Canucks: A deeper dive into the 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames

The 2020-21 season is finally over for the Vancouver Canucks.

After what felt like an eternity, the team played their last regular season game on Wednesday afternoon, squaring off against the Calgary Flames for the tenth time. It was meaningless hockey for both clubs, as indicated by their matinee timeslot, with most of the players just waiting for the final whistle to sound off.

It was a rough start for the Canucks, who were playing their 11th back-to-back set this season.

The team allowed three goals in the opening frame, and looked defeated heading into the first intermission. The struggles continued in the second period, as they surrendered yet another goal in the first five minutes.

The Canucks were able to respond shortly after, thanks to tallies from Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller, but that’s essentially all they could muster up.

The Flames would add on two more goals of their own, en route to a lopsided 6-2 victory to cap off what has truly been one of the most challenging and surreal seasons in a long time, especially for the Canucks.

After returning from their team-wide COVID-19 outbreak in mid-April, the team was set to play 19 games in 32 games, with 11 of those contests taking place on the road.

Don’t get us wrong. That kind of schedule would be brutal on any team, let alone one that was enduring both nagging injuries and ongoing recovery from a respiratory illness, but it really showed on Wednesday afternoon.

The team was sluggish right out of the gate, essentially chasing the puck from the opening face-off, and their tired, low-energy style of play was evident on each goal that they surrendered.

On the opening goal of the game, the Canucks gave too much time and space to Flames’ defencemen Jusso Valimaki, who was able to send a strong outlook pass to Johnny Gaudreau from his own end of ice. Gaudreau then used his speed and strong puck control to enter the zone and easily circle the next before sending a pass to Matthew Tkachuk for the easy tap-in.

The Canucks continued to allow the Flames to easily enter their own zone for the rest of the period, leading to two more tallies in the opening frame. On the second goal, Flames forward Dillon Dube was able to make a strong cut towards the middle, out-hustling defenceman Quinn Hughes before sliding the puck five-hole past Braden Holtby.

Less than five minutes later, the Canucks coughed up the puck in the offensive end, thanks to a far-too-familiar takeaway from Chris Tanev. The former Canuck was able to spring one of his teammates for yet another easy zone entry, leading to strong puck possession and passing from the Flames’ forwards, and with the eventual rebound goal from Andrew Mangiapane.

The Canucks were not able to come up with any sort of response, only registering two scoring chances throughout the opening frame. The best opportunity came from the captain, who found himself on yet another breakaway, but was unable to beat his former teammate.

And this was only just the first period.