Three takeaways from Canucks tough 4-1 loss to Carolina Hurricanes

#1: The power play struggles continue

The Hurricanes have the number-one ranked penalty kill in the league while the Canucks have the 19th-ranked power play. The man advantage let Vancouver down in Sunrise and Tampa Bay and it once again let them down in Raleigh.

The Canucks power play went 0/5 on Saturday and that’s not a good look. Sure, they were facing the best penalty kill in the league but going 0/5 isn’t acceptable.

Bruce Boudreau switched the power play units up which included putting Elias Pettersson on the second unit and bumping Tanner Pearson up to the first unit but the man advantage was still futile. The Canucks did get a few shots on Andersen but they had a hard time keeping possession on the power play as the Hurricanes showed off their aggressive PK by going after the puck carriers and sending the puck down the ice.

At one point, the Canucks were being outshot on the power play. It felt like the Hurricanes had more short-handed opportunities than the Canucks had shots on the man advantage.

Vancouver couldn’t get set up properly, they were losing the puck and missing the net on the power play. Their power play has gone 0/12 on the road trip.

“It’s hard when your power play is struggling and you face the best penalty kill in the league,” said Boudreau. “We’ll get back to the drawing board.”

#2: The defending was woeful

The Canucks defence was like a broken dam letting water in. No wonder why the Hurricanes got plenty of dangerous scoring chances.

The puck battles were lost, there were tons of giveaways and the defensive core was just being obliterated by the Hurricanes forecheck.

It was a rough night for the pairing of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers. The Canucks were outshot 15-5 when Myers was on the ice and 13-4 while Ekman-Larsson was on the ice per NaturalStatTrick.

On the Hurricanes’ second goal, Myers fails to take the puck away from Svechnikov and stumbles into the boards. Then Ekman-Larsson and Horvat lose track of Trocheck who makes no mistake on his shot

It was also a poor game from Brad Hunt. Hunt looked lost out there and he kept making mistakes.

This one below was the most glaring. He pinches and tries to stop Svechnikov but the 2018 second overall pick manages to get around him. As a result, the Canes go back the other way and Necas beat Demko going bar-down.

The defending was very poor from the Canucks on Saturday and the Hurricanes made them pay.

#3: It was an unlucky game for Elias Pettersson

It was another game without a point from Pettersson.

Pettersson was having a tough time on the power play particularly in the first period. He was bobbling the puck and he gave it away for a Hurricanes 2-on-1. He was also missing the net a lot and only managed two shots on goal.

In the second, Pettersson’s closest chance was a shot that went off the post. He was rather unlucky throughout the game. There was a scary moment where he got hit by Vasily Podkolzin’s skate in the face. Fortunately, Pettersson only got a bloody nose and was OK to continue playing.

In the third, Pettersson skated down the wing and tried to shoot but his stick broke. He then was tripped by Andersen and there was no call. Pettersson was visibly upset about it on the bench.

https://twitter.com/SadClubCommish/status/1482444401922097152

Watching Pettersson was like trying to watch Charlie Brown fail to kick the football. It seemed nothing was going his way. What did Pettersson do the tick off the hockey gods? We’ll never know.

However, you can’t blame Pettersson’s struggles on just bad luck. He didn’t look engaged out there and you can tell there wasn’t a lot of confidence.

Pettersson did have some good chances but again, he needs to produce. The old Pettersson is sorely missed.

Other notes

• It seems Demko will also get the start Sunday in Washington.  “I have no concerns about Demko being able to go back to back,” said Boudreau per Drance.
• The Canucks have not had a lead during this road trip and have been outscored 13-5. They last had a lead on New Year’s Day in a 5-2 win over the Seattle Kraken

The Canucks get back in action Sunday against the Washington Capitals. It’s another early start time as the puck drops at 11:00 AM Pacific.