The Canucks got crushed 6-3 by the Golden Knights on Sunday in Vegas
G: Pettersson (14), Boeser (13), Virtanen (9)
Jacob Markstrom allowed 5 goals on 39 shots before being pulled for the first time this season. Michael DiPietro came on in relief and stopped 6 of 7 shots in his season debut and second NHL appearance
TAKEAWAYS
1) Playing for the second time in as many nights and third time in four nights, the Vancouver Canucks may have been tired on Sunday in Las Vegas. But even if the team was fresh, I'm not sure it would have stood a chance against the Golden Knights the way they attacked with speed and came at the Canucks in waves. After giving up an early lead -- stop me if you've heard that before -- the Canucks managed to get out of the first period down 2-1. But the game changed completely in the second, when the Knights cranked up their speed game and the Canucks simply could not defend it. Vegas outshot the Canucks 19-5 in the second period and 46-29 on the night. The Canucks want to believe they are a playoff team and if they are then an opponent like Vegas could very well be what they draw in the opening round. Based on Sunday's contest, that would be a short series. Lifetime, Vegas is now 8-0-1 against the Canucks so this wasn't a one-off. The Canucks have struggled to handle the top Vegas scorers and on Sunday it wasn't so much the Knights top line as second liners Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone terrorized the Vancouver defense. Pacioretty finished with 2+2=4 while Stone had 1+1=2. Combined, those two had nine shots on goal.
2) The Canucks haven't played with a lead in more than a week. In hockey terms, that's four full games plus parts of two overtimes or more than 240 minutes since they held -- but couldn't protect -- a 5-4 edge against Buffalo on Saturday December 7th. They played catch-up against Toronto, played Carolina to a scoreless tie until Elias Pettersson won that game in overtime and then fell behind in San Jose and trailed throughout the night in Vegas. And it's not just that they give up the first goal on so many nights. But a night like Sunday, when they responded well and tied the game 1-1 less than two minutes after Vegas opened the scoring, the Canucks just can't seem to get that 'next' goal when they need it that would allow them to apply pressure to opponents and perhaps force the other team to alter the way it plays. The Canucks are now 6-12-4 when falling behind. That's six wins in 22 games. That strategy isn't working for them. Conversely, they are 10-2 when they open the scoring.
3) It was always going to be a lot to ask of Jacob Markstrom to play both ends of the weekend back to backs. But with Thatcher Demko in concussion protocol and the Canucks facing a pair of divisional opponents, Markstrom seemed like the only choice for the starts in San Jose and Vegas. He played well in the Bay Area and the Canucks were going to need him to be the difference maker in Sin City. And then the Golden Knights scored on their first shot of the game just 2:22 after the opening face-off. It was not the start Markstrom or his hockey club needed on Sunday. It's impossible to point the finger of blame at the goalie when the team in front of him allows 39 shots before Travis Green got the hook out for the first time this season. Markstrom didn't get the support he needed or deserved on Sunday. When the Canucks made a goaltending switch at 5-2 with just over nine minutes remaining, it allowed Michael DiPietro to make his season debut and second NHL appearance. Everyone remembers how his first big league game went (not well). This time around it was encouraging to see the 20-year-old make a few early stops to bolster his confidence. He was beaten once on a late Vegas power play, but on a night with very few bright spots for the visitors it was good to see DiPietro back on the big stage and this time look like he belonged.
4) The road has not been kind to the Canucks of late. After a 5-2 win in San Jose on November 2nd, the Canucks were 5-3-1 through their first nine road games. Since that night, they are 3-7 as the visitors. After Sunday's loss, they have now dropped four of their last five games away from Rogers Arena (at Philadelphia, at Pittsburgh -- they won in Edmonton -- but lost in San Jose and Las Vegas this weekend). Sunday was the team's 19th road game of the season. The Canucks are now 8-10-1 away from home. They don't play another road game until December 29th in Calgary, so they can't do anything about their road record for a couple of weeks now. But starting January 7th in Tampa Bay, they have a stretch of 10 of 13 out on the road that consists of a pair of five-game road trips. The team's road performance was one of the bright spots after on 0 for Alberta start to the season. But over the last six weeks, things have taken a turn for the Canucks when out on the road. Again, if they think they are a playoff team they have to be able to compete both at home and on the road. There have been a few too many suspect performances on the road of late. And there is another monster stretch of road games in the offing.
5) It feels like the Vancouver Canucks are at a crossroads. The loss to Vegas leaves them four points out of the the second Wild Card spot in the West. They started the night chasing the Golden Knights for that last playoff berth and now the target has changed to Calgary since Vegas moved past the Flames. At four points, the Canucks are still within striking distance and they are aided by games in hand on the four teams ahead of them in the Pacific Division. But unless something changes -- and in a hurry -- a four point deficit can become six points and then eight points in a hurry. Micheal Ferland is the only forward missing from this Vancouver line-up now. Alex Edler should be back before Christmas. This team is essentially a 'healthy' club by hockey standards (every team has injured players). There was a stretch a few weeks back where injuries were a problem. The Canucks can't play that card right now. While Edler will return soon, Ferland's future is unknown and beyond that there are no saviours waiting in the wings. The answers -- if the Canucks have them -- lie in the roster they constructed and the players they have at their disposal. This was supposed to be a better team than the past four years. On paper, it gives that appearance -- and yet there is a feeling around this group that it could lose touch with the playoff pack pretty quickly unless it figures out a way to reverse its fortunes. The four home games between now and Christmas now seem critical to this club at this juncture. After Montreal on Tuesday, it's a rematch with Vegas, a visit from a Pittsburgh team that handed the Canucks one of their worst losses of the season and then it's McDavid and Draisaitl who've already toyed with the Canucks twice this season. A minimum of two wins from those four games seems necessary or it may not be a very Merry Christmas for a team that had such a strong start and a solid belief at the outset that it would be a playoff participant next spring.
