Somehow, against all odds, the Vancouver Canucks did it again. For the fourth time in a row, the Canucks took an early multi-goal lead, then saw that lead slip away and turn into a loss.
It was already an NHL record when they lost their third-straight game to start the season while giving up a multi-goal lead — now they’re just making that record unassailable. At least this time they got the game to overtime before losing, giving them their first point of the season.
Even with the single point, this is the worst start to a season in franchise history. It’s the first time the Canucks have ever lost their first four games.
The Canucks were also 0-3-1 after their first four games in 1994-95, but that one point came from a tie rather than a loss. They’re still a long way from their dreadful 1-10-0 start in the 1984-85 season, but at least that one win came in the second game of the season.
This wouldn’t be so sadly hilarious if the Canucks hadn’t repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting off to a good start and avoiding getting into a hole like they did last season.
“Obviously, we finished off really strong but the runway wasn’t long enough,” said Quinn Hughes before the season opener. “There’s a huge importance of trying to start the season strong. It’s definitely on all of our minds, especially this first road trip — we need to get as many points as we can.”
“I think it’s no secret that we have to get off to better starts,” said Bo Horvat. “That’s exactly what’s happened the last two years, is that we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot right at the beginning of the year, where you have to play catch up all the time. In this league, it’s almost impossible to do.”
“I think it's very important we hit the ground running and kind of pick up from where we left off last year,” said J.T. Miller. “Obviously, last year shows how important it is to have a good start.”
Even with all that emphasis on getting off to a good start, the Canucks got right to digging themselves into a hole on their opening road trip. It’s not just the losing that stings but the way they’ve lost makes it so much worse — repeatedly taking multi-goal leads and then giving them up in the third period.
It gives every game a heaping pile of anxiety. No lead feels safe, so even when the Canucks are up by a couple of goals, there’s still so much tension. Too much tension.
It was with a distinct sense of unease that I watched this game.
- Three injured Canucks returned on Tuesday, leading to some odd lineup decisions. It was nice to see Ilya Mikheyev make his Canucks debut, but why in the world was Conor Garland a healthy scratch to make room for him? If this was an attempt to send a message, why scratch one of the players who was playing well — Garland’s 55.55% corsi is fourth among Canucks forwards, and the only goal against which he was on the ice for was an empty-net goal.
- "We've just got to be accountable," said Boudreau when asked why he scratched Garland. "The way we've played, I could have taken a lot of guys out. We've got one extra forward and I chose him."
- Mikheyev, incidentally, was on the ice for three of the Blue Jackets’ four goals. Not an ideal start for him, though I wouldn’t say he played particularly poorly. Maybe it’s because he was on a line with J.T. Miller, who appears to be cursed this season.
- Meanwhile, Dakota Joshua is carrying a team-worst 35.19% corsi and has provided little of the physicality that the Canucks were expecting. The 6’3”, 206 lbs Joshua got blown up in the first period by 5’9”, 177 lbs Nick Blankenburg and wasn’t credited with a single hit himself.
- To be fair to Joshua, Blankenburg also blew up Vasily Podkolzin with the biggest hit of the night. Apparently, that’s just what Blankenburg does.
- Tyler Myers and Tucker Poolman returned to action, which meant Kyle Burroughs, who was one of the Canucks’ better players in recent games, was scratched. Myers was reunited with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the duo was matched up against Johnny Gaudreau for most of the night and did pretty well as a shutdown pairing. No wrath needs to be directed Myers’ way after this game.
- "[Burroughs] probably didn't deserve to come out with the way he's been playing and the way he's competing," said Boudreau. "If we wanted to go with the righty-lefty combination for this game — it could all change in Minnesota — but for this game that's what we went with."
- Spencer Martin got the start on the second half of back-to-backs and you have to give him credit — he got the Canucks a point, just as he has in every single start he’s ever had for the Canucks. Like Archibald’s enemies, Martin always gets the point.
- 29 saves on 33 shots doesn’t make for the best save percentage, but Martin had to come up with some big stops from beginning to end, with the very first shot of the game coming on a two-man breakaway after Tucker Poolman and Quinn Hughes both got caught in deep and Nils Åman gambled at the blue line while covering for them. Boone Jenner got the puck past Åman but couldn’t get it past a man — specifically, Martin.
- J.T. Miller has been on the ice for every single power play goal against this season, so it was gratifying that Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat were the first over the boards instead of Miller on the Canucks’ first penalty kill of the game. Even more gratifying, they combined for a shorthanded goal. Myers chipped the puck free in a battle on the endboards and Pettersson burst up the ice for a 2-on-1 with Horvat. Pettersson sent a perfect saucer pass to Horvat for the one-timer to make it 1-0.
- Pettersson was reunited with his best linemates from last season, Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Höglander, and it paid off. Podkolzin and Höglander created some havoc on the forecheck, then Höglander sent a bouncing puck out front to Podkolzin, whose shot missed the net but ricocheted off the boards for Pettersson to put home for the 2-0 goal.
- It was Pettersson’s 100th career goal, making him the second-fastest Canuck to reach 100 goals behind Pavel Bure. Of course, Bure did it in 154 games, 95 fewer than Pettersson, because Bure was ridiculous.
- The Blue Jackets cut into the lead in the second period on a goal that was a bit of a mess. It started with Poolman misreading the play and backing off from a loose puck in the neutral zone, forcing Miller to try to play it. Then Miller got knocked off stride by an uncalled hold, giving the Blue Jackets a 2-on-1. Martin made the save but a turnover by Poolman prolonged the Blue Jackets offensive zone possession, leading to a backdoor pass to Vladislav Gavrikov that popped up in the air and was knocked in by Justin Danforth.
- You might want to point the finger at Miller’s defensive awareness on that goal, but that is 100% on Andrei Kuzmenko. Gavrikov saw that Kuzmenko was playing too high and had his back to him. He also knew that he had a forward up high to cover for him, so he jumped up the left side and was wide open. Kuzmenko saw it far too late and tried to take away the passing lane at the last minute, but it wasn’t enough. I would say that maybe defencemen don’t do that in the KHL, but Gavrikov was playing in the KHL just a few years ago.
- You could maybe point the finger a bit more at Miller on the game-tying goal, though Mikheyev deserves some finger-pointing too. At the end of a Blue Jackets power play, Gaudreau got the puck in the corner and Riley Stillman attacked him aggressively. Mikheyev needed to back up to cover the man in front but instead ended up in a nebulous void as the puck was centred to Jenner. That’s when Miller needed to keep his head on the swivel and spot Werenski coming in at the backdoor and leave Jenner for Ekman-Larsson. There was no swiveling and Weresnki had an open net off Jenner’s pass.
- The Blue Jackets commentators tried to lay the blame on Quinn Hughes coming out of the penalty box on that goal but that’s nonsense. Hughes came back and took the high man at the point, just like he was supposed to. Werenski wasn’t Hughes’ responsibility.
- Without a single third-period goal heading into this game, the Canucks broke that streak less than a minute after Werenski’s goal. A Poolman point shot pinballed off Brock Boeser’s stick, then Horvat’s shinpad for a lucky one.
- The Canucks haven’t been able to defend multi-goal leads but they had no more luck with their one-goal lead in the third period. Gaudreau built up speed through the neutral zone, wheeled around Stillman, then took advantage of Martin over-committing to slip behind the net and tuck the puck in on the wraparound.
- That sent the game to overtime, where the Canucks gave up a 3-on-0 after Pettersson hit the post, giving fans flashbacks to the time they gave up a 3-on-0 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues. Somehow, Werenski missed the net entirely, sending the puck flying into the sky like a car full of helium balloons.
- Horvat may have had a two-goal game, but he made a dreadful read in overtime. The Blue Jackets came up with the puck off a rebound, which is when Horvat should have bolted back defensively to prevent an odd-man rush. Instead, he cut across the ice, gambling that he could pick off the pass — he couldn’t, the Blue Jackets raced away 2-on-1, and Yegor Chinakhov sent the puck past a sliding Hughes to Gavrikov for the one-timed winner.
- At this point, I feel like I’m Dominic Monaghan asking Elijah Wood about wigs, except I’m asking the Canucks about wins. Do you win games? Have you won games? Will you win games? When will you win games?
