It's never a particularly good time to lose to the Flames, which is why so few teams do it. But on Saturday night, the Canucks picked arguably one of the worst times, falling 4-1 to Calgary after they'd already lost three in a row. Terrible timing, Canucks. Now you've lost four in a row, and that's more than three.
But it's worse than that. A four-game losing streak is never good, but the Canucks need the points now more than ever, thanks in large part to this season's prior four-game losing streaks, of which there have been three, and one of which was actually a five-game losing streak. The Canucks simply can't afford to be losing in streaks anymore, and if they have any hope of continuing their pursuit of a playoff berth, they need to end this one before it becomes their second workweek's worth of losses this season.
That in mind, the desperate Canucks have made three key changes in advance of Tuesday's visit to the Colorado Avalanche.
They've changed up the lines.
Not to an insane degree. Henrik and Daniel aren't with Derek Dorsett, mercifully, thanks to a newly-installed silent alarm that can be pressed whenever Willie Desjardins tries to do that. The first line remains untouched.
The second line, however, has seen a change I suggested in Saturday night's IWTG (omg do u think they read the blog): Jake Virtanen and Radim Vrbata will change places like guests at a Mad Hatter tea party.
This is a move that makes complete sense. This trio showed some spark in the preseason and then was dismantled early on, and I think it was for the best. None of Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, or Jake Virtanen were playing then like they're playing now. It's hardly the same three guys. But with Horvat and Baertschi's growing chemistry, and Virtanen's flourishing big-league game, it's worth seeing what they can do together now.
It's also worth seeing what Vrbata can do on a line that will rely on him to shoot the puck. It was beginning to get a little obnoxious watching him put one into the goalie's crest the moment he crossed the line, before seeing what Horvat and Baertschi could do with it. There weren't enough pucks on the ice for all three of them at times. With Sutter and Dorsett, however, Vrbata is unquestionably the best option.
They've changed up the goalies
In comes Jacob Markstrom, out goes Ryan Miller. There's not much to read into this crease change. You could try, and Lord knows someone will in this market. But at this point, the Canucks swapped Miller for Markstrom because they have two goalies, and thus will, on occasion, use the other.
They've called their moms
Because it's Family Day in British Columbia. And more than that, the situation is dire.
The Canucks need motivation. There's no explaining their inability to produce offence right now, let alone wins. They know how important these games are. This is The Stretch™, after all, the part of the season everyone talks about. This is when the points count twice as much, especially if you didn't get any points earlier. And the Canucks are playing like they're already stretched right out. (Or like they forgot to stretch.)
Willie Desjardins can't seem to get through to them. But maybe it's not his fault. He's a dad. Maybe this situation calls for a mother's touch -- or, since Vancouver is desperate, like, twenty mother's touches. The Canucks' moms will join them for this two-game road trip:
The #Canucks mom's road trip begins with welcome roses. pic.twitter.com/BxBu9Ypm8G
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) February 8, 2016
So send in the moms, because if anybody can motivate this young team, this ragtag collection of hockey-playing boy-men, it's a literal busload of mothers, twisting ears, silently judging, and quizzing you on your failures. Sample mom question: So how come your brother was an All-Star and you weren't?
Remember, Canucks: your moms are here, and if you don't do a good job, they're going to be so disappointed.
