The Vancouver Canucks have been as fascinating as they’ve been excellent during the first month of the National Hockey League season, revealing new degrees of their improvement on an almost nightly basis.
Thursday in Calgary, the Canucks displayed something else we hadn’t much seen: fatigue.
Playing their fifth game in eight nights — each one preceded by travel — and their second contest less than 24 hours after an emotional, comeback win in overtime against the New York Islanders, the Canucks couldn’t match the Flames’ energy or intensity and lost 5-2 at The Saddledome.
It was just Vancouver’s fourth regulation loss in its first 17 games, and its first defeat of any kind against a Western Conference rival.
After the Canucks used their lethal power play to open scoring in a solid first period, the game was simply taken away from them by the sharper Flames over the final 43 minutes. Calgary outshot Vancouver 17-5 in the decisive second period and 39-23 in the game.
The Canucks looked tired both physically and mentally, making the kind of mistakes in coverage or with the puck that have been rare as the team built its best start to a season in franchise history.
Every team’s National Hockey League schedule is difficult. Fatigue should never be an excuse, although it is a reality. Given the points and goodwill the Canucks have amassed in the first five weeks of the season, we’re inclined to give them a pass for their sloppy effort in Calgary.
But as it was when the Canucks toe-picked on the NHL’s biggest stage when they were full of mistakes in a 5-2 loss last Saturday to the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s vitally important that they correct themselves after Calgary by playing a more energetic and dependable game this Saturday when the Seattle Kraken visit Rogers Arena.
FABULOUS FLUBS
The Canucks’ success has been driven by the stars at the top of their lineup, who have produced offence in bulk but also led by example by playing the way coach Rick Tocchet wants. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that off-nights by Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, among others, were key factors in Thursday’s loss.
Hughes was docked for three giveaways, including on Elias Lindholm’s empty-net goal, and five-on-five shots were 14-4 for the Flames when the Canucks’ captain and Norris Trophy candidate was on the ice.
Shots were 10-4 for the Flames when Pettersson was playing, and the Canuck centre allowed Noah Hanifin to get around him and score from a sharp angle to make it 3-1 with 36 seconds remaining in the middle period. Pettersson finished minus-four.
Defenceman Filip Hronek was forced into a turnover on Flame Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal at 5:53 of the third period. And Canuck goalie Casey DeSmith, who carried a 4-0-1 record and .922 save rate into the game, allowed the puck to leak through him for a Dillon Dube tap-in that broke a 1-1 tie at 10:49 of the second period.
If the best players are that far below their own standards, chances are the rest of the team will be, too. Defenceman Ian Cole was the only Canuck to crest 50 per cent in shots-for percentage.
FLAMES BLANKET LINUS
Beaned in the face by friendly fire during Wednesday’s 4-3 win against the Islanders, Canuck winger Andrei Kuzmenko did not travel to Calgary for precautionary reasons, which allowed minor-league callup Linus Karlsson to make his NHL debut on his 24th birthday.
A scoring star in Sweden after his NHL rights were acquired from the San Jose Sharks in 2019, Karlsson signed with the Canucks in 2022 and is in his second season in North America. The winger looked as advertised in his first NHL game, not fleet but strong on the puck and frequently around the opposition net. Karlsson led the Canucks with four shots on target. He had a commendable (compared to teammates) 46.3 per-cent Corsi, finished plus-one in the three-goal loss and was denied a buzzer-beating goal at the end of the third period when his deflection hit the post. The Flames’ Swedish goalie, Jacob Markstrom, gave Karlsson a tap on the leg after the near miss.
The Canucks also played their second game without third-line centre Pius Suter, who Tocchet said is out “day to day” with an undisclosed injury. Kuzmenko, Suter and third-pair defender Carson Soucy, out 6-8 weeks with a lower-body injury, were all missed in Calgary.
THE ROUGH STUFF
For all his skill and impact — and small size — Hughes hasn’t often been battered by opponents this season, mainly because he is so agile he makes opposing checkers look silly if they overcommit on a hit. But Hughes was knocked down in the second period by Calgary’s Martin Pospisil.
Canuck Phil Di Giuseppe confronted Pospisil right after the hit, and Hronek later wrestled with the 23-year-old Slovak agitator who is trying to secure NHL duty with the Flames. Pospisil had blindsided Canuck J.T. Miller in the first period, and in the third, Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov belted Pettersson to the ice.
The Canucks have 65 games to go — plus, dare we say, playoffs? — and it will be interesting to see if opponents start to play tougher against the stars and how Vancouver will handle this.
THE GOOD STUFF
Vancouver’s second-ranked power play opened scoring at 9:38 when Hughes, Miller and Pettersson, the three Canucks tied for the NHL scoring lead, combined to produce a one-timer for Pettersson. The exchanges were so quick, and Brock Boeser’s screen so good, that Markstrom literally had not even started to move across his net when Pettersson scored from Miller’s cross-ice pass.
Nils Hoglander scored the other Vancouver goal by deflecting Tyler Myers’ purposeful point shot, cutting the deficit to 4-2 at 10:06 of the third period. Hoglander stood out enough that Tocchet, who had healthy-scratched the winger just two games ago, sent him out as the extra attacker when DeSmith went to the bench.
MILLER’S TIME PRIME
It was Miller’s 300th regular season game for the Canucks since former general manager Jim Benning acquired him from Tampa in 2019 in exchange for a 20th-overall draft pick and a third-round selection. In his four-plus seasons, Miller has led the Canucks with 116 goals and 326 points — 1.09 points-per-game.
The next closest Canuck over this period is Pettersson, whose 284 points in 271 games equates to 1.05 points-per-game.
QUOTEBOOK
Rick Tocchet to reporters in Calgary: “You’ve got to learn how to play tired. You’ve got to manage the puck a little bit more. Sometimes you’ve got to play tired — better angles, protect the middle, live for other shifts. You can’t hit a home run every shift; I think that was our downfall tonight.”