The Vancouver Canucks fell 5-3 to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
The Vancouver Canucks wrapped up their four-game homestand with a 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Kiefer Sherwood, Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver while Kevin Lankinen stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced in the final two periods. The big story of the night, however, was yet another injury as Thatcher Demko departed after stopping five of eight shots in the first period.
Demko leaving with an injury was easily the story of the night. Post-game, Head Coach Adam Foote said it was a lower-body injury that knocked Demko out of the game. A Canucks representative also told the media that this injury was a "separate issue" from the maintenance Demko was dealing with this past weekend.
There was another potential injury scare as Quinn Hughes left the game during the second period. While checking Mark Scheifele, Hughes' stick jammed into his shoulder, forcing Vancouver's captain out for a few minutes. Luckily, Hughes was able to return and finished the night with 25:48 of ice time.
As for the game itself, the Canucks put together a strong final 40 minutes. The problem was the first period as players were constantly losing puck and position battles. Vancouver also received some unfavourable bounces, which directly led to goals against.
The penalty kill was also a story again as the Canucks allowed two goals on four attempts. Post-game, Foote said, "Well, we got to keep working on it. I mean, we had a missed clear. Hits our own guy in the skate. On that clear, we got to take our time. Think we have more time there than just turn it, spin it around. And then we had the pressure situation. We had a lot more pressure today. We're doing well, and we got them when they settled it. We were kind of caught in between. And they made the play that we have to know when to be in, right up pressuring or back off. We're just caught a little bit. But overall, the kill was better, but just got to keep working on it. We've got a lot of new faces killing him, and sometimes it goes like this, and you just got to keep reeling it back in and keep teaching it."
To Vancouver's credit, they did once again fight until the final whistle. The problem is that they were once again in a situation where they had to fight back just to try and earn a point. Post-game, DeBrusk spoke about the team being called "resilient" and how sometimes, it is not necessarily a positive.
"We're putting ourselves in those spots," said DeBrusk. "You can be as resilient as you want in this league, but we need results. It's so tight. It's almost 20 games in. That's a good team over there, and we were right there with them. But there's moments in the game, you know, that pass that (Räty) gave me. I put that in, it could be a different type of game. You know, there's different chances that we had that just missed, but we have to, collectively as a group, try to make it less. Obviously, you can't control injuries, but you can control how you play and also how you defend. So we can make it a little easier on ourselves sometimes, especially against good teams. You give them a lead like that, they can just stand back, and they know what to do. I think that obviously you want to be known as a resilient team, but injuries happen to everybody, and obviously we've been hit with a lot, but you know, there's still a game to be played."
While there were positives from this game, the same issues continued to plague the Canucks once again. The penalty kill struggled while as the team wasn't able to get fully going until the second period. Unless these trends are fixed soon, Vancouver may be in store for similar frustrating losses throughout the season.
Stats and Facts:
- Quinn Hughes ties Toni Tanti for the fifth most power play points in franchise history with 185
- Quinn Hughes played over 28 minutes for the third time this season
- Quinn Hughes extends his point streak to four games
- Kiefer Sherwood sets a new season-high with eight hits
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
4:47- WPG: Jonathan Toews (3) from Josh Morrissey and Cole Perfetti
10:21- VAN: Kiefer Sherwood (11) from Quinn Hughes
11:58- VAN: Jake DeBrusk (6) from Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson (PPG)
14:38- WPG: Josh Morrissey (PPG)
14:53- WPG: Nino Niederreiter (4) from Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo
2nd Period:
No scoring
3rd Period:
00:48- WPG: Gabriel Vilardi (6) from Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey (PPG)
18:30- VAN: Brock Boeser (8) from Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes
19:12- WPG: Alex Iafallo (3) from Nino Niederreiter and Logan Stanley (ENG)
Up Next:
The Canucks hit the road for three straight, starting with a matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. Last season, Vancouver failed to secure a win against Carolina, losing both games to the Hurricanes. Puck drop for Friday is scheduled for 4:00 pm PT.
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