3 takeaways from the Canucks’ first loss of the 2020-21 season

After a good team win last night, the Vancouver Canucks lost the second leg of a back to back matchup against a motivated Oilers team led by Connor McDavid.

The 2020-21 season couldn’t have started on a better note for the Vancouver Canucks last night. Not only did Nils Hoglander dazzle in his NHL debut, but Brock Boeser also looked the most dynamic since his rookie year and the team managed to keep Connor McDavid off the scoresheet.

Well, that victory was short-lived. Especially the last point.

Perhaps McDavid saw what Canucks fans were saying about him on Twitter, as he dominated from puck drop and needed only two periods to score his first hat trick of the season. It seemed like the Oilers were playing keep away whenever he was on the ice; Edmonton outshot the Canucks 20-7 during McDavid’s 16 minutes of time at five on five.

With their next game coming on Saturday, it’s important for the Canucks to quickly regroup and find their footing, so here are three takeaways from tonight’s 5-2 loss to the Oilers.

Demko played a solid game

The scoresheet might look ugly, but Edmonton could’ve easily doubled their score if it weren’t for a solid performance from Thatcher Demko.

This was especially true in the early stages of the first period, as McDavid and company shot out of a gate and pebbled Demko with shots during the opening minutes of the game. Most of the goals he allowed were caused by breakdowns in Vancouver’s defence, as the Oilers converted on multiple wide open tap-ins or semi-breakaway chances.

The only goal that Demko probably would like to have back is the one that came at the first-period buzzer. Instead of letting the puck go and run the clock down, he instead opted to cover it up and allowed Edmonton to have an offensive zone faceoff with only a few seconds left in the frame.

The rest, well, was history.

J.T. Miller is sorely missed

Boy, it’s only been two games and the team already misses J.T. Miller.

Jake Virtanen was given the first crack at replacing Miller on the top line, but he only played 3:19 with Boeser and Elias Pettersson at five on five according to Natural Stat Trick before getting demoted to the bottom six. Attempting to find a suitable replacement, Travis Green deployed almost every single Canucks forward alongside them to no avail.

Furthermore, Miller’s absence has created a gaping hole on Vancouver’s power play, which went 0/5 on the night. Hoglander has done an admirable job of filling in for him, but it’s obvious that the Canucks currently lack one of their most lethal weapons on the man advantage. Remember, Miller scored nine power play goals last season, which ranked second on the team behind Bo Horvat.

Speaking of the power play…

The special teams are struggling

After two games, the Canucks now sit 0-7 when on the man advantage. They also allowed the Oilers to score on two of their four power plays after successfully killing off all four of their penalties last night.

It’s important to remember that Edmonton had the best power play in recent memory last year with a conversion rate of over 29%, and they were second in penalty kill percentage as well. Even so, it’s unacceptable to allow special teams to negatively dictate a game to such an extreme degree.

Vancouver’s power play was predictable and static all night, as they tried the same play countless times and failed to generate enough high danger shots against Mikko Koskinen. Pettersson, in particular, kept on trying to one time passes through the slot to Boeser in the opposite corner, which was picked off by Oilers defenders on multiple occasions.

Meanwhile, the penalty kill was at the mercy of Edmonton. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins seemingly generated scoring chances at will and the Canucks defenders had a hard time just keeping up.

Much of Vancouver’s success last season can be credited to their power play. If the team takes a step back in that regard, it’ll be much more difficult to make the playoffs considering the Canucks were also a below-average five-on-five team in 2019-20.

Newsworthy notes

• Hoglander had a quiet night but he also didn’t make any noticeable mistakes. Canucks fans have been spoiled by the likes of Boeser, Quinn Hughes and Pettersson over the last three seasons, but we need to keep in mind that not every rookie will instantly become dominant players.
• During one of Vancouver’s power plays, Hughes took exception to a Nugent-Hopkins hit on Boeser and went after the Oilers’ winger. This was very uncharacteristic of Hughes and caused him to take a penalty, which ended the Canucks’ power play as well. I like the spirit that he showed, but it definitely wasn’t the best moment to cause a skirmish.
• Olli Juolevi’s foot speed still seems to be an issue, as he was beaten multiple times by opposing forwards while driving to the net. This was most obvious right before McDavid’s last-second goal in the first period, as Demko decided to cover the puck after Draisaitl skated right by Juolevi and put a shot on goal.
• It was nice to see some new faces get in on the action. Nate Schmidt scored his first as a Canuck with a blast from the point while Travis Hamonic also got an assist on a nice slap pass to Tyler Motte, who tipped the puck past Koskinen.

Final thoughts

In my opinion, the most important thing right now is to not overreact. The Canucks are likely not as good as they seemed last night, and definitely not as bad as they were tonight. It’s easy to get carried away with emotions while watching games, but the reality is that Vancouver is still a bubble playoff team much like they were last year.

Remember, the Canucks are right back at it Saturday against the Flames. Let’s hope they find a way to bounce back then.