Saturday’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres brought heartbreak for Ryan Miller and the Vancouver Canucks.
The goaltender hopes it also brings a wake-up call.
Miller was not happy with the way his blue liners defended — or didn’t defend — the game-winning goal scored by Rasmus Ristolainen with a mere 16.8 seconds left in the game.
Sabres centre Tyler Ennis got the game-winning play started when he stole the puck from Canucks winger Daniel Sedin — “A bad turnover on my part and it cost us the game,” Sedin said after the game — and gave it to Ristolainen at the point, who made the final score 3-2.
“We’ve got to have better awareness,” Miller said after the game, addressing the goal. “I don’t think a D-man can be in the slot and walking down and then get contested by your D-man in the last minute. It’s a pretty critical error.
“We tried to back check and I don’t want to fault them, but we had two and maybe three guys looking at the puck.”
A heartbreaking result for sure, especially for Miller, who was playing his first game back in his old rink in Buffalo.
But not altogether surprising.
The Canucks have a noticeable third period problem, having lost four games this season in which they led going into the final frame. (The Canucks were trailing as they entered the final period Saturday, then climbed back before losing the lead late.)
“It’s been the script for our third periods and at some point we’ve got to take issue with it,” said Miller, who also says the Canucks need to have better attention to detail. “We’ve talked about it but it’s becoming a bigger issue. Maybe that one will be a wake-up call.”
