Canucks: 3 takeaways from 4-3 OT loss to Columbus

It’s officially gone from bad to worse for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team continued their five-game, season-opening road trip on Tuesday night, squaring off against Johnny Gaudreau and the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

Despite only being three games into the 2022-23 season, the Canucks already found themselves in quite the hole to start the year. The team entered Tuesday’s contest with a dismal record of 0-3-0, putting even more pressure on Vancouver to come away from Columbus with the much-needed two points.

Fortunately for the Canucks, they were able to receive some good news on the blueline prior to puck-drop, with both Tyler Myers and Tucker Poolman cleared to return to the line-up.

Myers, who hadn’t played all season due to a lower-body injury, was reunited with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, while Poolman, who missed Monday’s game in Washington, found himself on the top-pairing with Quinn Hughes.

Despite the return of Myers and Poolman, however, most fans still turned their attention to who was missing on the roster instead, specifically that of Conor Garland.

According to reporter Patrick Johnson, Garland’s absence was not injury-related, with the 26-year-old being assigned to the press box to make way for Ilya Mikheyev’s return to the line-up.

Kyle Burroughs also found himself on the outside looking in, giving fans one more thing to scratch their head about heading into Tuesday night.

Despite the personnel changes, the Canucks still found a way to reach the same fate as previous nights, dropping the team to seventh in the Pacific Division, 14th in the Western Conference and 30th in the entire league. Ouch.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s 4-3 OT loss in Columbus:

Third period collapse right on cue

Yes, we know. We’re tired about writing on this topic, too. But here we are again.

Like we’ve seen all season, the Canucks entered the third period ahead of their opponents on the scoreboard, with only 20 minutes between them and their first win of the season.

But, like we’ve also seen all season, the team managed to find a way to play down to said opponents, opening the door for another late-game collapse.

It all started with yet another penalty call early on, with Hughes getting dinged for an interference infraction in the neutral zone while his team was on the man advantage.

Columbus was rewarded with a powerplay of their own once the 4-on-4 action expired, applying showcasing speed and puck control in Vancouver’s end while up a man.

Fortunately for Vancouver and their on-ice statistics, they didn’t end up surrendering a powerplay goal for once. However, Columbus was still able to sustain the pressure at even strength, which eventually led to the game-tying, back-door goal from Zach Werenski.

The Canucks were able to re-establish their lead shortly after, giving both fans and media a (soon-to-be false) sense of hope, but that was once again short-lived, large in part to Gaudreau, who used his speed and creativity to take advantage of a defensive breakdown on the blueline and an overly-committed netminder in Spencer Martin.

Vancouver did manage to secure a point after 60 minutes but, at this point in the road trip, that’s simply not good enough.