VANCOUVER – If this isn't rock bottom for… Vancouver CanucksThis will continue until it reaches the bottom.
The team is determined to bounce back from last year's 90-point, playoff-less season, now three games under .500 for the first time since March 2023 and with 71 points, which would be the Canucks' worst National Hockey League season since 1999.
On Sunday, rested and playing a tired team that had the worst record in hockey, the Canucks gave up five straight goals to the Calgary Flames and lost 5-2 at Rogers Arena.
Injuries alone don't explain why a team that was projected to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring now trails by five points in the wild-card race with a 9-12-2 record — and just three wins at home this season.
The race the Canucks are in is for last place in the NHL and the best odds of winning Gavin McKenna's draft lottery.
Of course, there are 59 games to go, so the Canucks have plenty of time to save themselves. Or they could get worse.
The Flames, whose three-game winning streak mirrors the Canucks' three-game slump, now trail Vancouver by just one point and passed the Nashville Predators in winning percentage on Sunday. Tennessee sits last in the NHL with 16 points, four behind the Canucks with two games in hand.
So yes, the Canucks are closer to last place overall than they are to the final playoff spot.
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“It hurts,” forward Kiefer Sherwood said. “We're all competitors and we expect better results from all the work we put in. We need to keep working at it… get back to work tomorrow. It's a big journey for us. I still think we have a lot of good things in this room. We just need to put them together on a consistent basis.”
The Canucks are on their second three-game losing streak of the season. They haven't won a game in a row in five weeks.
After an encouraging performance on Thursday, in which they outlasted the Dallas Stars in close quarters but gave up a pair of third-period goals, the Canucks were excellent in the first period against Calgary and then pretty terrible after that.
Sunday's defeat seems like a low point.
“I think so,” forward Brock Boeser said. “Especially because we played such a good game last game and today our first period was very good. And then we let them take over the game and they turned the ice over. We lost the battle in front of our net. We knew they liked to shoot pucks and get to the net, and we knew the game plan (and) didn't execute it.”
After Filip Hronek made it 1-0 on a two-on-one for Vancouver just 1:05 after the opening faceoff, Calgary's Morgan Frost was in top position and tipped the ball past Canuck goalie Kevin Lankinen at 7:43. And just 25 seconds later, Connor Zary beat Aatu Rathi for the rebound to make it 2-1 in favor of Calgary, who had beaten Dallas in a shootout the night before in Alberta.
The Canucks' second period against the Stars was one of the best of the season at home, but the middle period against the Flames was one of the worst.
Buoyed by three power plays, including one for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Canuck Evander Kane, Calgary outshot Vancouver 11-6 and seized control of the game with a pair of goals.
At 10:37, Kevin Bahl threw a centering pass to Canuck defenseman Tom Willander, who was driven into his crease by Joel Farabee. And at 16:31, Yegor Sharangovich knocked another rebound past Lankinen, whose catching glove cleared the puck on Rasmus Andersson's unscreened point shot.
Calgary scored three goals on 11 shots, four goals on 17 shots and finished with five goals on 21 shots against Lankinen.
Flames forward Blake Coleman, who finished with one hand on a two-on-one shorthanded play, and Canucks captain Quinn Hughes traded meaningless goals in the third period.
“Second and third is not our best hockey,” Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers said. “And we have to look at that and get better.
“You look at that game in Dallas, I thought that was one of our best team games of the year. I thought we deserved better. And then we came out tonight… I thought we came out strong and then, for some reason, we just lost. We've got to address that, you know, figure out why, and find ways to be more consistent and play our best game every night.”
The Canucks have played their best game in just a few nights this season, even though they don't have a full roster yet.
Rookie head coach Adam Foote is without as many as nine players, although Hughes noted last week that every team on the NHL's super-packed schedule appears to have “four or five” injured players. The Canucks' turnover count currently stands at five.
Two long-term injuries—centers Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger suffered in the same game on Oct. 19—forced the Canucks to drop to center, a position where they were already dangerously thin. Canuck rookie David Kampf, cut last week by the Toronto Maple Leafs, now sits on the second line in Vancouver despite a career-high 20 points.
After Saturday's practice, Foote noted that the Canucks' issues at center ice were a key factor in the team's defensive performance, which has been trending upward but is still down alarmingly from last season.
“I mean, our defensive zone (system) hasn't changed in the last three years,” Foote insisted. “We're working on it. When you lose so many guys under center at the same time, it's just logic that… the numbers are going to go down. I mean, I don't know how they can't do that. Right, that's the logic for everyone? That's the logic for me.”
But that doesn't fully explain where the Canucks are.
If they had played better in their zone, made more saves and weren't last in the NHL in penalties, they wouldn't be three games under .500 as Thanksgiving approaches in the US this week.
“Absolutely, yeah,” Boeser said of the team’s ability to do better, even with the players they’re missing. “We were 1-1-1 on our last trip (against Carolina, Tampa and Florida), and I think that's pretty good. Obviously, coming home, it was a big opportunity for us and we didn't win a game. So yeah, it's very tough and frustrating right now. Obviously there are guys that are injured, but there are no excuses. Next man up. And you know, guys have to contribute, especially me.”
The Canucks practice Monday before heading out on another tough road trip the next day against three California teams and the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche.
The Bluegers may be on the road, but it appears the return of any injured players is not imminent.
