Canucks: 3 takeaways from disheartening 5-1 loss to Anaheim
The Vancouver Canucks need answers.
The team made their way to Anaheim on Sunday night, hoping to finish their three-game road trip with a victory. The Canucks were absolutely embarrassed in their last two outings, conceding seven goals apiece, and desperately needed two points before coming home.
Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen.
The Canucks put up yet another lacklustre performance on the road, playing 60 minutes of uninspired and low-energy hockey, much like they did against Colorado and Vegas earlier in the week.
In the end, Vancouver didn’t have an answer for the high-flying Ducks, who are now riding a seven-game win streak, in large part to Trevor Zegras’s first-career three-point outing. Anaheim also received help from captain Ryan Getzlaf, who seems to be having a resurgent season with 17 points in 16 games, as well as Troy Terry, who extended his point-streak to 14 games.
Adam Henrique and Sam Steel added salt to the wound with two more tallies in the final minute.
Meanwhile, the Canucks will be walking away from this road trip with a record of 0-3-0, dropping them to 27th in the entire league, while also getting outscored by a dismal margin of 19-6 in that span.
No matter how you feel about this organization right now, there’s no doubt that changes need to be made to stop the bleeding. But, until then, the players and coaching staff can continue to dwell in their disappointment and frustration as the season starts to slip through their hands once again.
Without further ado, here are three takeaways from Vancouver’s 5-1 loss in Anaheim:
Penalty kill hits yet another low
We’ve run out of ways to describe this penalty kill.
The shorthanded units continued to struggle on Sunday, conceding two more goals on four opportunities.
With those tallies, Vancouver has now allowed at least two powerplay markers in seven of their last eight games, rounding out the total to 15 during that span.
The team did get a much-needed boost with the return of Tyler Motte, who had been sidelined all year after undergoing offseason neck surgery. The former Chicago Blackhawk played with Juho Lammikko and Justin Bailey on the fourth line, replacing Alex Chiasson in the process, and he definitely showed signs of his old self.
Since joining the Canucks, Motte has easily been one of the team’s best bottom-six forwards, bringing aggression and a strong ability to block passing lanes to both even strength and on the penalty kill.
Unfortunately, one person isn’t going to fix this glaring issue.
Heading into Anaheim, Vancouver found itself at the bottom of the league in terms of penalty kill success, executing at an abysmal rate of 63.3%, and that position didn’t change after Sunday’s loss.
Vancouver has gotten much better at their shorthanded faceoff percentage, thanks to Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller, but the team still can’t win puck battles and clear the zone if their lives depended on it.
The penalty kill also continued to rewrite the history books, putting their shorthanded embarrassments into a whole new perspective.
Worst penalty kill percentages of all-time heading into tonight. pic.twitter.com/BvvfUcfx4S
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) November 15, 2021
And yes, we are on that list twice.
Nils Höglander, Jaroslav Halak deliver once again
Apparently Nils Höglander and Jaroslav Halak were the only two players who wanted to round out the road trip with a win.
For what seems like the millionth time this season, the Canucks were unable to string together a full team effort, once again relying on the efforts of a few players to carry them through three periods.
And on Sunday night, the onus fell on Höglander and Halak.
Let’s start with Höglander.
The young Swede easily had his best game of the year on Saturday, notching two goals and one assist in just over 10 minutes of ice time, and didn’t take his foot off the pedal heading into Sunday.
As expected, Höglander assumed his regular position in top-six forward rotation, skating alongside Miller and Tanner Pearson for the second consecutive game, and it appeared to pay off.
After receiving a pass from blueliner Quinn Hughes in their own end, Höglander took off with speed, maneuvering his way through multiple Anaheim players before snapping the puck past John Gibson to open the scoring.
This was only the fourth time this year that Vancouver notched the first goal of the game, and it was the second straight opening marker that Höglander was part of. The former 2019 second round selection continued to play at an elite level for the remainder of the game, putting his tenacity, energy and determination on full display.
Even though the other three lines desperately need to be fixed, it was great to see Höglander flourish with his new linemates. With Miller consistently winning faceoffs and with Pearson able to dig out pucks from the corners, this combination could really bode well for Höglander, who finished the road trip with four goals and one assist.
The goaltending was also a bright spot for Vancouver on Sunday.
As expected, head coach Travis Green went with Halak between the pipes after Thatcher Demko was hung out to dry for 13 goals in the previous two outings, including seven against Vegas just 22 hours prior.
The 36-year-old stood tall from the beginning, much like he had done in his first three contests with his new club. Similar to Demko, unfortunately, Halak once again had zero run support from his teammates in front of him, and was consistently peppered with pucks throughout the game.
Vancouver was outshot at the end of each period, highlighted by 13 shots in the first period alone. In the end, Halak stopped 33 of 37 shots faced, bringing his record to 0-3-1 with a .903 SV% and 2.80 GAA.
But hey – at least the Canucks are giving equal treatment to both of their goalies, right?
At least the #Canucks remembered to hang Jaroslav Halak out to dry before packing up and heading home.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 15, 2021
Pettersson doesn’t show up again, blueline depth isn’t good enough
What is going on with Elias Pettersson?
Pettersson has been a shell of his former self for much of the season, raising plenty of concern and questions from fans and coaching staff.
Similar to Saturday night, Green decided to play Pettersson on the third line with Brock Boeser and Jason Dickinson, hoping that this new trio might spark anything from his elite centre.
Another spoiler alert: it did not.
The former fifth overall pick was invisible yet again on Sunday night, further adding to his poor early season statistics.
Pettersson only logged 16:03 of ice time, ranking him a measly seventh-highest amongst all forwards. The former Calder Trophy winner also finished the night with a 33% faceoff success rate to go along with two SOG, bringing his road trip total to three registered shots.
In 16 games, Pettersson has recorded three goals and six assists, good for sixth in team scoring. What’s even more alarming is that only four of those points have come at 5-on-5, with Pettersson still searching for his first even strength goal of the campaign.
Who knows what’s going on with Pettersson right now, but it needs to change ASAP if the team wants any hope of salvaging this spiralling season.
The same could be said of the depth on defence.
Despite conceding 14 goals in their previous two contests, Vancouver wasn’t able to make many changes to the backend.
Green was once again without the services of Travis Hamonic, Tucker Poolman and Luke Schenn on the right side, forcing him to turn to Madison Bowey and Kyle Burroughs for the second consecutive contest.
The duo were good for 18:00 and 19:13 of ice time respectively, including over two minutes of penalty kill time for each, but definitely not by choice.
Green also wasn’t able to make any adjustments behind Hughes and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the left side, once again rolling with Brad Hunt on the third-pairing. Hunt didn’t necessarily perform poorly on Saturday, registering an assist and a minus one rating in just over 14 minutes of ice time, but definitely isn’t the team’s top candidate to fill that left-handed spot on the third-pairing.
Unfortunately, with Motte’s return to the line-up, Green was forced to loan Jack Rathbone back to Abbotsford in order to make space on the 23-man roster. Rathbone last played on Thursday in Colorado, and could’ve been a much-needed spark for the team on Sunday.
At the end of the day, all teams will have to face personnel issues at some point in the season, whether it be through injury or suspension, and it’s no surprise that it’s happening yet again to Vancouver’s backend.
However, these key blueline absences have really put Vancouver’s defensive woes in the spotlight. Aside from Hughes, the team’s defencemen continue to have trouble moving the puck and maintaining possession, leading to numerous neutral zone turnovers and the overall inability to generate pressure in the offensive zone.
Yes, the Canucks will have Hamonic and Poolman back in the line-up on Wednesday, something that Green believes will have a huge impact on his club, but it’s still not going to fix the underlying depth issues.
Travis Green suggests that he can take some confidence from the idea that his top guns will start to score, that getting some of the club's RD back will help. #Canucks
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 15, 2021
The preseason buzz has worn off around Burroughs and Hunt.
Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers have returned back to reality with their steady, albeit average style of play.
Poolman will be back to playing well beyond his capabilities when he returns.
Hamonic will continue to be an issue on the road until his vaccination status is in compliance with the league rules.
Until all of this is sorted out, don’t expect Vancouver to bounce back defensively moving forward.
The Canucks will get some much-needed time off before a rematch against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena. Puck drop is set for 6:00pm PST.
Next. Change is needed sooner rather than later for the Canucks. dark
What are your thoughts after Sunday night’s loss in Anaheim? Let us know in the comments!