{"id":525783,"date":"2026-03-27T14:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/525783\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T14:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T14:00:18","slug":"canucks-failing-at-baseline-goal-to-be-competitive-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/525783\/","title":{"rendered":"Canucks failing at baseline goal to be competitive"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u00a0returned home three weeks ago, a distant last in the National Hockey League and with three wins in 25 games, we wondered how they were going to make it through an eight-game homestand.<\/p>\n

The answer: with two more wins.<\/p>\n

This is not the darkest or most vulnerable time in franchise history, but it is one of the most discouraging periods in the last 35 years.<\/p>\n

The Canucks\u2019 4-0 loss Thursday against the middle-of-the-pack Los Angeles Kings, who were outshooting the home team 32-12 early in the third period, was Vancouver\u2019s fourth straight in regulation and left it with a 2-6-0 record during March\u2019s reality check. One of the two wins was in a shootout.<\/p>\n

Their aggregate deficit over the final four contests was 18-6. The Canucks were shut out twice and generated 22 or fewer shots in five of the eight games.<\/p>\n

Again, everyone understands the harsh reality of a rebuild, but the Canucks are failing at their baseline goal to be competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s hard on everybody right now,\u201d veteran defenceman Filip Hronek said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy. But we have to learn from this. No one else is going to help us. We have to, like, keep grinding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be better everywhere. We have to win more edge battles, like on the faceoffs. We have to win more battles in the D-zone. We have to execute the plays. Like, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

After four straight losses of their own, albeit three with loser points, the Kings are desperately trying to re-take a playoff spot in the Pacific Division playoff crawl. Their lineup, beyond their top four forwards, is not especially impressive.<\/p>\n

But they completely overran the Canucks in the second period and dominated them physically.<\/p>\n

Were it not for Vancouver goalie\u00a0Kevin Lankinen<\/a>\u00a0and his goal posts, Los Angeles could have won by a lot more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t get anything going tonight,\u201d rookie defenceman\u00a0Zeev Buium<\/a>\u00a0said. \u201cI think they pretty much dominated us for most of the game. So it just sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinton Byfield had an empty-net goal, one assist and was plus-three for the Kings, and was the best player on the ice. Artemi Panarin, Trevor Moore and Scott Laughton also scored for Los Angeles. The Kings obliterated the Canucks in the faceoff circle, winning 31 of 42 draws, which is part of the reason Vancouver rarely had the puck.<\/p>\n

Now 15 points adrift of the NHL\u2019s next worst team, the Canucks open a four-game road trip Saturday against the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

A little fight<\/p>\n

It was difficult to find much positive about the Canucks\u2019 game over the final two periods, but at least their kids refused to get pushed at the end during a late skirmish that saw Buium fight Brandt Clarke, while fellow rookies Linus Karlsson and Tom Willander pushed back against six-foot-five fourth-liner Jeff Malott.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose like that, especially on home ice, it\u2019s never fun,\u201d Buium, 20, said. \u201cAnd, you know, you see your teammates getting kind of jumped a little bit. They\u2019re up 4-0; I don\u2019t think that necessarily needs to happen. But I\u2019m glad that we all stuck up for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Not) protecting the house<\/p>\n

There are several factors that have worked against the Canucks this season that are understood to be largely beyond anyone\u2019s control. Like acts of God or forces of nature.<\/p>\n

The list of these factors would be topped by:\u00a0<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The forced trade of Quinn Hughes due to his unlikely re-signing.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0More injuries to goalie Thatcher Demko.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The floss-thin centre ice position, which was immediately exposed by long-term injuries to Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Mistakes on defence that are unavoidable when half of the blue line is composed of rookies \u00a0Buium and Willander and sophomore\u00a0Elias Pettersson<\/a>\u00a0(Junior).<\/p>\n

5. The other Elias Pettersson.<\/p>\n

OK, we added that fifth one because, well, it just seems after 25 months to be beyond anyone\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

You can also argue about the other factors (except maybe Hughes) and whether these should have been left by management for the hockey gods to decide.<\/p>\n

The inexperience on defence as a factor is inarguable. But veteran Marcus Pettersson has struggled, too, and the entire unit has generally looked overmatched physically on some nights. Like Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Kings have a heavy, experienced team that plays a simple game by getting pucks and bodies to the net in volume. They ran into little resistance against the Canucks. It\u2019s like the Kings had a drive-thru lane to Lankinen.<\/p>\n

Yes, the game has changed, and defencemen are no longer able to treat opposing forwards like loggers treat trees, but NHL referees still allow players to box out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Canucks sure miss the heft, length and disposition of the giant defence (Nikita Zadorov, Tyler Myers, Carson Soucy, Ian Cole) they iced just two years ago when there was seldom a free pass to the front of the net.<\/p>\n

Whatever their limitations, the current defencemen have to be better at this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to close quick, and then extend coverage from the corners,\u201d young Elias Pettersson, who has the size to be physical, said of the net-front coverage. \u201cYou can\u2019t let a guy beat you from the corner (to the net). We\u2019ve got to hold on the right side of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buium said: \u201cWe need to do a way better job of just getting guys out of the crease and just not letting them get there in the first place. I think we\u2019re trying to do that. And I think that\u2019s just the biggest thing \u2014 just playing a little bit harder and, I think, not panicking, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shots (not) fired<\/p>\n

A late flurry gave the Canucks 19 shots on Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper. Through two periods, they had 12 shots, which included a 21-minute span with two. Two games ago, the Canucks managed just 15 shots against St. Louis, and the homestand opened with 16 shots against Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s obviously not good enough,\u201d winger\u00a0Brock Boeser<\/a>\u00a0said after failing to put a puck on net against L.A. \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t know, I think we\u2019ve just got to find a way to get more offensive zone time and put pucks to the net. I feel like we\u2019re passing up a lot of shots. Even tonight, I thought there was some chances where we could have put the puck to the net and we tried to make a cute play, and it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the\u00a0Vancouver Canucks\u00a0returned home three weeks ago, a distant last in the National Hockey League and with three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,5,4,893,27,5313],"class_list":{"0":"post-525783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver-canucks","8":"tag-canucks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-vancouver","12":"tag-vancouver-canucks","13":"tag-vancouvercanucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116301504452942942","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}