Canucks: 3 takeaways from Vancouver’s 4-3 shootout loss to Hurricanes
Power play struggles
Thank goodness the Canucks managed to score during five-on-five play against the Hurricanes. The power play for Vancouver wasn’t pretty, to say the least. You can blame it on whatever you like, the fact that the Canucks were playing their second game in 24 hours or the fact that heading into Sunday’s tilt, the Hurricanes had the league’s sixth best penalty kill, sporting an 83.2 success rate according to the NHL website. Whatever it was, Vancouver wasn’t getting it done on with the man advantage.
With seven total shots while up a man, the Canucks had zero conversions on four power play chances. There wasn’t much that could penetrate the Carolina blueline. Vancouver was sloppy when trying to cross the line and the drop pass was overused and predictable.
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Pettersson often had to take matters into his own hands and cross the blue himself. The problem was once he got into the zone, he would dish it off to a teammate who would make an error and trip up any progress made in the power play. When Vancouver had opportunities, it never seemed like much of a scoring threat. Hughes and Jake Virtanen had two power play shots each, but the lotto line was held to one each.
The power play has been struggling. It’s slowly sliding down the ranks, game after game and Travis Green needs to figure something out if Vancouver wants to stay perched on top of the Pacific Division.