Vancouver Canucks given sympathy from their coach after 10th straight loss
The Vancouver Canucks just tied a franchise streak of futility in emphatic fashion.
They’ve now lost 10 games in a row, tying a franchise record from the 1997-98 season. You know, that season where Mark Messier became captain.
Canucks fans probably thought it couldn’t get messier than that. They were wrong.
Vancouver lost their 10th straight, 6-0 to the Edmonton Oilers, giving up all six of those goals in the second period.
Chants of “Let’s Go Oilers” boomed through Rogers Arena throughout the evening, just for a little extra salt in the wound.
No one would have blamed Adam Foote for showing anger after yet another disappointing performance, especially when he’s largely refused to criticize his team this season.
Instead, he continued to show sympathy to his group, relating it back to his own experiences as a player.
“I’ve been there as a 10, 12, 15-year vet, and there’s times where I made three mistakes in a game as a 15-year vet, and then you just want to go home,” Foote said.
“I’ve got to give our veterans credit,” he said. “In between periods and on the bench, they were good to the young guys.”
Well, that’s nice.
Yes, there were some mistakes among the youngsters tonight. The pairing of Victor Mancini and Tom Willander on the offside had some trying moments. Zeev Buium got caught puck watching on one of the goals as well.
However, it was Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser who were on the ice for more five-on-five goals against than any of the Canucks other players. Boeser was on the ice for three goals against, and Pettersson was on the ice for four Oilers’ tallies.
There were a multitude of moments where the Canucks needed to stop the bleeding. After the fourth Oilers goal, Foote trotted out his three best forwards in Pettersson, Boeser and Garland for the next shift. Edmonton scored its fifth with those three on the ice.
“I thought Petey’s line was playing [Connor] McDavid’s line really well over top of them. There wasn’t a lot going on in the game, and then we saw what happened.”
Despite the praise from Foote, it was a tough night for Pettersson. Aside from being on the ice for four goals against, his shot attempt differential of 31 per cent was also the lowest among all Canucks skaters.
In Colorado, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar showed more anger towards his team on Friday after they lost their first home game of the season than Foote has all season. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, the Canucks’ bench boss continues to give off the “nice dad” vibes.
“We’re going to keep building and keep working on it and keep teaching the details and, you know, keep supporting these guys,” he said.
“We’ve got to build their confidence and teach them how to survive these situations when it happens so that they’re going to grow. They’re going to grow from this, and we’ll keep helping them out through it.”
We’ll see if Foote’s appetite for positivity dwindles after Monday night, when another loss would set a franchise record for losing amongst the tumultuous 56-year history of the Canucks.