Canucks Late Push Not Enough As Vancouver Falls 2-1 To The Senators

The Vancouver Canucks could not complete their comeback as they fell 2-1 to the Ottawa Senators. Elias Pettersson scored the only goal, which propelled him into sole possession of 10th all-time for goals in franchise history. As for Kevin Lankinen, he kept Vancouver in this game as he stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced. 

As mentioned, Lankinen was the main reason why this game was close. The Canucks were outplayed in the first two periods, but entered the third down by just two. Overall, Vancouver was outshot 32 to 11 through 40 minutes, with the Senators winning the full-game shot battle by a count of 40-19.

The biggest issue for the Canucks in this game was once again defensive zone coverage. Both of Ottawa's goals came off set plays, which were the result of missed assignments off lost faceoffs. The Senators also had no issues crashing the net, as they were able to create chaos in front of Lankinen throughout the night. 

Shifting to the offensive zone, it felt like someone put a curse on Vancouver. The Canucks missed wide-open nets and mistimed one-timers on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, this has been the same story for the last few weeks as Vancouver has managed one goal or less in three of their past four games. 

As for ice time, how the Canucks managed their forward group tonight was odd. Yes, they played last night, but David Kämpf ended up having more overall ice time and even strength ice time than Pettersson. Considering that Pettersson is not only the team's number one center, but was also one of their best players on the night, the ice time distribution on Tuesday was questionable. 

Speaking of Pettersson, he now has goals in four of his last six games. This season hasn't been easy for the 27-year-old, but he seems to be finding his groove since returning from his injury. While some in the market will continue to scream about "11.6" regardless of performance, Pettersson's last few games are encouraging and show he may be on his way back to becoming a point-per-game player. 

In the end, this was the perfect game from a tank perspective. Vancouver pushed their losing streak to eight games, found a way to make the game entertaining and still ensured that they did not pick up a point in the standings. While it may sound strange, the Canucks have actually had the perfect road trip so far, as they have yet to pick up any points in five games, which has allowed the team to separate itself from others at the bottom of the standings.  

- Elias Pettersson moves into 10th all-time for goals in franchise history

- Elias Pettersson ties Don Leaver for the 11th most even-strength goals in Canucks history with 130

- Kevin Lankinen makes at least 35 saves for the fourth time this season

- Nils Höglander records a season-high four hits

1st Period:

15:36- OTT: Artem Zub (4) from Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio
15:51- OTT: Jordan Spence (3) from Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle

2nd Period:

No Scoring

3rd Period:

1:17- VAN: Elias Pettersson (13) from Linus Karlsson

Up Next:

The Canucks wrap up their six-game homestand on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus recently made a coaching change, with Rick Bowness taking over behind the bench. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 pm PT. 

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