"Teaching moment": Tocchet sees opportunity in Canucks' brutal loss
The Vancouver Canucks had a rare terrible performance on Thursday night against the Boston Bruins.
The first-place team looked out of sorts in a way we haven’t seen this season. They failed to find their footing from the opening whistle on the way to a 4-0 loss.
On a night that was supposed to be a measuring stick against the best of the Eastern Conference, the Canucks came up well short.
“It’s a teaching moment,” said head coach Rick Tocchet after the game. “It’s a big game. A lot of eyes were on us tonight.”
In what some were billing as a preview of a possible Stanley Cup matchup, the Bruins looked to be a class above in many ways.
The Canucks didn’t do themselves any favours by allowing two short-handed goals, both in the first period.
“They showed up and we just made some stupid mistakes. When you’re in big games, you’ve got to make sure you don’t make mistakes,” Tocchet said.
It was the Canucks’ third regulation loss in their past 25 games. While the shock value of such a brutal defeat is high, they still sit atop the league standings.
“These are big-time games. Marchand and Pastrnak, great players and they showed up. We’ve got to have that kind of thing… these are big games you’d like to see a little bit better from some guys,” said the Canucks head coach after the game.
The first-place team has stressed a day-by-day approach all season long and that won’t change after this tough loss. There is not much time to reflect, however as they play twice this weekend in back-to-back matinee games.
Fast forward a few months and this loss against the Bruins could be viewed in many different ways. Will it be the first sign of decline or the wake-up call that pushed the Canucks to another level? It all depends on the team’s response to this teaching moment.