Canucks suffer worst defeat of the season in blowout loss to Bruins
It was a night to forget from the very start for the Vancouver Canucks.
Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal within the first minute to continue his more than decade-long streak of haunting the Canucks. It was just the start of what would turn into a 4-0 slaughtering by the Boston Bruins.
“It’s our first loss in a while so if you’re going to lose, I guess you’re going to throw a dud. That was a dud,” said head coach Rick Tocchet after the game.
Only took Marchand 32 seconds to open the scoring š» pic.twitter.com/1ZASs4f7gF
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 9, 2024
The negative four-goal differential is the worst in a game by the Canucks this season.
“I thought some guys played well. I thought some guys tried and played but unfortunately, we had half the guys weren’t there,” continued the Canucks head coach about his team’s effort.
Things did not improve after the first minute as the Bruins added another short-handed goal in the opening frame before running away with the game. They would score two more in the first minute of the second period to double their lead.
“We gave them four goals, then you’re chasing the game,” said Tocchet.
While the Canucks were outplayed in a lot of ways, they were also the recipient of some terrible luck. The Bruins’ third goal took a ton of deflections before going off Tyler Myers and into the net.
We don't know how or why.
We just know it went in.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/ATUZQnKpt2
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 9, 2024
“Credit to them, they stuck to their game but also we can’t give them two short-handed goals and then the two goals that we gave them in the second are kind of our mistake. So they didn’t necessarily do anything to win this game, it was just us shooting ourself in the foot,” said Quinn Hughes postgame.
The two teams now sit tied for first place in the NHL with 72 points but the Canucks do have the advantage in the tiebreaker.
The visiting team did manage to score one goal when Nils Hƶglander batted a floating puck into the back of the net, but it was quickly waved off due to a high stick.
“It’s a teaching moment, it’s a big game. A lot of eyes were on us tonight. They didn’t play well their last game, their coach kind of called them out and they showed up,” Tocchet said after the game. “We just made some stupid mistakes.”
Marchand’s goal made it three straight contests against the Canucks in which he’s found the back of the net. It also marked three consecutive Canucks games where their opponents have opened the scoring with a short-handed marker.
It was not a good night for the Canucks’ best players. Elias Lindholm played a team-low 8:19 at five-on-five. Just above him was Elias Pettersson at 8:42. Both players ended the night -4.
The loss means that Thatcher Demko will not take sole possession of the franchise record for most consecutive wins. Instead, he stays tied with Dan Cloutier at nine.
“Our wins and even our losses we’ve had, we just move on and focus on the next day and make sure that we attack the day,” said captain Hughes after the game. “As far as tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll talk about it for 15-20 minutes and then move on, probably have a good practice and then try to have a better effort in Detroit.”
The Canucks continue their road trip on Saturday when they take on the Detroit Red Wings at 10 am PT. They’ve split their two games thus far on this road trip.