the Canucks (1-3-1) Rolled into Buffalo on Tuesday with high expectations after a disappointing loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
The absence of Hughes meant the Canucks defensive pairings had to be blended up (again) and its safe to say the Canucks underperformed defensively. Brock Boeser was activated to the Canucks lineup providing some much needed offense to this struggling Canucks team early in the season. The Canucks came out on top early with Horvat opening the scoring at 5:57 In the first period. the lead was sustained only briefly as Kyle Okposo came back to score just over 2 minutes later.
Buffalo Sabres forward Cody Eakin (20) is stopped by Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko (35) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Not long after, Justin Dowling scored his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck at 16:01 in the 1st Period to give the canucks a 2-1 Lead over the home team. The canucks did a great job killing off a Tanner Pearson double minor, but shortly after it expired they surrendered the tying goal to Buffalo, the game was now 2-2 in the late second period. the Canucks would later go on to give up 4 unanswered goals to lose the hockey game 5-2 after a 3-goal 3rd period by the Buffalo Sabres. Rasmus Asplund sealed it with a 150-foot empty netter to score his first goal of the season.
Garland is certainly a surprise so far and looks like a great pick-up after recording his 4th point in just his first 4 games in a Vancouver Canucks jersey.
“We struggled with their team speed and that means you’re not very good with the puck,” Green said. “We weren’t good enough to win tonight, flat out. They got two quick goals and you try to calm your team down a bit (with a time out) because we had time to come back, but we’ve got to play better."
“We have to play with a lot more urgency and we didn’t pay a big enough price to win. We’re not a run-and-gun team and if we try to play that game every night we’re going to be in trouble. There’s effort to play a nice, fast game and effort that’s hard and takes bearing down. We didn’t do that.
“There were times in our own zone where we got pucks and just threw them away. Way too many times we came up with a loose puck and couldn’t execute a play. They have it right back and now you’re defending tired.”
The Canucks get back into action Thursday night when they play the struggling Chicago Blackhawks. Lets hope these struggles are behind us as we head toward our home opener next week.
