Takeaways: Canucks squander two multi-goal leads in shootout loss

With just nine games remaining in the regular season and within a stone's throw of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks simply cannot afford to leave points on the table.

Yet on Friday night, they ceded two separate leads to a playoff-hungry Columbus Blue Jackets team and walked away with just the so-called "loser point" after falling 7-6 in the shootout.

Bigger picture, the Canucks have earned a point in five of their last six games. This one still felt like a missed opportunity.

The Canucks spent much of the first period playing like their dominant 2023-24 squad as they overwhelmed goalie Elvis Merzlikins with three goals on 10 shots. But as driven as they are to get back to the dance, equally so are the Blue Jackets.

"I hate to use the word desperation, but we're playing teams that are desperate," head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters Friday morning. "Desperation is a good thing, but sometimes (it's) a bad thing, where you just get out of control."

The Canucks lost control in the second period and were out-played by a team that put their own desperation to good use.

After Linus Karlsson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk gave the Canucks what should have been a comfortable lead, Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner went to quick work in the second period, getting his team on the board just 34 seconds into the middle frame.

Goals from Kirill Marchenko and Dante Fabbro tied it up, until a rare shorthanded tally from Tyler Myers gave the Canucks the lead again. Aatu Raty added one more before three quick tallies from Columbus not only erased the lead, but put Vancouver in the hole for the first time.

The Canucks found their own equalizer to force extra time, but the damage was done. Rather than carrying both leads of two goals or more across the finish line, Vancouver folded in the third period for the eighth time this season.

"The fight was there," Tocchet told reporters after the game. "When pressure hits, you've got to face it. I think sometimes we're sinking. It's a learning lesson.

"We scored six goals and we just couldn't get it done."

"That was a highly emotional game. We didn't quit but that said we let them score three goals straight twice," Boeser added. "That's obviously unacceptable. We've got to clean up whatever happened."

Whether this will impact the chances the Canucks sneak into the playoffs remains to be determined. But with the St. Louis Blues four points ahead for the final wild-card berth and trucking along with an eight-game win streak, the hill to climb just got steeper.

SHERWOOD STEPS UP

Apart from Kevin Lankinen, no free agent acquisition has provided more bang for their buck than Sherwood. Signed for just two years and $1.5 million per season, the 29-year-old has been the perfect utility man.

"There's another level, we talked about that, where he could reinvent himself even better," Tocchet said Friday morning. "I think there's more there. He's played well for us, but I think he could even be a 20-goal scorer all the time."

Though Sherwood didn't score on Friday, he did bank his second straight three-point evening and brought his total on the season to 32 in 68 games — a new career high. His back-door pass to Karlsson got the Canucks on the board, his burst of speed on the penalty kill set up Myers for the short-handed marker and his work along the boards moved the puck free for Dakota Joshua to set up the late tying goal.

Playing on the power play, penalty kill and in defence of a lead, Tocchet trusts the pesky winger and affords him the highest average ice time of his career. Nearly a full season in, the NHL hits leader seems to be a home run for the Canucks' front office.

TWO FOR AATU

With injuries to forwards Elias Pettersson, Nils Hoglander and Filip Chytil, plenty of Abbotsford Canucks regulars are stepping in to fill the holes.

In the past two games, however, no one has been taking the "next man up" mentality more to heart than Raty.

The call-up had two goals on Friday, including the late third-period equalizer to ensure the Canucks walked away from the debacle with at least one point.

"Great linemates, the team's playing good and producing a lot of offence," the Finn said of his recent success. "[Our line] can read off each other pretty good, then some good bounces in front of the net and stuff like that. It's great to get going."

Three of Raty's seven career NHL goals have come in the past two games — he scored another equalizing goal against his former team, the New York Islanders, on Wednesday.

RENTALS ON THE RISE

Pius Suter and Boeser, Vancouver’s own rentals for their post-deadline playoff push, are heating up — as are their price tags.

Suter, who has taken up residence on the top line in the absence of Pettersson and Hoglander, had his second-straight multi-point game as he added three assists to his career-high season.

"He's such a smart hockey player out there. That's his greatest asset," Boeser said of his linemate, who has 21 goals and 41 points in 72 games. "We kind of gel together nicely. He's been making plays, having confidence and he's been huge for us."

Boeser, meanwhile, scored his sixth goal in six games on Friday, bringing his season total up to 24. He won't eclipse the 40 he potted last season, but his ability to come up clutch for the Canucks will keep his market price high, should he enter free agency on July 1.

Since March 18 against the Winnipeg Jets, the 28-year-old has eight points.

LOOKING AHEAD

Boeser: "We've got to learn from this one and focus on that one. We only have nine left now and every game matters. We've got to make sure that we're ready and prepared."