3 takeaways from the Canucks’ 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets last night

Well, the honeymoon period lasted a single day for the Vancouver Canucks. That’s still better than nothing, right?

After shutting out Winnipeg 4-0 on Monday night, the Canucks reverted back to their old ways by bleeding scoring chances against and staying winless when the opposition opens the scoring. At least I was able to say that the team was undefeated in March in yesterday’s post-game article.

Here are three takeaways from last night’s loss to the Jets.

The struggles of Holtby

At the beginning of the season, no one faulted either Braden Holtby or Thatcher Demko for posting ugly numbers since the team was giving away breakaways like candy on Halloween.

The Canucks are still conceding way too many chances, but they have cleaned up a lot of their previous defensive struggles. Unfortunately, Holtby has continued to let in soft goals, which has cost Vancouver the chance to win games.

Kyle Connor’s power-play goal, in particular, was one that Holtby would like back.

I understand the decision to roll with Holtby on the second night of a back-to-back, but Travis Green should seriously consider riding with Demko for the time being as long as he’s fresh.

It’s important to remember that Holtby is still getting acclimated with his new team after spending his entire career with the Capitals. It took Jacob Markstrom half a season under Ian Clark’s tutelage before he started playing like a top goalie, so we need to be patient with Holtby and give him more time.

A tale of two power plays

A the start of the season, many fans were concerned about the Canucks power play, which ranked top five in the league last season.

After the first few games, the team began to convert on the man advantage, but it has since cooled off again. Over the past month, it seems like Vancouver either scores right away on the power play or struggles to even enter the offensive zone, and we witnessed both of those things last night as well.

On the Canucks’ first power play, they spent most of the time cycling in the neutral zone and being turned back by Winnipeg whenever they tried to enter the offensive zone.

It was an entirely different story on their second man-advantage opportunity, as J.T. Miller wasted no time in blasting home a one-timer to cut the lead to one.

With the second power-play unit struggling mightily so far this year, Vancouver needs to lean heavily on its top group to generate chances, and the best way to do that is by maintaining consistent offensive zone time. Even if they don’t score, those chances will create momentum for the team and help with their confidence levels as well.