Canucks: 3 takeaways from 5-2 loss to Buffalo (October 19th)

That was an ugly one for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team was entering the latter half of their road trip on Tuesday afternoon, facing off against the undefeated Buffalo Sabres at Keybank Center. The Canucks, who were coming off their first regulation loss of the season against Detroit on Saturday night, had only collected three of a possible six points so far, and were itching to get back into the win column.

Cue the disappointment.

The Canucks were able to get on the board first, thanks to a hard-fought puck battle behind the net from Tanner Pearson that led to Bo Horvat‘s first tally of the season. Kyle Okposo responded less than three minutes later, but the Canucks were able to recapture the lead near the end of the opening frame with a Justin Dowling tip-in that was redirected past 40-year-old netminder Craig Anderson.

The Canucks came out extremely flat in the second period, only registering 10 shots on goal, but still managed to enter the final frame deadlocked at 2-2. Unfortunately, the nightmare continued in the third period.

Buffalo continued to create high-danger scoring chances in Vancouver’s end right from the get-go and it seemed like the Canucks, particularly their blueline, weren’t able to come up with a solution to stop the bleeding.

The Sabres quickly capitalized on their glorious opportunities, notching two more goals just 23 seconds apart, both as a direct result of juicy rebounds and poor overall defensive coverage. Rasmus Asplund hammered the final nail in the coffin with an empty-net goal late in the third period.

Stating that it’s been a difficult road trip so far for the Canucks would be an understatement. Yes, they still have two more games to go before returning home, but the team is still grasping to establish any sort of identity, especially over the past 72 hours.

Without further adieu, here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s 5-2 loss in Buffalo:

The Miller-Podkolzin experiment

Could J.T. Miller be our next third-line centre? The short answer is no.

The experiment started during Monday’s morning skate in Detroit, when Miller was spotted wearing a bottom-six white practice jersey. As we all know, the 28-year-old does have experience down the middle from last season, where he filled in for the injured Elias Pettersson on the team’s top line. However, that move came at a time when the Canucks were noticeably desperate for centermen, and head coach Travis Green definitely didn’t want to put Brandon Sutter or Travis Boyd in that position (for the sake of the standings, of course).

Nonetheless, Green felt like this would be the best change for Miller and the team, who occupied the 3C role on Tuesday night, with Dowling and Vasily Podkolzin on his flanks.

The newly-formed third line came out strong to start the first period, particularly Miller and Podkolzin. Both forwards have the hockey IQ to make creative, high-level plays at both ends of the ice, and are able to use their size and physicality to win puck battles, especially against the boards.

It looked like Green’s new line combination was a stroke of genius early on, with the trio able to enter the offensive zone well en route to Dowling’s first as a Canuck. Podkolzin didn’t register an assist on the play, but there’s a good chance the goal wouldn’t have occurred if it wasn’t for his intelligent spin move at the blueline to create more space for himself and his teammates.

Podkolzin finished the night with one SOG over 12 minutes of ice time, the highest of his NHL career so far.

Green kept the Miller-Podkolzin-Dowling line together for most of the night, which ended up being one of the team’s downfalls, particularly in the final frame. The trio finished the contest with a combined rating of minus five, which included Buffalo’s fourth goal that exposed their defensive inconsistencies as a unit.

There’s no doubt that having three capable centres in Pettersson, Horvat and Miller is extremely beneficial for the Canucks in the long run, especially when comparing the other middleman situation for other teams in the league.

However, at the end of the day, Green needs to dress the line combinations that will give his club the greatest chance of winning, night in and night out, and placing Miller in the bottom-six is not going to provide that outcome on a consistent basis just yet.

Special teams not so special

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: special teams are going to make or break the Canucks this season.

So far, it’s just broken them.

The team was unable to produce anything on the man advantage for the second straight game, bringing their season success rate to 20% so far.

As has been the case all year, the first unit continues to struggle mightily, specifically with controlling the puck in the neutral zone and establishing effective offensive zone entry. Yes, the Canucks were without their quarterback specialist in Hughes, but Oliver Ekman-Larsson was able to fill in nicely, especially given how he has performed on the second unit so far.

The team was also gifted with the return of Brock Boeser, who had been sidelined with an undisclosed injury, but even The Flow wasn’t able to ignite the primary unit.

What stings the most about the powerplay so far this season is not how they underperform, but rather when. Vancouver’s first two powerplay opportunities were awarded when the game was still tied 2-2, and their third and final attempt came with over five minutes left in the contest, which is still plenty of time to mount the comeback.

At the end of the day, you can’t expect your secondary unit to carry the bulk of the powerplay expectations, which they have been so far. The top players need to be able to drag their team back into the fight, no matter the situation, but that hasn’t been the case at all this season.

And speaking of top players, we can’t mention special teams without tipping our cap to Thatcher Demko.

The 25-year-old netminder was lights out on the penalty kill, stopping every single shot he faced while his team was down a man, including a four-minute double minor. Yes, most people would argue that your netminder needs to be your best penalty killer every night, regardless of the opponent, but most teams also don’t make Buffalo’s powerplay look unexpectedly lethal and dangerous, and that’s exactly what the Canucks did on Tuesday.

To be fair, it’s only been a four-game sample size for Vancouver’s shorthanded units, which is not only littered with new faces such as Jason Dickinson and Juho Lammikko, but also missing key pieces like Sutter and Tyler Motte. However, no matter the personnel, it’s unacceptable to allow Buffalo’s powerplay to perform that well, and the team should (once again) be thanking Demko for keeping them in the battle for as long as he did.

Demko stopped 38 of 42 shots faced on Tuesday, bringing his record to 1-1-1 with a 3.18 GAA and .910 SV%.

Other notes:

• With the absence of Hughes, Green promoted Rathbone to the top-four defensive rotation for the first time this season. As expected, Rathbone played extremely well, registering one shot, one hit and 2 blocked shots over 18:29 of ice time. Rathbone also logged just over two minutes on the second powerplay unit, and was on the ice for half of Vancouver’s scoring chances. He and Demko were the only bright spots from an otherwise dismal game.
• Green spoke on Hughes during the post-game media availability, stating that Hughes was very close to playing on Tuesday but ultimately decided to keep him on the sidelines. The former Calder Trophy nominee has had a hectic start to the season, averaging an ice time of 27:52 over the first three contests, including 29:09 on Saturday afternoon against Detroit. Hughes’ absence was quite noticeable on Tuesday, as the team struggled to carry the puck through the neutral zone. The Canucks are hopeful that Hughes can return on Thursday.

• Horvat’s goal marked the 140th of his career, all in a Vancouver sweater. He now sits 15th all-time in Canucks history, ahead of Alexander Mogilny. Daniel Sedin currently holds the title with 393.
• Prior to Tuesday’s puck-drop, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that the province will be getting rid of capacity limits for indoor events, meaning that the Canucks can have 100% attendance at Rogers Arena for the team’s home-opener on Tuesday.

The Canucks will continue their road trip on Thursday night with a match-up against Marc-Andre Fleury and the winless Chicago Blackhawks. Puck drop is set for 5:30pm PST.

What were your thoughts from Tuesday’s letdown in Buffalo? Make sure to drop a comment below!