The Canucks looked tired and off in their 3-1 loss Sunday night to Utah. Fair enough, coming off playing the night before and playing 4 in the last 6 days… but at this time of year, with the stakes so high, you’d expect a little more than 10 shots in 40 minutes. It wasn’t good enough, and the team that could have had a little breathing room in their playoff spot chase now is in a bottle neck with 3 other teams separated by two points. It’s going to be exciting down the stretch here! If you missed the game, here are your highlights:
While the Canucks weren’t getting outclassed, they were definitely on the back foot offensively for most of the game. They did, however, have a glorious amount of PP time in the third period to take the W. However, the PP looked bad, and the team knows it squandered its chance.
“It’s frustrating,” said Tocchet. “There were a lot of plays to be made there and we just didn’t make them. It was a little slow and we needed somebody to take charge of it. If the puck goes low, we’ve got to have guys there. I don’t know if we were tired or if it was our thinking process.
“We have six minutes of power play and we don’t get it done — that’s the bottom line. We lost the game. That’s the story.”
“We’ve obviously got to be better there,” admitted Hughes, the man-advantage quarterback. “I definitely have some ideas and I’ll keep them to myself and keep working on it. As a unit of five, we have to get better.
“Utah is a good team but we shot ourselves in the foot with the power play. We had opportunities to crack open the game. But this (loss) shouldn’t take away much. We could have separated ourselves in the standings and everybody knows how big that would be.
“It’s do or die every day but it should be exciting.”
The team needs someone other than Hughes to step up consistently. Sure, they were tired, but for them to make the playoffs – let alone make any noise – they need more from everyone.
“We’ve got to be better,” Sherwood said. “It just seemed like tonight we were chasing, that we couldn't really set up our forecheck and, you know, have those possession shifts where we can kind of roll the lines.
“It's more so, like, if we play the right way, play predictable hockey, I think that's easier for guys to make reads and creates more opportunities and chances. And if we do that, you know, I think everything else opens up. We probably didn't deserve (to win) tonight.”
The guys have a little break before Winnipeg – a potential first round matchup if they make the dance – comes to town on Wednesday… they have some time to regroup and get focused again.
“It's no different than you losing a playoff game,” coach Rick Tocchet explained to reporters. “We’ve got to flush this down. Are we disappointed? Yeah, but you have to flush this down. We've got a big Winnipeg team coming in. We've got a day off tomorrow; we've got to get some rest and get some energy. I'm sure we're disappointed right now, but we’ve got to come in (Tuesday). . . and we've got to bring energy. You can't be down (and) play a rollercoaster. You've got to let it go. Tough to do, but you've got to let it go.”
The team obviously missed Chytil last night, as they had a tough time with possession all game. Unfortunately he’s in concussion protocol, so it may be a little time before he’s back on the ice.
“I talked to him today a little bit,” Tocchet said Sunday. “He felt OK, nothing great. He’ll go through the every day to see how he feels type of thing. He has had a few (concussions) in the past and we’ll see how this thing turns out.
“Sometimes, they can rapidly turn, so you’ve got to stay positive.”
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