‘The effort was there’: Canucks look better vs. Lightning but still drop two points

TAMPA — They got the response they wanted, but not the result.

For long spells during the Vancouver Canucks’ last three seasons, going .500 on those things — like the team did Thursday when it competed admirably but lost 4-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning — has been enough for the National Hockey League team.

The Canucks have been far enough out of the playoff race, constantly trying to build better habits and a better culture, that moral victories were important. They needed hope more than they needed points. Since the Canucks probably weren’t going to get enough points to really make a difference, the process was paramount.

It still is. Coach Rick Tocchet has been in charge for nine months. The Canucks are four games into his first full season — we believe — and the systems play and culture required to win are still obviously under construction.

So, the response the Canucks offered here Thursday, pushing the Lightning until the end, two nights after Tocchet said his players simply did not compete in their 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, was important. The response mattered. But for a team desperate to make the playoffs, so did the points, and the Lightning got both of them.

The Canucks added nothing in the standings despite leading 2-1 late in the second period. They’re 2-2 after four games, back where they started after opening the season by sweeping two games against the Edmonton Oilers.

“A couple of breakdowns here and there but, I mean, I thought for 60 minutes, you can live with that effort (despite) losing games,” Canuck J.T. Miller said. “It just sucks when you work that hard and come out with no points. It's frustrating. A couple of breakdowns lead to goals and that was kind of the game, it felt like.”

“Loved the battle, loved the battle,” Tocchet said. “So hats off to the guys; they competed. We've just got to clean up the crucial mistakes. There were three or four of them tonight. We always talk about 'don't duplicate your mistakes,' and I thought we did on a couple of those goals, right? Those were the difference. But for the overall team effort, guys played hard right to the end.”

No one should be satisfied with working hard in professional sports, but it was a relief that the Canucks were a much faster, more competitive and determined team than the one that coasted into Philadelphia and was outshot 22-3 in the second period.

But execution that likely would have been good enough to beat the Flyers wasn’t sound enough to beat the Lightning, which exploited Canuck breakdowns.

Defenceman Tyler Myers, whose slapshot put the Canucks ahead 2-1 at 1:02 of the second period, had a ghastly turnover on Nick Paul’s opening goal for Tampa, putting a defensive-zone clearance right on to his opponent’s stick to create what was essentially a two-on-zero for the Lightning. Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko made two brilliant saves on Steve Stamkos before Paul scored on the third chance.

On the tying goal for Tampa, some bad reads and bad Canuck changes left an open wing for Mikey Eyssimont to skate down uncontested and pick the top corner on Demko at 15:43. Sixty-nine seconds later, Miller failed to get in front of Nikita Kucherov’s shot before it zipped past three players and the goalie to make it 3-2 for Tampa.

A complete breakdown among Vancouver penalty killers, starting with Myers leaving the slot for the side boards where he collided with teammate Elias Pettersson, gave Kucherov another at 4:42 of the third period.

After beautifully setting up Brock Boeser’s goal that had tied it 1-1 just 14 seconds into the middle period, Miller scored with 1:49 remaining and the Canucks skating six against five when Filip Hronek’s shot caromed to him off Tampa’s Erik Cernak.

“I liked the way we came out in the third,” Myers said. “We talked about it in between periods about how history shows that we get a little quiet during these times (after the Lightning scored twice), and now we need to start changing what happens. I thought we pushed back hard. Some things to clean up for sure, but the overall effort was there. We just need to keep getting better.”

Myers owned his mistakes, saying of his turnover on the opening goal: “I was trying to clear it. I think I had more time than I thought. Couldn't get any air under it. Looking back, I wish I would have held on to it for a second. I think I could have.”

“We kept fighting,” defenceman Carson Soucy said. “That's all we can really ask. Just a couple of mistakes cost us. They've got some guys that can make you pay when you do make mistakes. But I really liked our effort for a lot of that game.”

The Canucks visit the Florida Panthers on Saturday before ending their difficult five-game road trip Tuesday against the Nashville Predators.

“We never want to lose back-to-back games,” winger Anthony Beauvillier said after his best game so far. “But we gave ourselves a chance tonight and we played well. We had some chances. Just one of those games where they came out on top.

“I think it's a step in the right direction. The mindset and the atmosphere was good in the room today. We wanted to respond. The effort was there. We worked hard. I mean, it's a tough place to come in and try to win a game. (But) I liked the response tonight."

And so they should. It’s the final result that needs to get better.