Canucks: 3 takeaways from frustrating 6-4 loss to Washington

Oct 17, 2022; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Conor Sheary (73) scores a goal on Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) in the third period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2022; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Conor Sheary (73) scores a goal on Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) in the third period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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Don’t look now, but it might already be is definitely time to enter panic mode for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team continued their five-game season-opening road trip on Monday night, facing off against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena.

Despite only having two regular season games under their belt, Monday’s match-up already felt like a do-or-die moment for the Canucks, who entered the contest with an 0-2-0 record, including a rather disappointing 3-2 defeat in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.

As a result, it appeared that head coach Bruce Boudreau felt the need to adjust his line combinations ahead on Monday night, hoping that the change would spark his club.

The most noticeable changes took place on the wing, with Boudreau moving Conor Garland and Vasily Podkolzin up to the top line with J.T. Miller, while Bo Horvat found himself with some more familiar linemates in Brock Boeser and Tanner Pearson on the third line.

Boudreau also did some tinkering with the fourth line, bumping up Curtis Lazar to replace Nils Höglander on the second line.

The team was also still missing half of their blueline, with Tyler Myers, Travis Dermott and Tucker Poolman all sidelined with injury. Poolman participated in the optional morning skate, but was eventually ruled out of the contest, making way for Noah Juulsen to make his season debut.

It was an interesting contest for the away team, who showed signs of strong, high IQ hockey.

But, in the end, the Canucks ended up facing the same fate as their previous two games, making the journey for their first regular season victory even more elusive.

Here are three takeaways from Monday’s 6-4 loss to Washington:

Another day, another blown multi-goal lead

The heading says it all.

Despite what the final score read, the Canucks actually looked fairly decent for the first 40 minutes of the game, particularly in the middle frame when they rattled off three straight tallies to establish a two-goal lead.

However, as we’ve already grown so accustomed to this year, the Canucks managed to find a way to play down to their opponents, and Monday’s contest might have been the ugliest outing of them all.

The team allowed Washington to climb back into the game early in the final frame, thanks to a Dylan Strome powerplay tally to cut the lead to one.

From there, it was all Washington, who were able to easily dictate the gameplay in both the neutral and offensive zones while limiting Vancouver to just a small handful of scoring chances. Vancouver also allowed Washington to drive the net far too easily, as evident on the Strome and Ovechkin goals.

The consistent pressure and control from the home team, not to mention the repeated defensive break downs led to three more unanswered goals for Washington, who helped Vancouver achieve a feat that no other NHL club had previously established.

With the loss, Vancouver has now also allowed seven third period goals this season, to go along with their zero goals for, proving that no lead is safe for this team.

Penalty kill problems continue

No, we’re not talking about the 2021-22 season.

For the second consecutive campaign, the Canucks’ penalty kill has been the weakest part of their game, and the disappointment continued on Monday.

The team got off on the wrong foot just 36 seconds into the game, thanks to a high-sticking penalty from Brock Boeser that put his team down a man.

Like we’ve seen far too often this year, the penalty kill unit appeared passive and out of position, which eventually led to Ovechkin’s first goal of the year to open the scoring.

The Canucks did manage to stay out of the sin bin for the next 40 minutes, while even capitalizing on a powerplay of their own in the second period, but that excitement was all but erased in the final frame.

Like the opening period, the Canucks took yet another lazy infraction, this time with the captain being sent to the penalty box for an unnecessary cross-check.

As we all know, the Capitals made them pay, opening the flood gates for the rest of their third period tallies.

Washington ended up going 2-for-3 on the man advantage, bringing Vancouver’s penalty kill success rate to a pitiful 50% on the year. It’s not as bad as the first 25 games from last season, but there’s no doubt that the team is well on their way to another historic low if they continue at this disappointing pace.

Pettersson carries the team on his shoulders

Just like last year’s visit to Washington, Elias Pettersson was a man on a mission for his Vancouver squad.

The young Swedish centre was easily the best Canuck for much of the 60 minutes, trying his best to replicate the success from his performance back in January 2022.

As many fans likely remember, the Canucks entered that contest having barely survived the Florida road trip gauntlet, while also putting their newfound winning habits into question after an extremely dominant December.

Fortunately, Vancouver was able to bounce back in a big way, thanks to a two-goal performance from Pettersson that not only kept his team from veering off the playoff racetrack, but which also catapulted his gameplay to another level for the remainder of the season.

Although this year’s final score didn’t favour the Canucks, it was still an impressive performance from Pettersson, who notched one goal, two assists and three shots on goal in just over 17 minutes, marking the 18th three-point night of his young career.

Pettersson now leads the team in scoring with four points in three games and, if all goes well, should easily smash the 68-point output from last year. Now it’s just (hopefully) a matter of time before his teammates find their scoring touch, too.

The Canucks won’t be able to dwell on this defeat for too long, facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night for their first back-to-back contests of the season.

Puck drop is set for 4:00pm PST.

Next. Canucks set to sign Kevin Bieksa to one-day contract. dark

What are your thoughts from Monday’s frustrating 6-4 loss in Washington? Let us know in the comments!

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