Well, that was short-lived for the Vancouver Canucks.
After coming away with the victory on Thursday night, the team was looking to continue their winning ways, once again facing off against Connor McDavid and his playoff-bound Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
This would mark the Canucks’ fourth game in six nights, a schedule that was becoming all too familiar for players, coaches and fans. Despite the compressed calendar, however, the team had only been outscored by a margin of 12-10 over their past three games, and actually had a chance to end their four-game mini series with a .500 record.
But, as we’ve seen before, the Canucks were ultimately no match for the high-scoring, fast-paced Oilers, falling to them by a score of 4-3.
With the loss, the Canucks fell to the 29th spot in the overall league standings with 43 points, sitting only ahead of Anaheim and Buffalo. They currently sit 14 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the fourth and final playoff spot, which, mathematically speaking, is technically still up for grabs, but we all know the team would need a miracle to climb their way out of the basement in their division.
Nevertheless, here are three takeaways from last night’s loss:
The Canucks didn’t go down without a fight
As alluded above, the Canucks schedule has not been forgiving as of late.
The team had already played 12 games in 21 nights since returning from their team-wide COVID-19 outbreak in mid-April, including two separate back-to-back situations. It’s evident that the majority of the roster isn’t 100% healthy, with most players dealing with a nagging injury, the aftermath of COVID-19, or a combination of the two.
“We had some injuries coming out of COVID like you expected to see happen,” says Thatcher Demko, suggesting that the injuries were related to game readiness following the outbreak. #Canucks
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) May 9, 2021
Yet, despite all odds against them, the team was actually able to put up a decently competitive performance last night.
The Canucks were able to limit the Oilers to only one goal in the first frame, and did not surrender a penalty during that 20-minute span. Yes, there were moments of sheer panic and cringe-worthy gameplay, but the team was still able to hold their ground to keep the game close.
As has been expected lately, though, the team appeared more fatigued coming into the second period, once again surrendering a tally early on. They easily could’ve thrown in the towel, much like they had done during this recent stretch of games, but you have to give credit to the team for continuing to battle.
They were able to register two goals in a span of 2:28 to bring the game to even again, including this marker from J.T. Miller, who was able to intercept a pass at his own blue line before storming down the ice for a silky breakaway finish:
J.T. Miller with the beauty breakaway finish pic.twitter.com/8n708CYocJ
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) May 9, 2021
The Oilers’ top guns went to work shortly after, restoring their one goal lead with ease less than one minute later. But, once again, the Canucks found a way to dig in and respond, something that fans are not used to seeing from this team in the middle frame lately.
The offence eventually dried up, with the Canucks unable to mount one more comeback in the final frame.
In the end, the team ultimately came away with the result that they deserved, but you can’t negate the effort that the players put into this one. And with seven games still remaining on this never-ending roller coaster season, that’s all you can really ask of this team each night.