Canucks continue to fall short at pivotal moments: ‘Not good enough’

VANCOUVER — At this point, you could just trade them all. Or some of them. Or someone.

While you can argue the wisdom in trading J.T. Miller — and you should argue it because the team looks like it needs more heart, not less — it’s impossible to make a case that the Vancouver Canucks have earned the right to stay together.

Right now, they’re making it easy on general manager Patrik Allvin to make trade calls that could lead to a fundamental shift in the team’s identity and future.

Tuesday, for instance, was like a dare to the GM.

After an impressive, combative win Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers that should have galvanized the Canucks and given them a platform to finally blast off and start stringing together wins, Vancouver gagged on another third-period lead and lost 3-2 to the worst team in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.

It’s not like the Canucks were bad, or didn’t try or weren’t prepared. They simply failed again at pivotal moments and punted away another two points, surrendering goals from the slot to Sabres J.J. Peterka and Jiri Kulich near the middle of the third period. 

Both goals came from coverage breakdowns from which Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko, whose save percentage 11 games into his comeback from a serious knee injury is now .873, couldn’t rescue teammates.

It was the seventh time this season the Canucks lost after leading at the start of the third period, but the first time they salvaged nothing for the standings. After six overtime losses, Vancouver is now 15-1-6 when leading after 40 minutes. Last season, they were 42-1-4 in closing out games.

They haven’t won consecutive games since Dec. 1, have just eight victories in 24 games at Rogers Arena this season, and again failed to seize the moment after winning a game, 3-2 against the Oilers, that had the potential to be a turning point in their season.

So, yes, the players are making it easy for Allvin to explore changes to the team’s core and beyond.

“It’s just been a microcosm of our season,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet told reporters after the game. “Just key times, key moments, we’re not getting them. Two faceoff goals (against). You’re up 2-1 (and) we ice the puck there. We should have connected on that play. There’s just key moments. Sometimes the key moment, we’re just — I hate to use a word — we go kind of numb for whatever reason in a key situation. We’ve got to turn that around.”

This was Game 46 for the Canucks. More of the season is behind them than ahead. But here we are on Jan. 21, pondering key failures and blown games and the inconsistency that is close to ruining a season that began with Stanley Cup ambitions.

“Well, consistency is a responsibility on an individual player,” Tocchet said. “When you come to the rink, you’ve got to consistently do the hard things, do the right things. And then when everybody collectively does that, then the team becomes consistent. And I don’t know, sometimes we’re just lacking that.”

After a sloppy icing for the Canucks, when winger Kiefer Sherwood couldn’t handle Quinn Hughes’ bank-pass, the Canucks looked confused on faceoff coverage and left Peterka open to sling in the winning goal with 6:27 remaining.

Kulich tied the game 2-2 by shovelling a shot through Demko from the top of the crease, where he was unchecked after Canuck defenceman Filip Hronek missed the puck along the boards as it was rimmed behind the net to Peterka.

“It’s disappointing,” Demko said. “I think I’ve just got to try and get a piece of one of those in the third. I got a piece of the first one and it snuck through, so it’s disappointing.”

And the inconsistency undermining the Canucks?

“It’s a tricky one,” Demko said. “I don’t think there’s any finite answer, tangible thing that you can kind of pinpoint. It just comes down to us in the room. I think that’s the best way I can put it; we’ve got to man up a little bit, and certainly myself included. I don’t think I’ve been good enough this year so far, so I’ve got to keep working to find that level that I know I can get to.

“Obviously, it’s been a challenging year, you know, dating back to the summer. Obviously, it’s been a lot of soul-searching for me over the last few months. I don’t know how else to put it: I just haven’t been good enough so far.”

Phil Di Giuseppe and Elias Pettersson had scored second-period goals for Vancouver. But after taking the 2-1 lead, the Canucks generated little offensive pressure in the third period until they fell behind.

And when they swarmed the Sabres net late in the third, Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukonen did a Dominik Hasek impersonation.

He made point-blank rebound saves against Miller and, at the buzzer, Conor Garland, and somehow tracked and held Pettersson’s quick, screened shot after a cross-ice feed by Miller as the Canucks skated six against five.

The Sabres had lost three of their previous four games while allowing 19 goals, were 8-12-2 on the road this season and 2-17-0 when trailing after two periods.

“The Edmonton game we did a great job of (protecting the lead), and tonight we just kind of give up some chances from high-danger areas,” Canucks defenceman Derek Forbort said. “It’s hard to put a finger on what it was until you kind of look back at the game. But yeah, it’s not good enough.

“I mean, we were talking before the game about this being a must-win. I thought we had pretty good O-zone time, good possession. (But) when it was kind of time to do some of those hard things, we just couldn’t do it.”

From zero to 60 and back to zero, the Canucks visit Edmonton for a rematch with the Oilers on Thursday.

Allvin will undoubtedly be back on the phone Wednesday.

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