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"It was soft:" Tocchet stunned with Canucks' effort in loss to Kraken

Ben Steiner
Ben Steiner
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Jan 26 2023, 3:19 pm
"It was soft:" Tocchet stunned with Canucks' effort in loss to Kraken
Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

So long for a swift start to Rick Tocchetā€™s Vancouver Canucks career.

Less than 30 hours after praising his new clubā€™s efforts in a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Canucks’ new head coach Tocchet was left stunned, speechless, and perplexed at the effort shown in a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken.

ā€œYou hate to call your team soft, but it was soft tonight,ā€ Tocchet said following Vancouverā€™s first loss to the 2021 expansion club.

ā€œWe didn’t participate on the wall battles. We didn’t get a rim out. We didn’t play predictable. Like, old habits came. We’re just talking to the coaching staff, and, man, I wish I had about 10 practices. I really do because it shows tonight that we’ve got a lot of work to do.ā€

The Canucks have had one practice under the new coaching staff since firing Bruce Boudreau.

While Tocchetā€™s debut win over Chicago had his new team executing on nearly everything to a tee, making breakout passes and playing with as much speed as the roster allows, it wasnā€™t the case in Seattle, a loss that may be Vancouverā€™s worst of 2022-23.

The Pacific Division-leading Seattle are a different test than tanking Chicago, but the Canucks were far worse at Climate Pledge Arena.

ā€œI don’t know what to say. I really don’t,ā€ Tocchet said. ā€œThe gameplan is there, and it’s hard to continue to do it. Sometimes when you play a good team like that, it’s okay to live for another shift.ā€

It took 10 minutes for the Canucks to trail 2-0, and the Vancouver club was four goals out of reach by the 28-minute mark. Seattle outshot Vancouver 35-20. The loss dropped the Canucksā€™ record to 19-26-3, 14 points behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Tocchet called a rare timeout in the opening frame, looking to snap his team out of their dismal start.

ā€œThereā€™s two opportunities to go north with it, which we did last night to advance the play and actually chase a puck down and win a battle, but for some reason, we regrouped; the weak side winger is staying wide; nobody wants the puck,ā€ he said.

ā€œIā€™ve been here a short time, like 4-5 days, and from what I was told, this group has a tough time putting back-to-back predictable hockey or efforts together, so we got a long way to go.ā€

Curtis Lazar thought he scored Vancouverā€™s lone goal of the night, banking a shot off teammate Conor Garland, as the Canucks couldnā€™t keep up with Seattle through the entire game. Garland was later credited with the goal.

Canucks fans welcomed Tocchet with boos on a winning night against Chicago, but the loss to the Kraken couldnā€™t have gone much worse.

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