VANCOUVER — It was only four minutes into the game, but you already knew it was going to be a major turning point one way or another.
Just four minutes into the first period, with the Canucks already down 1-0, Jesper Bratt took a high-sticking double minor penalty on Quinn Hughes. Vancouver’s power play has been under scrutiny for some time. Since last season’s All-Star break, the Canucks’ man advantage is clicking at 19 percent across 41 games, which ranks 25th in the NHL. It went 0-for-3 against the Hurricanes on Monday and head coach Rick Tocchet proclaimed there’d be changes coming.
Either the Canucks’ power play would deliver and quiet the noise on this four-minute opportunity or the club would look back on it as a huge missed opportunity to dig out of an early hole. It was an ugly power play, with the Canucks unable to generate a single true Grade-A chance.
That killed the club’s momentum and set the tone for the rest of the night as the Canucks fell 6-0 to the Devils on Wednesday night.
Canucks’ power play looks miserable; J.T. Miller demoted from top unit
There isn’t a silver bullet for fixing the Canucks’ power play because they seem off in a bunch of different areas.
On the four-minute double minor, they seemed half a second too slow making decisions and snapping the puck around. Nothing felt easy or instinctual. That difference in pace made the power play look static and predictable. The Devils were able to anticipate Vancouver’s attempts to make cross-seam passes and get sticks in the lane to disrupt them.
When New Jersey was able to clear the puck, it was a nightmare for Vancouver to enter the zone cleanly and get set up, which has been a glaring issue in recent games. Vancouver’s second unit, which had a promising start with Daniel Sprong’s goal in the season opener against Calgary, didn’t look any better.
You can’t pin the power-play’s lacklustre performance on any one individual, but Elias Pettersson’s shot is a concern. Pettersson’s one-timer used to terrorize teams in his rookie season; now it doesn’t even feel like an option they’re looking for. During his 102-point campaign in 2022-23, Pettersson fired 163 shot attempts on the power play across 80 games, which is about two per game. Heading into the New Jersey game, he’d taken just three shot attempts in eight games.
During the Canucks’ third power-play opportunity, in the waning seconds of the first period, Pettersson had the puck with tons of time and space in the slot. He even had a free lane to skate in closer to the net because a New Jersey penalty killer fell off the faceoff. Pettersson took his sweet time corralling the puck only to take a shot straight into Jacob Markstrom’s chest. It just lacked the authority and conviction you’d expect from an elite sniper.
Rookie-year Pettersson would’ve absolutely sniped this and Rogers would’ve gone BONKERS pic.twitter.com/epydgQfdAn
— Vanessa (@bigsportsvan) October 31, 2024
It’d be unfair to solely focus on Pettersson, though, because he was far from the only problem. Miller’s sloppy turnover high in the offensive zone led to Nico Hischier’s short-handed goal on a two-on-one.
New Jersey scores short handed. 2-0 Devils. #Canucks | #NJDevils
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/YFLpsreXqo— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) October 31, 2024
Miller and Conor Garland were bumped down to the second power-play unit on the next opportunity, with Sprong and Jake DeBrusk moving up.
Artūrs Šilovs’ tough night and the Canucks’ porous rush defence
The Canucks’ net decisively belongs to Kevin Lankinen until Thatcher Demko returns.
If that wasn’t already evident with Lankinen’s excellent play and five consecutive starts prior to Wednesday, then Šilovs’ rough performance against the Devils cemented it. The 23-year-old Latvian surrendered six goals on just 22 shots. He was slow to react on the last two goals, in particular.
Truthfully though, the Canucks could have had prime Roberto Luongo in net and the outcome wouldn’t have been much different. After being torched off the rush by the Hurricanes last game, the Canucks again leaked Grade-A chances in transition and cross-slot passes.
Three of the Devils’ first four goals were off the rush. It’s been a combination of turnovers, bad pinches and poor positioning/lackadaisical backpressure from F3. There are some clear growing pains as the Canucks try to open their system up to generate more offence.
Tyler Myers and the Canucks’ second pair struggles
Vancouver’s second pair of Carson Soucy and Myers didn’t light the world on fire last year but more than held its own. The Canucks were about break-even in controlling shots, scoring chances and goals during their five-on-five shifts, which was a win considering they often took the toughest matchups against the opposition’s best players. In the playoffs, they got hemmed in the defensive zone for long stretches, but they limited the damage defensively with a hard-nosed, bend-but-don’t-break playing style.
Myers had found a way to simplify his game, reduce mistakes and stay positionally sound. Soucy, meanwhile, was an excellent shutdown presence with his long, rangy stickwork, mobility and above-average defensive IQ.
This year, the Canucks’ second pair isn’t just struggling to move the puck out of the defensive zone, it’s also making uncharacteristic defensive mistakes. New Jersey’s opening goal less than a minute into the game was a prime example.
Myers pinched thinking he could swoop in and disrupt the Devils’ breakout. He got caught in no man’s land and New Jersey raced up the ice on the counterattack for a two-on-one rush. Soucy could not pick off the dangerous east-west pass and Hischier wired a shot past Šilovs.
Nico Hischier puts the Devils up 1-0 early in the first period. #Canucks | #NJDevils
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/nxZQMfpcqO— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) October 31, 2024
The Soucy-Myers pair has been outshot 51-24, controlled just 38 percent of expected goals and been outscored 6-2 at five-on-five before accounting for Wednesday’s game against New Jersey. Myers was on the ice for three goals against and the Canucks were outchanced 12-4 during his five-on-five shifts Wednesday.
It’s been less than 10 games and these are two veteran defencemen who have a long track record of playing significantly better than this, so we’re not hitting the panic button, but upgrading the second pair should be management’s top priority before the trade deadline.
(Photo of Devils’ Nico Hischier scoring on Artūrs Šilovs: Bob Frid / Imagn Images)
