Horvat on winless Canucks: 'It's no secret that we're all frustrated'
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The Vancouver Canucks saw their winless skid extended to five games Thursday as the team blew another lead en route to their 4-3 overtime loss against the Minnesota Wild.
Earlier this week, Vancouver became the first team in NHL history to lose four straight games to open a season after holding a multi-goal lead in each contest, a streak that came to an end Thursday.
The Canucks led 3-2 against the Wild in the third period but were pushed to overtime by Mats Zuccarello's goal midway through the final frame. Kirill Kaprizov scored three minutes into overtime on the first shot of the additional frame.
"I mean, it's no secret that we're all frustrated," Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. "I mean, when your play is, in my opinion, probably as good a 60 minutes we play all year, and we just can't find a way to get a win ... that's where experience has to come in, leadership. We've got to find a way to dig deep to try and get over that hump right now. I think once we do, things are going to turn around for us."
Vancouver head coach Bruce Boudreau shared Horvat's frustrations, but added he believes the team is close to turning things around.
“We’ve either been leading, or we’ve been tied with less than seven minutes to go in every one of the games and we haven’t come up with a win, and that’s very frustrating,” Boudreau said. “So, we know what we’re capable of doing and when we do turn it around, it’ll turn around for a long time, and just want to do it quick.”
"I told the players today. I said, 'One of the things when you're not winning because you want to win so bad, you start learning good habits,'" Boudreau added later. "The good habits keep coming. You might still lose for a couple, but once you get those good habits down, then you start winning and you keep those good habits. It's usually a way to be successful."
After opening the season on a five-game road trip, which resulted in just two points, the Canucks will finally play their home opener on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres. Six of the team's next seven games come on home ice before the departs for another five-game road trip on Nov. 8.