The Vancouver Canucks lose their eighth straight game in San Jose
Just when you thought the Vancouver Canucks hit rock bottom, they find a way to sink lower. Getting blanked 4-0, they extended their losing streak to eight.
Well that doesn’t feel good, does it? There are a few ways to really capture the latest Vancouver Canucks loss. I mean, they’ve had so many in a row, there’s only so many ways to tell you how bad the club is.
The team’s owner may whine about injuries (and officiating?), but let’s be honest here. Aquilini’s PR team is just trying to distract you from the fact that he fired Jeff Stipec and TC Carling. There isn’t any real reason why you would fire the people in charge of the in-arena atmosphere at Rogers Arena, especially since season ticket sales have increased despite a poor on-ice product.
The more we hear about it, the more it seems like the two were “amicably” dismissed for being friends with Trevor Linden. Seriously, the owner fired the in-house DJ so he can play his favourite songs during games. Like magic, it’s all about misdirection.
What can I say about this game? The Canucks lost 4-0 and had no business being there. Outshot 24-19, the team only had three shots in the third period. It’s almost outrageous, considering the score was only 2-0 at that point. You can interpret it however you want. Maybe you feel the team quit. Or simply, they are just inferior. Let’s see what we can salvage with three takeaways from the Canucks latest losing effort.
Antoine Roussel does his best Alex Burrows impression
Antoine Roussel was billed as someone who could fill the role of Alex Burrows (minus the goalscoring). Other than his accent, that was hard to see right away. Well, for better or for worse, Roussel certainly got noticed for an interesting reason.
He bit Marc-Edouard Vlasic during a scrum. Yeah, he bit someone. To be fair, Vlasic was trying to tear Roussel’s ear right off his head, but I think we all know how this is going to play out. Let’s see. Agitator who won’t be given the benefit of the doubt. Check. Vancouver Canucks jersey. Double check.
Tin foil hats aside, I would imagine Roussel is getting a phone call from the league at some point. He wasn’t available for interview after the game, which is probably best for now. You can chastise Roussel for this, but despite the losing, he has been entertaining.
Unfortunately, that entertainment has come at the cost of penalties. Roussel had four minor penalties and that whammy of a double minor plus a game misconduct at the end of the game. Normally, I would say he has to dial it back, but that was what you were paying for with Roussel. Which is why I was hoping for a 1-2 year deal and not the four-year, overpaid contract that exists.
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Travis Green has now seen his worst losing streak
That makes eight consecutive losses for Travis Green‘s Vancouver Canucks. For the coach, that’s his longest drought behind an NHL bench and seven of these losses have occurred in regulation. I do feel for Travis Green. His team is thin, few players are stepping up and I don’t think Joel Quenneville could make it work with this defence.
The Canucks fall to 23rd in the league standings and more notably, sixth in the Pacific Division. Arizona is two points behind with FOUR games in hand. Vancouver will be moving down again in no time. Speaking of staying down, the Canucks have a points percentage of .440. That’s good for 30th in the NHL.
Once again, the penalty kill let the team down, surrendering three goals. Here’s a tip, if you have one of the weakest penalty kills in the league, it’s a pretty stupid idea to take six penalties in the game (looking at you, Roussel).
Anders Nilsson wasn’t great in his return, but neither were any of his teammates. Michael Del Zotto, Tim Schaller and Markus Granlund were on for all three power play goals against. Might be time to make sure those players stay as far away as possible from each other on the penalty kill.
The battle of the bad is coming up
Since we are in the heart of a losing streak, let’s look down memory lane. The worst losing streaks in the Jim Benning era were courtesy of Willie Desjardins. In his second season behind the bench, we got to see a nine-game losing streak towards the end of the season.
During his final season in Vancouver, fans were treated to an nine-game losing streak near the beginning of the season and spent the final two weeks of the season, losing eight in a row. The 2015-16 Canucks lost 13 of their final 15 games that season.
So, can Travis Green avoid that? In an ironic twist of scheduling, the Canucks play their next two games against the Los Angeles Kings, where they were see Willie Desjardins again. The story doesn’t get better than this when Desjardins has the chance to drop the hammer down on his successor. Losing 10 games would look bad for Green and real good for Desjardins.
Next. Vancouver Canucks: Gaunce goes, Boucher returns and the power play. dark
The Kings are dead last in the league, but with four games in hand on the Canucks, they can narrow the seven-point gap between the clubs. I would like to think that the depleted Kings are easy pickings for the Canucks, but who am I kidding? At this rate, winning seems like a distant memory. More eyes will be watching since it’s Hockey Night in Canada today. If you are sick of the losing streak, then you better hope the Canucks have more to show on Saturday.