You are what your record says you are. Right now, their 17-10-8 record says the Vancouver Canucks are an average team fighting tooth and nail for a wildcard playoff spot.
After losing 5-4 to the Seattle Kraken in overtime in a historically disastrous fashion, the Canucks have one win in their last five games. Moreover, they are just 3-3-4 in their last 10 games. That is not good enough for a team that needs to elevate its play through the winter and into the spring, not regress.
So what about the loss was so rare and devastating in equal measure? For starters, the Canucks were leading 4-1 with 5:45 left on the clock. Brock Boeser scored twice and Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland chipped in, abbreviated by a Matty Beniers goal.
For all intents and purposes, that is the dream scenario when you are playing without both Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson for the first time since Hughes made his Canucks debut in 2019.
Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn combined for three goals in 3:55 to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to overtime. Dunn, of course, would score unassisted in overtime to win the game for the Kraken.
Down three with five minutes remaining? Don't count the @SeattleKraken out as they earned their League-leading fifth multi-goal comeback win of the season.#NHLStats: https://t.co/SUWZrfF645 pic.twitter.com/1agx9pzfya
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 29, 2024
By completing this comeback, the Kraken became the third team in NHL history to win a regular season game after trailing by three goals inside the final five minutes. Ironically, the San Jose Sharks, whom the Canucks defeated on Dec. 23, also achieved this feat on Oct. 28. Before them and the Kraken, the Montreal Canadiens did it on March 15, 2014.
On the flip side, this also means that, for the first time in Vancouver Canucks franchise history, the team collapsed and lost a game after leading by three goals inside the final five minutes. Unsurprisingly, fans on social media did not take the final result very well, especially during a season in which the Canucks are already underachieving by the standards they set last year.
TIMEOUTS ARE SO IMPORTANT … why didn’t Rick Tocchet call a timeout after the 3rd Seattle goal??? I get the defence is a problem but like other factors are getting on my nerves now too. Could have still won that in regulation even at 4-3 with a timeout
— Priya ☔️🏒 (@Canuckstrom) December 28, 2024
By the same account, Canucks fans are already beginning to question head coach Rick Tocchet's methods, and when or if the team will recover from such a slump and from such a loss. Time will tell the story, but recent precedent does not favor the third-year Canucks coach at this point in time.