After starting the month 8-2, the Vancouver Canucks have now dropped two straight contests.
Last night was one of the most frustrating games to watch this year, which is saying a lot considering how this season started. The team didn’t play particularly well, but unlucky bounces plagued the Canucks for the entire match, and it seemed like the hockey gods just didn’t want them to win.
Even so, there’s no point in making excuses with time running out, so Vancouver will need to win Wednesday’s rematch if they hope to still make a run at a playoff spot.
Here are three takeaways from last night’s 4-0 loss against the Jets.
The injuries are piling up
With both Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter sidelined, Tyler Graovac made his season debut on the fourth line, playing beside Antoine Roussel and Zack MacEwen.
The team is seriously shorthanded at the moment, as Elias Pettersson will be out until March 31 at the earliest after being placed on long-term injured reserve, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Vancouver signed Jimmy Vesey and Travis Boyd over the last few days.
Unfortunately, things got even worse last night since captain Bo Horvat limped off the ice after taking a shot off his foot.
Good stuff from the Jets, helping an injured Bo Horvat get to the bench pic.twitter.com/XNYIFHCY69
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 23, 2021
As mentioned in the tweet, we should give credit to the Jets for trying to help Horvat to the Canucks bench, which just shows the character of the players even with them competing against each other.
Horvat did not return to the game and Vancouver hasn’t provided an update on his situation at the time of this writing, but I’m sure we’ll learn about the injury soon. With the captain sidelined, the Canucks only have three centres left on its active roster: Graovac, J.T. Miller, and Adam Gaudette.
That’s not ideal, to say the least.