Lightning 4 Canucks 3: Postgame PatDown

After a 2-0 start to the season, the Vancouver Canucks have dropped back to back games to fall to .500 on the season after a 4-2 set back in Tampa on Thursday night.

Nikita Kucherov scored twice including the winner on a third period power play as Tampa Bay overcame a 2-1 deficit and took a 3-2 lead to the final frame.

Brock Boeser and Tyler Myers scored for Vancouver 48 seconds apart early in the middle period. JT Miller added a late goal with Thatcher Demko on the bench for an extra attacker.  

Here are some thoughts and observations after the Canucks second straight setback:

*The effort was much better than in Philadelphia 48 hours earlier, unfortunately for the Canucks the result was the same. There have now been long stretches in the past three games where the Canucks opponents have tilted the ice heavily. On Thursday, it was the second half of the second period when the Bolts scored twice to take a 3-2 lead. Overall in the second, Tampa held an 18-7 advantage on the shot clock, a 16-4 edge in scoring chances and a the high danger chances favoured the Bolts by a 7-2 margin. The Canucks have to find a way to wrestle momentum -- and the puck -- away from opponents when things start to slip away from them

*For all the off-season talk about improving the penalty kill, special teams told the story of this hockey game. Tampa went 2 for 3 on the power play while the Canucks failed to score in their lone opportunity with the man-advantage. The Canucks have now given up a pair of power play goals in two of their four starts this season and the penalty kill has dropped to 72.2% (13 for 18) which is basically where it finished last season. The NHL is too tough a league to be spotting opponents a pair of power play goals every other game.

*The Petey magic just doesn't seem to be there. The flair, the creativity, the ease with which he plays the game really hasn't been on display since opening night. And yet saying that, he still figured in two of the Canucks three goals on Thursday and has a team leading eight points. So just wait 'til the Elias Pettersson of old returns. In Tampa, he logged 18:43 of ice time including 8:38 in the third and had three shots on five attempts. And his underlying numbers were fantastic with a 71.3% CF and the Canucks holding an 8-3 edge in even-strength shots on goal. But it just feels like Pettersson is playing through something whether it was the shot off the foot in Philadelphia or remnants of whatever forced him to miss nearly a week of the preseason. We're not seeing the wow moments that we've all become accustomed too. Maybe it's as simple as he's getting closer coverage than ever out on the road now that he's reached superstar status.

*Pettersson's linemate Andrei Kuzmenko was the Corsi darling of the night on Thursday (80%) yet finished the game with a completely empty stat line in his 16:17 of ice. No shots on goal, no shot attempts, no hits, no blocks, not giveaways or takeaways and no face-offs. It's just odd to see a guy spend almost every shift in the offensive end and not leave his mark on the game in any way. The coaches will like the fact that Kuzmenko drove play and wasn't forced to defend much on Thursday. But overall, it's been a quiet start for the second year Russian who has 1+1=2 and five shots on goal through his first four games. His goal came on a first period power play in Edmonton last Saturday, so still nothing at even-strength a week into the new season

*What to do about Tyler Myers? His turnover on the game's first goal on a Tampa power play was inexcusable. With nothing but open ice in front of him, he can't be putting a puck on an opponent's stick. Simply wind up and blast it the length of the ice. That play was bad, and so too was his decision to wade into the pile along the side boards on what turned out to be the game winner. He gets drawn out of position and then compounds his problems by tripping over Elias Pettersson eliminating them both from the play. The Bolts saw that and attacked down low eventually getting the puck to Nikita Kucherov for what proved to be the game winner. Yes, Myers scored one of his own -- his first goal in 43 NHL games since last January -- but that didn't offset the damage done defensively. His mistakes are so damn loud and so often lead to plays that wind up in the Canucks net. However, the Canucks are so thin on the right side of their defense that Myers is likely going to remain a line-up mainstay and the team will have to live with his miscues because at this stage of his career, it's hard to imagine that he's going to make a marked improvement in terms of the decisions he makes in his own zone.

*Mark Friedman was given an opportunity to show what he can do on that right side of the defense. Full credit to him for dropping the gloves with Tampa's tough customer Tanner Jeannot. That will surely earn him respect from the coaching staff and teammates. But the shots were 8-0 for the Bolts with Friedman on the ice in 14:49 of ice time. That, too, will get the attention of the coaches. Cut Friedman some slack for getting thrown into the Canucks line-up two days after being acquired and with just one practice. But if he's going to stick and play regularly ahead of Noah Juulsen, he's going to have to find a way to spend less time in his own end and more time up ice.

*There is most definitely something about Brock Boeser and Amalie Arena. He won an NCAA title there with North Dakota in 2016 and was named MVP of All Star weekend there earlier in his career. On Thursday, he pulled the trigger on his fifth goal of the season firing a quick shot past Jonas Johansson just 14 seconds into the second period after taking a clean feed from JT Miller off the end boards. Two of Boeser's five goals on the season have provided a flashback to his first two years in the league where he has pulled the trigger and found his target without hesitation. That's an extremely encouraging sign for Boeser who is shooting in volumes in the early going this season. On Thursday, he scored once on four shots and finished the night with six attempts. He leads the Canucks with five goals and 15 shots through four games.

The Canucks move south to Sunrise where they will face the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

For a full audio recap of Thursday's 4-3 loss in Tampa, check out Rink Wide Vancouver.