VANCOUVER — J.T. Miller checked out early from the second period. Figuratively, a bunch of his Vancouver Canucks teammates were already ahead of him.
After a day off that was supposed to refresh the team, and a challenge from head coach Rick Tocchet to be better, the Canucks were awful in the final 40 minutes Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken
Everyone gets it. Out of the National Hockey League playoff race long ago and officially eliminated with Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Canucks have seven injured defencemen and are running on fumes after a pretty good sprint under Tocchet the previous six weeks.
But what they showed Tuesday was resignation, defeatism. Or as Tocchet said: “Maybe guys are looking at the end of the season. It looked like some guys were just not into it. You can’t afford not to be into it. You’re trying for your NHL lives to play in the league.”
After a dismal second period, the Canucks responded in the third by generating one shot through 16 minutes, which included four minutes of power-play time. Miller will get blasted for his last-minute exit for the dressing room shortly before the second-period horn (see comments below from his coach), but most of the team looked checked out by then.
Draft lottery or not, it was an ignominious performance for a team that, despite its many flaws, is still led by impact players Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
Asked post-game by a reporter about his reason for leaving the bench a shift early, Miller said he was not “100 per cent sure.”
“I think Millsy was frustrated because he missed that breakaway, I guess, I don’t know,” Tocchet said. “I didn’t ask him. But yeah, body language is something that you can control. I thought we’ve been getting better at it but it’s not going to creep back in. It won’t, I’m not going to allow it because body language is … it’s not mental toughness. It’s weak-minded people when you have body language like that.
“One-and-done, you do it once in a blue moon, I get it, we’ve all done it. But it’s got to be once in a blue moon. You can’t have a steady diet of it.”
Just as it was a step back for Miller, who admitted to some “bonehead” moments during the first half of the season but has looked a far more focused, positive and dependable player under Tocchet, it was a night of regression for the Canucks. They’ve lost four straight games for the first time since the January coaching change, while surrendering 20 goals, including a pair of empty-netters. Over the previous nine games, seven of them wins, they had allowed 19 goals.
“Some guys may be getting tired,” Tocchet said. “They’re looking (like), ‘Hey, these are meaningless games.’ A lot of people in and out of the lineup. Maybe that’s it, I don’t know. But the fact of the matter is you can’t think that way. That’s where you have to be strong mentally.”
After the Tuesday morning skate, Tocchet said, “You can’t take a game off; I don’t care if you’re in the playoffs or not. Quite frankly, some guys can’t afford to take games off. You know, this is evaluation time. If you’re packed in already, it’s going to really affect all of our opinions on the guy, so that’s why you’re really looking at guys and how they finish strong.”
Or don’t.
WORST OF THE WORST
The game turned early in the second period on an atrocious five-on-three Vancouver power play, when the Canucks failed to generate a dangerous shot after Vince Dunn and Alex Wennberg took Seattle penalties 66 seconds apart, starting at 2:17.
Dunn was stopped on a shorthanded breakaway when he stepped out of the box, but Kraken penalty killers got another five-star scoring chance about 30 seconds later, and this time Brandon Tanev buried a shot over goalie Collin Delia’s shoulder on a two-on-one after Canuck Conor Garland failed to get the puck past Tanev at the Seattle blue line.
Instead of building on a 2-1 lead – Vancouver actually led 2-0 on early goals by Pettersson and Anthony Beauvillier – the Canucks fell into a 2-2 tie on their league-worst 14thshorthanded goal allowed this season. They continued going backward from there.
Jordan Eberle got a lucky bounce and free pass to the net to make it 3-2 for the Kraken at 10:40 of the middle period after the puck squirted away from Pettersson and Hughes in the corner, and Jaden Schwartz’s power-play deflection made it 4-2 at 16:14.
The Canucks were outshot 16-5 in the period, part of a 41-minute stretch in which Kraken goalie Martin Jones was tested only six times.
TALKING ABOUT PRACTICE
After getting a day off to rest and prepare themselves mentally to play the Kraken, the Canucks will practise Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“The energy level was not there after a day off,” Tocchet said. “That’s the alarming thing. I’ve got to take a look at that because if you have days off and guys don’t know how to prepare on days off, then I’m going to have to start babysitting a little bit more. That’s Hockey 101, coaches’ rules. If you can’t be professional on a day off and come in and have energy, then obviously you’re doing the wrong thing on a day off.”
Twenty-fifth in the overall standings, the Canucks have five games remaining, finishing with a three-game road trip next week to California and Arizona.
ODD MAN OUT
The injury crisis that has left the Canucks with just one healthy extra skater hasn’t been enough to allow forward Vitali Kravtsov back into the lineup. The Russian winger was healthy-scratched a third straight game, and fourth time in five contests.
Kravtsov, a low-risk, big-upside pickup from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline, is a restricted free agent this summer and, seemingly, a candidate to return to the Kontinental Hockey League after another failed foray into the NHL. Canuck management, however, is confident Kravtsov will re-sign and try to earn a spot next season. But as Tocchet has said, Kravtsov needs to show a lot more hunger to play at this level, starting with an upgrade in training this summer.
“He’s got to show us that he wants to play hockey,” Tocchet said Tuesday morning. “He’s a good kid, but I’m not sure he knows the work level yet.”
Kravtsov should get another chance Thursday to prove the coach wrong.