VANCOUVER — With their emotions as strained as their lineup on Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks produced one of their best efforts on home ice this season.
And still it was not enough as they lost 4-3 to the New York Rangers, which tells you how much the Canucks are missing these days with J.T. Miller’s sudden leave of absence taking him away from the National Hockey League team while star goalie Thatcher Demko and 40-goal winger Brock Boeser continue to deal with injuries.
On a day of surprises, the biggest one at night was that Canuck winger Conor Garland left his expectant wife, Meghan, at the maternity ward to play — and score.
A close second was that the depleted Canucks were tied 3-3 halfway through the third period against the formidable Rangers, before a coverage breakdown from a scruffy zone entrance by New York allowed Chris Kreider an open shot that he buried short-side on Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs with 9:17 remaining.
After losing four times in regulation during a six-game homestand, the 9-6-3 Canucks have dropped as many games as they’ve won this season. They have lost consecutive games for the first time since October and leave Thursday on a six-game eastern road trip without knowing when any of their key, missing stars will be back.
“Our team’s got a lot of fight and character and will,” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes told reporters. “I knew that. . . right at the start of the season. If we’re finding out now, at Game 18, that’s nice, too. As far as tonight, I think we were right there and we’ve just got to rebound and refocus.”
The Canucks visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday before travelling to Boston for a game Tuesday against the reeling Bruins. So there is time to refocus — and practise.
Boeser skated ahead of the team Tuesday morning, his first time on ice since getting concussed by Tanner Jeannot’s illegal check in Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago. Demko has been practising with teammates since then but isn’t yet ready to play after injuring the popliteus muscle in his knee seven months ago.
“It’s things that you’ve got to overcome,” Canuck coach Rick Tocchet said. “It’s adversity. It’s the stuff we went through last year, too. I love this because, you know, we’re going to get some bodies back. I thought there was a step (tonight). I thought guys played harder tonight — certain guys I thought played harder, which is a good thing (because) we need them.
“You use fuel. People that doubt you or the noise? To me, it’s stuff that I love. That’s what galvanizes a group. We’re going to have some bodies coming back; I don’t know whether it’s a week, two weeks, but some All-Star people. That’s going to help. But in the meantime, some guys are getting some playing time and they’re getting used to these kind of pressure games. I think that’s valuable stuff.”
On the winning goal, Canuck Elias Pettersson had his stick lifted and the puck stolen by Mika Zibanejad at the Vancouver blueline. As Pettersson turned to recover, Kreider skated past him and was open to take Reilly Smith’s pass and score the game-winner.
The goal was as much poor luck as poor play, and it spoiled what was another impressive night by Pettersson after his slow start to the season.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” he said. “It stinks now. Just like on the fourth goal, I tried to protect (the puck). Zibanejad made a good play to lift my stick. (I was) flat-footed, they make two good passes and score a goal. Things like that, I’ve got to make a better play obviously.”
The Canucks had rallied twice to tie the game, but they were outshot 7-1 in the first 12 ½ minutes of the third period.
Their best chances to force overtime and salvage a point were a shot off the rush by left winger Jake DeBrusk, set up by Pettersson, and a late goal-front redirect by Garland.
“It didn’t go where I wanted to; never seems to in this rink,” DeBrusk lamented of his shot with about three minutes remaining. “Anytime you’re tied going into the third, at home especially, I think it’s big, big moments. That’s what you build for for the playoffs. Usually that’s what it’s like, one-goal games. I thought we were actually doing pretty decent in the third period but just an unfortunate play (on the winning goal). Sometimes that happens.
“I think when you have guys out and mistakes are made, it gets amplified a little more. There’s not much cushion, I would say.”
The Canucks may be playing without a safety net for a while.
Garland had tied the entertaining game 3-3 at 13:02 of the middle period, finding a soft spot in the high slot to take Dakota Joshua’s pass and snap a shot into the top corner past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
The goal came a little more than four minutes after the Rangers, who were outshooting the Canucks 21-11 halfway through the game, snatched a go-ahead goal when Jonny Brodzinski’s centring pass hit Vancouver defenceman Carson Soucy and bounced perfectly for New York’s Kaapo Kakko.
Even with a one-goal head start, it felt at times like the Canucks were hanging on.
They led 1-0 when Hughes scored beautifully 34 seconds into the game. The Canuck captain pulled the puck around Ranger defenceman Jacob Trouba, who had gone down to one knee in expectation of an early shot, then scored with a backhand from the hashmarks.
But Zibanejad scored on a deflection at 2:31, and New York took a 2-1 lead at 14:37 when Will Cuylle beat Silovs on a breakaway that was a little lucky, as Kakko got just enough of Adam Fox’s stretch pass to angle and slow the puck for Cuylle after Hughes had come on to the ice.
The Canucks’ resilience was evident three minutes later when Kiefer Sherwood was given too much room by the Rangers on a three-on-two, accepted Pettersson’s pass and released a quick shot that went through Shesterkin to make it 2-2.
“I thought we deserved that (game),” Sherwood said. “I think it was probably our best game, our best effort, in a while. It’s hard to take away stuff when we lose but I think there’s a lot of good that we can continue to build on and take on the road trip. If we stick with that effort and predictability and just connection all over the ice, I think we’re going to end up winning a lot more games.”
ICE CHIPS – With Miller gone, Tocchet remade his forward lines, moving Sherwood alongside Pettersson and DeBrusk on a clear No. 1 unit, and dropping rookie call-up Jonathan Lekkerimaki to the third line with Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen. Garland drove the second line beside Joshua and Pius Suter, while the fourth line was Aatu Raty between Nils Hoglander and Arshdeep Bains.
