Canucks: 3 takeaways from 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota

Vancouver Canucks, meet rock bottom.

The team finally concluded their five-game, season-opening road trip on Thursday night, squaring off against Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

It had been a week to forget for the Canucks, who had dropped all four of their previous contests in embarrassing fashion, including a 4-3 overtime loss to Columbus on Tuesday night.

As expected, head coach Bruce Boudreau made some tweaks to his line-up ahead of Thursday night, hoping that any change would resurrect his players from their slump.

With Ilya Mikheyev back in the line-up, Boudreau once again had to send a forward to the press box, this time opting for Swedish sophomore Nils Höglander to take the night off.

The team also welcomed back Kyle Burroughs on the third pairing. Burroughs, who was a healthy scratch on Tuesday, replaced the injured Tucker Poolman, who did not participate in the morning skate. Poolman was injured during Saturday’s matinee match-up in Philadelphia, forcing him to also miss Monday’s game in Washington.

Personnel changes aside, the Canucks still had every opportunity to secure their first win of the season on Thursday, facing off against a Minnesota club that was bleeding goals at the bottom of the standings with a record of 0-3-0.

Of course, it wouldn’t be rock bottom without more disappointment.

Vancouver was once again unable to get the job done, falling to their opponent in overtime for the second consecutive night. With the loss, the Canucks are now the only club in the league looking for their first victory of the season, to go along with their second-last position in the league (thanks, San Jose).

Here are the three takeaways from Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Minnesota:

An overtime to forget

Well, that was tough to watch.

For the second consecutive contest, the Canucks were able to secure one point, which would be a huge plus for the half glass-full crowd.

However, for the half glass-empty bandwagon, which many fans have likely jumped onto this past week, there was a handful of glaring issues that need to be addressed.

Let’s start with the coaching decisions.

Despite having a handful of speedy forwards at his disposal, Boudreau opted for the duo of Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller.

Don’t get us wrong, both players, particularly Miller, have had hero moments for the Canucks in the past, so some could see why Boudreau rolled with that one-two punch.

And at the end of the day, the responsibility does need to fall on the players, which brings us to issue number two.

Unfortunately, both Miller and Boeser underperformed in sudden death, with both players being burned by Minnesota’s quickness and physicality on multiple occasions in the extra frame.

There was a chance for the two players to get back to the bench to a break, but Miller was once again the culprit of a poor defensive play. The 29-year-old forward, who recently inked a seven-year extension in the summer, failed to clear the puck out of the zone, leading to a delayed penalty from a very fatigued Tyler Myers.

Of course, Myers never actually made his trip to the penalty box, thanks to a very patient Kaprizov who buried the puck past Thatcher Demko for the game-winning goal.

At this point in the season, the Canucks will take an overtime loss with open arms, but let’s hope they can eventually learn how to secure that extra point.