This home stand leading up to Halloween has been nothing short of scary so far. Edmonton has defeated Vancouver 2-1, and the Canucks have now dropped 3 straight games in a row at Rogers Arena.
Our team is in what appears to be a crisis as our top players look frustrated, our coach is struggling to find results by rolling different line combinations every night, and the hockey gods are not giving our boys any puck luck.
Here is a precise look at our lineup in last nights game.
The last time the Canucks and Oilers played was on opening night, when Vancouver trailed Edmonton 2-0 going into the 3rd period.
The Canucks pulled off the comeback and tied the game 2-2 late in the 3rd period, which eventually led to the Canucks losing in a shootout 3-2. That was a great game played by the Canucks, which pointed signs towards a young promising team.
Now, here we are 3-5-1 in the first 9 games of the season, and things have took a turn for the worst.
The Canucks have fallen to 8th in the Pacific division (yes we know it's still early) due to some recent success of our Pacific rival teams. This puts them currently in 28th place in the entire NHL standings, which means something has to change right away.
There is one thing that separates this Canucks team from the past Benning era teams, we have the talent to win games. There is a missing piece to this puzzle, the Canucks just haven't found it yet. This team (on paper) has the pieces to be a great team, our players just have to figure out how to break free from this massive slump that is plaguing the team.
Last night was a major sign of better days ahead for the slumping Elias Pettersson, which will be a major difference maker moving forward.
Although Pettersson was 4-13 in the faceoff circle, he had 3 shots, which were all high quality scoring chances. He was fourth on the Canucks in TOI with 22:02 minutes. Behind only Ekman-Larsson, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes.
Luke Schenn, one of many new faces on this Canucks roster, hit the 800 game milestone last night. Congrats Luke!
The Lotto line was reunited again with Jason Dickinson slotting back into the center slot on the 3rd line, and immediately Pettersson showed major signs of improvement.
He looked like he was almost back to his old self, deking between Oilers players and he was actually shooting the puck!
The Vancouver Canucks are still awaiting the return of Travis Hamonic, and Tyler Motte. These are two important core pieces that can be the difference in winning a hockey game.
“I’m always trying to be the best player I can be out there every night,” Elias Pettersson told reporters Friday after a practice at the Scotia Barn in Burnaby. “I’m just trying to learn from past games. Of course, it’s frustrating because I always want to play my best, to help this team win. But I mean I’m still learning, I’m still trying to become better every day. Today I felt good. I’ve got a good feeling about tomorrow.”
Canucks fans came out on Saturday night in their finest Halloween costumes, and many of them did not disappoint! Here were some of our favorites.
Thatcher Demko had yet another incredible performance, making 32-34 saves with a .941 SV%. However, the young goalkeepers heroics weren't enough to keep the Canucks in this game.
Demko did something that no other goalie has been able to do all season, shut McDavid down to only a single point.
The Oilers scored both of their goals on the power play. Both calls were questionable, but sometimes the calls don't go our way and we need to find a way to kill off the penalties.
Vancouver, however, couldn't solve the Oilers surging power play last night. Which is currently leading the league at an outstanding 47.8% led by Connor McDavid. And with Vancouver having 72% on the penalty kill (28th), it was a recipe for disaster.
The Canucks only had 1 power play in the game, which came late in an attempt to spark a comeback. However, it was a wasted opportunity with Vancouver struggling to score on the power play this season, boasting 18.8% which puts them at currently 20th in the NHL.
Once again, the Canucks found themselves in a deep hole going into the third period, but this time they couldn't quite dig themselves out of it.
Add this one to the blooper reel
Canucks fans were on their feet after Brock Boeser scored with 7 seconds remaining in the game.
We weren't celebrating because we thought we could come back and win, but we were celebrating Boeser finally scoring that elusive 100th career goal. The score was now 2-1 with the game already long thrown away.
Canucks fans were happy to play the spoiler and not allow Mikko Koskinen to get the shut out.
That was another very frustrating game, which showed signs that the Canucks may soon break from this slump. Final shots on goal were 34-30 in favor of the Oilers.
Bo Horvat gave a speech after the game, you can watch it here.
Canucks fans are anticipating on big changes coming to this team. The season is still young, and there are many reasons to be optimistic for this exciting young team.
The Vancouver Canucks return to action on Tuesday night when we take on the New York Rangers at Rogers Arena.
The boys need our support, we can't lose faith in this team. The puck luck will eventually be in our favor and the team will find themselves winning games.
