Fans Welcome Quinn Hughes Back To Vancouver With Boos, Canucks Fall 4-2 To The Wild

The Vancouver Canucks winless streak hit 10 as they fell 4-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night. Max Sasson scored on a breakaway, while Brock Boeser also found the back of the net in the loss. As for goaltending, Leevi Meriläinen had another strong night, stopping 30 of the 34 shots he faced. 

The main focus of Sunday's game was the return of Quinn Hughes. The former Canucks captain was once again dynamic as he scored, picked up an assist and led all players with 26:10 of ice time. Hughes also hit a milestone Sunday as he became the second-fastest American defenceman to record 500 regular-season points. 

Fans made their feelings known about Hughes from the opening puck drop. There were plenty of boos and chants from the Rogers Arena faithful all night. That being said, there were some cheers during the video tribute, but they were instantly met with boos as soon as play resumed. 

As for the game, it was once again a mess defensively. Vancouver struggled to get the puck out of their own zone, and could not control play in the neutral zone. Post-game, Luke Schenn and Manny Malhotra were asked about the defensive zone issues, with each giving their take on the defensive zone issues. 

"A lot of the time when you're hemmed in your own zone for a bit, it feels like you're just trying to survive," said Schenn. "Then you get it to the neutral zone, and you're just trying to chip it in and get a line change. So that probably could have something to do with it. I mean, obviously, we don't create a ton. So that probably starts in the D-zone, neutral zone. I mean, it's all connected. So tough to pinpoint."

"It's a number of things," said Malhotra. "Lack of execution through the neutral zone. It's a lack of support through the neutral zone, which means we just stop skating. There's a lot of watching going on, especially in the second period. And when you watch in this league, pucks tend to come back into your zone."

Lack of shots was also a theme yet again for the Canucks. After posting 10 in the first, Vancouver managed just seven over the final 40 minutes. Post-game, a visibly frustrated Malhotra gave his thoughts on his team's play in the offensive zone. 

"It's related to that lack of consistency in our effort," said Malhotra. "When we were direct in the first period, and we were applying pressure in the O-zone. Obviously, you create looks. You're able to get, number one, you're able to get pucks back to be able to shoot the puck. But again, when you come off of those things, and you're not applying the same pressure, you just don't get the same looks."

While the wins and losses may not matter this season, effort does. Sunday was yet another game where Malhotra was unhappy with the effort level of his group, which is very telling 13 games into the season. Even though the campaign is only a month old, some very concerning trends are emerging from this team, and they were on full display in Sunday's loss. 

1st Period:

18:33- MIN: Maxim Shabanov (3) from Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy (PPG)

2nd Period: 

5:54- MIN: Bobby Brink (1) from Michael McCarron

12:55- MIN: Quinn Hughes (3) from Joel Eriksson Ek and Maxim Shabanov (PPG)

3rd Period:

3:38- MIN: Kirill Kaprizov (13) from Quinn Hughes

6:24- VAN: Max Sasson (3) from Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson

16:53- VAN: Brock Boeser (3) from Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk

Up Next:

Vancouver Canucks @ Anaheim Ducks, October 27, 7:00 pm PT. 

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