Canucks lose third straight game at hands of Canadiens
The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Montreal Canadiens last night. The final score was 3-1 from Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
What’s plaguing the Vancouver Canucks right now? It’s a complicated question, but a question that fans and the team are trying to find the answer to. I don’t think there’s one answer to this question. The defence hasn’t been as good as it was in the early stages of the season, but neither has the offence.
Even the goaltending hasn’t been as good as it was in October, so when a team’s defence, offence, and goaltending all take a bit of a dip, it’s no surprise that the team starts to fall lower in the standings. As of right now, the Canucks are 11th in the Western Conference and 23rd in the overall standings.
Jake Virtanen takes a twirl on the first line
In an attempt to get some more scoring at 5-on-5, head coach Travis Green chose to shake up his lines a bit. Going into last night, Jake Virtanen had eight points in his last ten games. Virtanen was put on the first line alongside Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, while Brock Boeser skated on Bo Horvat‘s wing.
The Canucks have had trouble scoring, so it makes sense that the coaching staff would look to a player who has scored goals in two straight losses. Unfortunately, the Canucks’ struggles to score at even strength continued, as their lone goal came with the man advantage.
Gaudette shoots his shot
With a perfect wrist shot after he found himself with some time and space at the top of the left circle, Adam Gaudette beat the Canadiens’ goaltender short side. It’s not easy to beat Carey Price short side.
“The Hockey Gaud”, as he’s known on social media, was finally rewarded for his solid play as of late. Last night’s goal was Gaudette’s first in nine games, but the 2018 Hobey Baker Award Winner has been making serious strides in his two-way game as of late.
He’s been forechecking harder, backchecking with more urgency, and has been doing all the things that Canucks’ head coach Travis Green demands from his players. If Gaudette’s going to remain in the third line center role, he needs to continue to do these things — but he also needs to score.
Last night, Gaudette scored the Canucks’ first goal of the game, and nearly had the second, as well. If it weren’t for a coaches challenge revealing Josh Leivo’s left skate crossing the blueline before the puck did on the Canucks’ zone entry, Gaudette’s would have his eighth goal.
Target. Acquired.
— NHL (@NHL) December 18, 2019
Adam Gaudette (@Hockey_Gaud) showing off some wild accuracy. pic.twitter.com/8kFb8x9AOs
Even with the time and space he was given, beating Price is no easy task, so it was good to see Gaudette rifle one past the Anahim Lake, British Columbia native. Gaudette’s power play marker stood as his team’s lone goal.
Making sense of another loss
Pathetic. Embarrassing. Painful. Fireable. These are the words Canucks fans used to describe last night’s loss after I put out a tweet requesting fans describe the game with one word.
The concern and the frustration is well warranted from fans. After all, December was supposed to be the month that this team climbed back up the standings after a tough month of November — but just the opposite has happened so far.
I’ve written before about how if history repeats itself, January and February will be very difficult months for this team, and going into those months with a massive hill to climb in the standings is not where any team wants to be.
J.T. Miller was frustrated with last night’s loss, and put partial blame on himself for not finding the back of the net on a couple of good looks he had.
"Earlier in the year we were scoring five goals a game, now it feels like we're working our butts off to score two. It goes like that sometimes." J.T. Miller breaks down the #Canucks current slump. pic.twitter.com/WXT1fJ085l
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 18, 2019
The players know how important this five-game homestand is for their season as a whole. There was a sense of urgency last night from the team that was especially noticeable in the second period. They fell off in the third, sure, but in the second period, they looked like a team whose season depended on this win.
Horvat faced the media and said that the message in the room remains to stay positive, and hope that things will turn around soon. The Canucks will do battle with the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday from Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Puck drop is at 7 PM.