we have seen the Canucks cruise through October and most of November in the past. The goal now is for these guys to avoid the winter blues in the post-Sedins era. We’ll see what Vancouver is made out of when they get home from this lengthy and tiring six-game trip away from Rogers Arena.