Is it time to start getting worried about the Vancouver Canucks?
Sure.
Let’s be clear: it’s not time to worry just yet. But you can start getting worried. Feel free to take those first few steps towards concern, inch your way near trepidation, and flirt slightly with vexation. It’s not time to actually worry but you can put “worry” into your preferred navigation app or GPS and get directions.
The important thing to keep in mind before boarding the train to Worryville or skipping that stop and heading straight to Panictown is that we’re just three games into the 2024-25 season. The season won’t be won or lost nor will the playoff picture be decided in these first few games.
The Canucks have yet to get a win…but it’s just three games in.
Elias Pettersson has no goals and just one assist…but it’s just three games in.
Arturs Silovs has an .830 save percentage…but it’s just three games in.
Oddly enough, Tuesday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning — the first outright loss of the season — was probably the most forgivable of the bunch. It’s not that the Canucks were exceptionally good, by any means, but that the Lightning were men on a mission.
The Lightning were playing their delayed home opener in front of a hometown crowd that has gone through some serious hardships in recent weeks. The area was battered by hurricanes Helene and Milton, so the Lightning were playing for more than just two points in the standings; they were playing for their community.
It’s no wonder the Lightning dominated the opening 20 minutes, spurred on by the emotion of the crowd and the desire to give their community something that might lift their spirits. That’s one of the best parts of sports.
Of course, the Canucks didn’t want to hear about the stirring spirit of sport and didn’t use it as an excuse, placing the blame for their slow start solely on themselves.
“We just didn’t come out on time, which is unacceptable in the first game of a road trip,” said Conor Garland. “We put ourselves behind the eightball.”
“We weren’t ready to play in the first period,” said Rick Tocchet. “I know it was only 1-0 but I don’t think we won a battle.”
The Canucks looked a lot better in the second and third period and created numerous chances but, like the tiny island republic of Nauru, they couldn’t capitalize. A big reason why is that the Lightning had perennial Vezina candidate Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. Once the Lightning got the early lead, Vasilevskiy wasn’t going to relinquish it.
“He’s fantastic, that’s why he’s one of the best in the world: he plays like that on most nights,” said Garland.
On the plus side, the Canucks are not the only team that has yet to pick up a win this season. They’re not even the only team that was expected to be a top team in the Western Conference without a win. The Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators both lost their first three games of the season and didn’t even pick up a point by getting any of their games to overtime, unlike the Canucks.
Heck, the Edmonton Oilers, who many have picked to win the Stanley Cup, also lost their first three games, and just barely beat the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime to get their first win. If no one’s panicking about those three teams, then Canucks fans can probably hold off on the panic as well.
“We’ve just got to get better and tighten some things up as a group,” said Garland. “We’ll be fine.”
They’ll be fine. They’ll be fine. They’ll be FINE. Everything was totally fine after I watched this game.
- In a neat moment, the 44 linesmen from B.C., who have been in Tampa Bay helping to restore power after the hurricanes, received a rousing ovation at the game. It was one of the biggest cheers of the night — on a night when Lightning fans had a lot to cheer about — and it was well deserved.
- One positive for the Canucks is that Arturs Silovs had a much better game than their home opener, even if his .889 save percentage for the night won’t show it. He made a medley of acrobatic saves in some wild scrambles in front of the net and the three pucks that got past him came off significant defensive breakdowns. Getting Silovs in a groove would make it a little easier to wait for Thatcher Demko’s return.
- The first of those defensive breakdowns came courtesy of Noah Juulsen, who blew a tire in the defensive zone to turn the puck over to the worst possible person: Nikita Kucherov. The Lightning star moved the puck to Brayden Point, who relayed it to Darren “Only Slightly Radical” Raddysh, who sold hard on a pass to Jake Guentzel at the top of the crease before returning the puck to Kucherov, who had been left wide open by Juulsen so he could crosscheck Guentzel instead. Like Bob Ross, Kucherov made no mistake.
- Some might suspect that Kucherov tripped Juulsen — his stick was in the vicinity of Juulsen’s skates when he went down — but closer inspection reveals it was a good non-call by the officials. Juulsen’s right skate clipped his left skate before Kucherov’s stick ever touched him. Like a drug dealer getting high on his own supply, Juulsen tripped himself.
- The hoped-for chemistry between Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson has yet to show up but there were glimmers of possibility in the second period. Strangely, instead of Pettersson setting up DeBrusk for grade-A chances, it was the other way around. Unfortunately, Pettersson missed the puck on the first chance, then missed the net on the second. Similarly, I miss the old Pettersson who wouldn’t have missed either of those chances.
- Arshdeep Bains got into the lineup with Daniel Sprong coming out and Bains stepped onto the top line alongside J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser and took Sprong’s spot on the second power play unit. Bains was fine — mostly inoffensive, which unfortunately also describes the team’s production when he was on the ice. I don’t mind the Canucks trying Bains in a top-six role — you never know when you might stumble across some unexpected chemistry — but the experiment didn’t work in this game.
- After a pedestrian power play by the Canucks that killed their second-period momentum, the Lightning pushed back to score against the flow of play. Carson Soucy lost track of Point as the LIghtning attacked in transition and he walked into the right faceoff dot to drill a one-timer past Silovs. Thankfully, it was the only Point shot that beat Silovs in this game.
- Conor Garland, who was the best Canuck in this game, came an inch away from responding late in the second period. As he and Elias Pettersson put on the pressure on the forecheck, Garland picked off a pass from Nick Perbix and tucked the puck around a sprawling Vasilevskiy only to hit the post.
- “Should’ve had one late in the second, maybe it’s a different game,” said Garland. ”2-1 is a big difference against a team like that than 2-0.”
- The two-goal lead quickly became a three-goal lead early in the third period. Tyler Myers failed to tie up Anthony Cirelli’s stick in front of the net, instead letting him get open behind him while he tried in vain to pick off the centring pass. Silovs stopped his initial shot but the unencumbered Cirelli was able to poke the rebound through his legs. It was, to be blunt, godawful defending in front of the net.
- Free-agent signing Vincent Desharnais played just one game before he was made a healthy scratch for two games and the current state of the Canucks’ defence suggests that maybe the blue line should have been more of a priority during the offseason. It’s so strange that the Canucks can see the benefit of having an elite puck-moving offensive defenceman in Quinn Hughes but can’t see the benefit of also having a moderately good puck-moving offensive defenceman, instead filling up their defence corps with big defensive defenceman who can’t complete a pass.
- It feels like the Canucks’ front office saw that Quinn Hughes is a smaller defenceman and decided that they had to find the tallest possible defencemen to fill out the rest of their blue line to compensate. To be fair, Patrik Allvin wouldn’t be the first middle-aged man to over-compensate for a small D.
- The Canucks finally got on the board after a series of penalties put them on the power play. They couldn’t convert on a 4-on-3 but when Conors Garland and Sheary came out of the penalty box to make it a 5-on-4, the Canucks were able to squeak the puck over the line. J.T. Miller one-timed a pass from Hughes and it was tipped twice, first by DeBrusk then by Boeser to just barely get the puck through Vasilevskiy. Even that wasn’t enough to score, as the puck slid behind Vasilevskiy in the crease and only Garland was small enough to dart into the gap and finish the job.
- One bright spot for the Canucks was the penalty kill, which killed off all five of the Lightning’s power plays, including a third-period double minor to prevent the game from getting out of reach. Er, more out of reach. Look, I’m grasping at straws for some positives here and they’re soggy paper straws that don't respond well to grasping.
- Here’s another positive: the Canucks were successful on a coach’s challenge. Michael Eyssimont blatantly pushed Silovs’ pad over the goal line — textbook goaltender’s interference — but it still took the officials over four full minutes of video review to determine what should have been obvious in about ten seconds: no goal. At least they got the call right.
- Tocchet severely shortened the bench late in the third period looking for an offensive spark. Juulsen barely saw the ice, while the forwards were largely limited to just two lines: DeBrusk skated with Miller and Boeser, while Pettersson centred Höglander and Garland. Honestly, I dig those lines and wouldn’t mind seeing them again.
- Other than Garland, Hughes came the closest to beating Vasilevskiy. Boeser knocked down a clearing attempt and fed Hughes as he stepped into the high slot. His laser of a wrist shot was labeled for the top corner only to hit the shaft of Vasilevkiy’s stick, knocking it clean out of Vasilevskiy’s hand.
- There would be no last-minute comeback for the Canucks in this one. With Silovs pulled for the extra attacker, Miller didn’t get enough juice on a pass to Hughes at the point, which quickly turned into an empty-net goal for Brandon Hagel at the other end. That made it 4-1 for real, game over, turn the lights off, carry me home.
- No panicking. I forbid you from panicking. Stop it.
