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.

The Canucks entered the second period just as flat-footed as they were in the first, and ultimately gave up the fourth goal of the game because of it. They allowed the Flames to cycle the puck in their own end, and were unable to clear the zone when they had the chance. Eventually, the puck ended up on the stick of a wide open Brett Ritchie, who wristed the shot past Holtby in the slot.

Fortunately, the Canucks started to wake up after this, thanks in large part to their young guns.

Blueliner Jack Rathbone was easily the most noticeable Canucks players on the ice in the middle frame, building off of his strong performances so far.

The 22-year-old continued to showcase a combination of good defensive instincts and explosive offensive prowess, and was rewarded with a spot on the top powerplay unit throughout the night. Rathbone finished the night with one assist, one blocked shot and two shots on net over 21:17 of ice time. He spent 4:47 on the powerplay, and even posted just over 20 seconds on the penalty kill.

Forward Will Lockwood also continued his strong play from his NHL debut, logging just over 15 minutes of ice time in a bottom six role. The former University of Michigan winger isn’t afraid to showcase his talent and smooth hands in the offensive zone, and it was evident on Wednesday.

Halfway through the second period, Lockwood was able to make a slick play at the Calgary blueline, drawing a penalty against veteran Mark Giordano that would eventually lead to his team’s first tally of the night from the captain.

This was an encouraging sign for Lockwood, who not only provided his team with a much-needed powerplay, but also made amends for his penalty against Giordano on Tuesday, showing the coaching staff that he is able to learn quickly from previous mistakes.

And of course, you can’t talk about promising young guns without mentioning Nils Höglander.

The 20-year-old Swede was fairly quiet in the first period, but picked up his gameplay in the second period.

Shortly after Horvat’s powerplay goal, Höglander went to work. After teammate Brock Boeser wired a shot on former teammate Jacob Markstrom, Höglander was able to collect the rebound in front of the net. He worked the puck to a pinching Tyler Myers, who slid the puck back to Boeser at the point. Boeser fired a strong wrister on net, with the puck eventually finding the back of the net, thanks to a nifty tip from Miller.

Höglander wasn’t credited with an assist on the goal, but, as we’ve seen so often this past season, was instrumental in starting the play in the offensive zone.

With just over half of the game still remaining, fans were starting to panic, thinking that their team was about to embark on yet another come-from-behind victory that would only hurt them for the draft lottery.

Fortunately, Holtby made sure that didn’t happen.

Less than two minutes after the Miller goal, Holtby was once again beaten five-hole, this time from Tkachuk, who tallied his second goal of the game to put his team up 5-2.

The scoreline didn’t change entering the second intermission, with the only good scoring chance for the Canucks coming from Tyler Graovac. The 28-year-old was able to spring himself on a breakaway after capitalizing on a Flames’ misplay in the neutral zone. Graovac didn’t score on the play, but he was able to draw a penalty.

He finished the night with one shot on goal over 10:46 of ice time. Graovac, who was one of the better Canuck players down the stretch, also won 43% of his faceoffs taken, and spent just under four minutes on the powerplay.