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3 Takeaways from Canucks 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers

By Joshua Rey

May 3, 2021; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Alex Chiasson (39) checks Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler (23) in the third period at Rogers Arena. Oilers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
May 3, 2021; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Alex Chiasson (39) checks Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler (23) in the third period at Rogers Arena. Oilers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 3, 2021; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) checks Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan McLeod (71) in the third period at Rogers Arena. Oilers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
May 3, 2021; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) checks Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan McLeod (71) in the third period at Rogers Arena. Oilers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports /

It hasn’t been fun being a Vancouver Canucks fan the last few weeks, or the entire season for that matter. The Canucks were coming off a road trip where they dropped both games in Ottawa and both games in Toronto and have returned home for two against the Edmonton Oilers before they play the next two in Edmonton.

Unfortunately, the losing has continued as they lost 5-3 against Edmonton, who are now Stanley Cup Playoff-bound.  With Tuesday’s loss, the Canucks remain at the bottom of the North Division with 41 points, which is four points back of the Ottawa Senators.

Vancouver hasn’t been mathematically eliminated yet but it is inevitable with just 10 games to go and giving the remaining schedule and the team recently coming off a major COVID outbreak, it’s going to be a long 10 games.

According to SportsClubStats.Com, the Canucks playoff odds are now at 0.1%. That’s about the same odds of me becoming a millionaire in the next five years.

While the Canucks did manage to get on the score sheet three times and even made things interesting late, the Oilers simply outclassed them and had more energy. While Vancouver did show some glimpses of excitement, it wasn’t enough.

Here are three takeaways from the 5-3 loss.

Fatigue a factor….again

This is a recurring theme for the Canucks and will continue to be. To be fair, the Canucks did show some fight in the first period and in some parts of the second but the tank ran out.

They did get some good chances on Mikko Koskinen in the first and at some points of the game did show some good zone time.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of giveaways, odd-man rushes against and were being badly outshot by the Oilers. Vancouver really wasn’t winning a lot of the battles along the boards either and it felt like Edmonton had the puck about 90% of the time.

Quinn Hughes in particular did not look good defensively and he looked tired and lost out there.

The fatigue was also a factor in some poor defensive coverage.

After what the Canucks have gone through with the COVID outbreak and the schedule and the personnel on the ice, you can’t really be too hard on them.

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