The Canucks are having one hell of an All-Star hangover
There’s a message painted on the wall in the Vancouver Canucks’ dressing room at Rogers Arena.
“Meet pressure with pressure.”
Well, after four straight losses, it seems the pressure’s on for Rick Tocchet’s team.
Just three weeks ago, the Canucks could do no wrong.
They had a marvellous 33-11-5 record, best in the NHL, and sent a club-record six players to the All-Star Game in Toronto. Tocchet was there too.
Did the praise get to their heads? Did the All-Stars need a break? Did the non-stars have too much fun in the sun?
Or, as Tocchet feared, did they buy into their own hype?
Look, the sky isn’t falling, despite a season-high four-game losing streak. The Canucks have fallen out of top spot in the overall NHL standings, but only barely, and they’re still first in the West. And if they beat the Boston Bruins Saturday at Rogers Arena, they’ll be back in first and all will be forgotten.
But if they don’t? Well, the pressure will continue to ramp up.
Tocchet blasted his players, not by name, but by their effort on Thursday.
The Canucks bench boss has pushed all the right buttons this season, but this presents a new challenge.
Tocchet’s “staples,” which were the blueprint for the Canucks’ success, now appear to be gone. So is his patience.
“We need some guys to buckle up, change a few things, maybe off the ice, get some rest. I mean this is not even close to playoff hockey… If these guys think playoff hockey is that, then we’re in trouble,” Tocchet told reporters in Seattle. “There’s been a couple games here where we need some guys to get going. I don’t care what our record is. It’s been a little bit disturbing, some of the efforts from some of the guys right now.”
The Canucks are 4-5-1 since the All-Star break. Among the five regulation losses is a 4-0 no-show in Boston, a 10-7 debacle in Minnesota, and the loss to the Kraken that set Tocchet off.
Elias Lindholm, brought in to provide Elias Pettersson with a reliable linemate while providing defensive excellence and adding another weapon to the power play, has had an underwhelming start. He has six points in 10 games but is a -5 during that span.
Brock Boeser has one goal in 10 games.
Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Quinn Hughes have produced offence, but as the three best skaters on the team, they need to take responsibility for this latest slump. And certainly, they wear the team’s power-play struggles (a woeful 9.7% in February) more than anyone.
Thatcher Demko has a .903 save percentage this month. Backup Casey DeSmith, thanks to the blowout in Minnesota, is down to .774 in February.
The good news? Eight of the past 10 games came on the road, and the Canucks will get plenty of home cooking the rest of the way.
The Canucks have 23 games remaining on their schedule, with 15 of them taking place at Rogers Arena. Their remaining travel is minimal, with only one back-to-back scheduled. They have a three-game road trip in early March in Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Vegas, and another three-game trip in Vegas, Arizona, and Los Angeles in early April. There’s a one-off trip to Edmonton on April 13 and the regular season finale in Winnipeg on April 18.
That’s it.
They should catch more tired teams, like the Bruins (third game in four nights) on Saturday. Tuesday’s opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have to travel cross-continent on just one day’s rest. The LA Kings will be playing their third game in four nights when they visit Vancouver on Thursday.
At the same time, with more off-days, they’ll get more rest and practice time.
This presents an advantage, but it also removes excuses.
The Canucks have had a spectacular season, but they’ve run into some adversity, and they need to get back to the team we’ve seen for the better part of 59 games. That’s a team that comes at you in waves, with consistent forechecking pressure and structured play defensively.
There is no shortage of elite teams left to play on the schedule. And as they found out in Seattle, desperate teams on the bubble are tough to beat this time of year as well.
Now, how will they respond?