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Canucks on longest losing streak of the season after loss in Colorado

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Feb 21 2024, 4:38 am
Canucks on longest losing streak of the season after loss in Colorado
Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports

There were a couple of notable firsts for the Vancouver Canucks against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Surrey native Arshdeep Bains made his NHL debut and was noticeable throughout the game.

Unfortunately, the Canucks ended up losing three in a row for the first time this season, suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Avs.

Port Moody native Ryan Johansen ended up with the game-winning goal.

“I thought we played a good game,” head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters post-game. “We had a bunch of chances, just didn’t put them in.”

The Canucks definitely had their chances to tie the game. During a mid-third-period melee, Elias Pettersson and his linemates nearly buried one on a mad scramble.

Seconds later, Filip Hronek panicked and fired a puck at Avalanche forward Artutti Lehkonen, despite the fact that goaltender Alexander Georgiev had no idea where the puck was.

Hƶglander also had a goal disallowed for deflecting it in with a high stick.

Bains everywhere in Canucks’ debut

Some NHL debuts are quiet, but that wasn’t the case for Bains.

The 23-year-old skated on a line with Teddy Blueger and Conor Garland. They generated more chances than any other Canucks line against the Avs.

Bains had a couple of great chances in the first period. He narrowly missed picking the top corner on a chance in the slot. Later in the first, his pass to Brock Boeser on a 2-on-1 deflected back to him, and he nearly batted it past Georgiev out of mid-air.

In the third period, he set up Blueger for a glorious scoring chance, which was also denied.

Bains ended up skating 13:21 in his debut, registering two shots and three hits.

His line also spent nearly half of their ice time matched up against not only the line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Jonathan Drouin but also the defence pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews.

There were multiple times throughout the night when Bains matched up against Makar and held his own.

Even though he was on the ice for two goals against, he couldn’t be faulted on either tally. It was a really solid debut for the Surrey native, who will make the trip with the team to Seattle to face the Kraken.

Referees frustrate Canucks yet again

Maybe the refs didn’t like being called out by Tyler Myers?

Ever since Myers criticized the refs following the Canucks loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Hockey Night in Canada, the zebras have been a story.

On Monday against the Minnesota Wild, the Canucks were victims of a phantom roughing call earlier in the game and ended up in a 5-on-3 situation on four separate occasions.

Tonight against the Avalanche, neither J.T. Miller nor head coach Rick Tocchet were enthused with the refs.

Miller was called for high-sticking on Jack Johnson in the second period.

Then, Ian Cole was called for tripping with less than four minutes remaining in the game.

Should he have had his stick on the ice? Yes. Was it a soft call in a pivotal moment? Also yes.

“It sucks to get that penalty at the end of the game,” Tocchet said. “That one sucked. I thought we were coming and I’m not sure that one was a good penalty.”

Whether you want to blame the refs or not, they’ve definitely been a story in each of the Canucks’ last three games.

Trevor BeggsTrevor Beggs
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