Canucks: 3 takeaways from the catastrophic 5-1 loss to the Maple Leafs

Vancouver Canucks fans are used to pain but on Saturday (and the past three games as well), that pain was amplified to a million as the Canucks dropped their fourth straight game with a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Not even Sonic the Hedgehog could outrun the pain if he was a Canucks fan.

It was yet another blowout and another game where the Canucks were badly outplayed. They looked lifeless and it was very frustrating to watch. In many ways, it was like the Leafs were playing a beer league team as they were just all over them.  Brock Boeser got one on the power play late in the game but it was too little and far too late.

If you look at social media right now, fans aren’t happy and want change. With the way the team is playing, change could be coming sooner or later whether that is in management, coaching or through a trade.

I could’ve easily just written that this team isn’t good enough for each of the three takeaways and called it a night, but unfortunately, that isn’t allowed.

So without further ado, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s catastrophic loss.

Defence was non-existent

I could have just wrote “efence” above because there was no “D.” The Canucks defence was virtually non-existent against the Leafs.

They were letting the Leafs get plenty of dangerous chances and let them score five goals. There were lots of turnovers, lots of open space given for Leafs players, and on the rush they just let Toronto get by with ease.

The Leafs had a high danger corsi for percentage of 100% in the second period. They also an expected goals for percentage of 67.35%

Vancouver’s defence just looked disorganized and lost and it’s been this way for the entire season.

J.T. Miller needs to better

J.T. Miller was the Canucks’ leading scorer last season and was a leader on and off the ice. He also provided a solid two-way presence. Saturday saw a different version of Miller and one that was much worse.

He didn’t look like he put much effort into the board battles or stopping the Leafs’ rush. He did have a goal that was disallowed due to offside but other than that he looked invisible offensively.

Here, Miller lets Auston Matthews get by easily and Braden Holtby wasn’t happy.

The Canucks need their best players to step up and Miller is one of their best players. They need his two-way game to return to form. Sure, he has 13 points in 11 games, but individual stats don’t really tell the whole story. He just lets players get by him and didn’t look like he made any effort to backcheck or forecheck. He was giving the puck away and wasn’t doing much to contribute offensively.

Miller is a good player but needs to turn his game around sooner rather than later.

It was the Matthews, Marner and Simmonds show

Matthews and Mitch Marner are a dynamic duo and they showed why against Vancouver. Matthews had two goals while Marner had three assists. They looked dangerous all game with lots of scoring chances.

Matthews is the first player in the NHL this season to reach double digits in goals and is leading the league in that category.

The Canucks did not do a very good job covering him and made it easy for him to score.  The Canucks forgot about Matthews entering the zone and he just got by Jalen Chatfield easily.

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1358213871257997313

Wayne Simmonds also got on the board twice.  Here he was left all alone in front of the net, but Holtby probably should have had this one.

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1358209707773734915

His second goal was tipped in.  William Nylander danced around the Canucks’ defence while John Tavares hypnotized them with a quick pass to the blueline before Simmonds tipped it in. Again, the Canucks’ defence was caught napping. They were caught watching the puck and there really wasn’t much of a battle in front of Holtby to help prevent the screen.

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1358236525021003779

At least no one scored a hat trick this time.

Other Notes

• Boeser’s late goal puts him tied for second in the NHL with none other than Tyler Toffoli.
• Holtby did make some decent saves and despite that first goal, it would have been a lot worse if it weren’t for him.
• Tyler Myers gave up seven high danger chances against. which was the most on the Canucks.
• Per Sportsnet Stats, the Canucks are the first team to allow at least five goals in nine of their first 15 games of a season since the 1993-94 Senators. That team finished 14-61-9.

It was another rough night for the Canucks and they have to play another game against the Maple Leafs, as the puck drops at 4 PM on Monday.

*Stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.