Let’s not sugarcoat anything; the Vancouver Canucks’ efforts tonight against the New York Islanders were not up to the Rick Tocchet style of hockey that this organization and fan base has grown accustomed to.
The Canucks welcomed Dakota Joshua back to the lineup after missing training camp, preseason and the first 14 games of the season as he recovered from successful testicular cancer surgery. Also, highly-touted prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored his first NHL goal on the first shot of the game within the first three minutes of the game.
Spirits were high; there was a lot to play for. Unfortunately, after that, they crumbled and entered the second intermission down 3-1, only registering six shots on goal.
It’s safe to say Tocchet was not pleased with the team’s performance on the ice or his behind the bench. He met with the media postgame to discuss his thoughts on the efforts tonight. Starting with addressing the fans:
“I’ve got to apologize to the fans. We’re not playing good enough at home. It’s on me. Guys played light tonight. I thought we were ready to go; we weren’t. That’s on me. I’ve got to get this team to play harder. In the first period, [there were] spirts here and there, but not enough from a lot of guys. We’ve got practice tomorrow and go right back to the drawing board.”
The team struggled through the neutral zone tonight, both to get through offensively and stop the opposition defensively. Tocchet touched on what may have gone wrong there and had praise for how the Islanders played and their coach.
“[We] didn’t move our feet. We talked about hitting the weak side; we didn’t. The forwards were skating backwards instead of knifing through. It’s not the defence or the forwards; it’s the collection of five.
“I give the Islanders credit. [They’re] A well-coached team tonight. Patrick out-coached me tonight.”
With the loss tonight, this brings the Canucks’ home record to 2-3-3 in Rogers Arena. Last season, the Canucks were dominant at home, finishing with a 27-9-5 record on the year, not reaching the six-loss mark – which they hit tonight – until their 23rd home game on January 24th against the St. Louis Blues.
Tocchet’s left without an answer for what’s going wrong on home ice and what needs to change moving forward:
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I have no idea. That’s the answer I’ve got to get. We’ve got to change pre-game skates, or do something different because we cannot play light. We’re too light of a team. You cannot guess where the puck goes. You don’t have to kill people, you don’t have to ram guys through the boards – even though once in a while, I wouldn’t mind it – I’d rather a guy just stay in front of a guy. At net front, there’s too many scramble goals. It’s got to stop.”
The game seemed to slip away pretty much right after the Lekkerimäki opened the scoring. Here’s what Tocchet had to say regarding what the Islanders did well to shut the Canucks down after that point:
“They double and triple up quick, so you’ve got to be ready for it. You’ve got to be able to get out of it quick. Whether it’s a pass or skate out of it. When you’re slow, and you’re playing light, they’re going to own the boards. They’re a big team. We were just shy tonight, and we’re guessing where the puck is. It just drives me nuts when the F1 guesses where the puck is. Your job is to go through a guy or at least mark him.
“It’s a frustrating situation because the fans are paying 2-3-4-500 bucks a ticket and we’re throwing some duds. So I apologize to the fans again. We’ve got to correct this.”
The one issue Tocchet continued to mention was how the Canucks played light tonight. He touches more on that and, how things need to be turned around soon, and what the repercussions might be for the team if they don’t in his final remarks:
“The game plan was there. After the first, I’m talking to Footy [Adam Foote, Canucks’ defence coach], ‘Why’re we playing so light tonight?’ We did it against Edmonton. I don’t know what we’re doing at home. Obviously, we’re 6-1 on the road, [are we] playing a simpler game? Stick to the game plan? I don’t know. We just have some guys who’re really playing light. And we’ve got to correct it very quickly because you play like that, and you can lose 6-7-8 in a row.”
