Even with Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter in the lineup, the Vancouver Canucks would have faced a tough matchup against the defending Stanley Cup champions. But on Tuesday, with Horvat and Sutter out due to injury, Vancouver looked nothing short of outmatched in their 4–0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Canucks have now lost three games and won two on their six-game road trip, which wraps up on Thursday in St. Louis.
Here are four takeaways from the loss in Pittsburgh.
Skille-on-none does not result in goals
Despite Penguins goalie Matt Murray earning the shutout — his third of the season — the Canucks were not without their opportunities on the night. Markus Granlund put one off the crossbar, and Jack Skille took off on not one but two breakaways. He also had the opportunity to swipe one out of the air directly in front of the net, fanning on the attempt.
But asking a player like Skille to step up in the absence of Sven Baertschi, Horvat and Sutter was always going to be a tall order. With their diminished lineup — at centre especially — the Canucks struggled to maintain possession for much of the night, lost 59 per cent of their faceoffs, and were outshot 42–29.
In positive news for Canucks fans, Horvat’s MRI on Monday came back negative for a fracture; he’d blocked a shot with his foot in Vancouver’s 4–2 win over the Sabres on Sunday and is listed as day-to-day. Meanwhile, Sutter is also day-to-day after injuring his hand in Buffalo, and Baertschi remains out with a concussion, having already returned to Vancouver.
Tough decisions ahead for Canucks management
From the get-go, the current road trip was billed as make-or-break for the Canucks. As Jannik Hansen said after the team’s last home game, a 6–3 loss to the Minnesota Wild: “This road trip’s gonna pretty much set us up for where we’re gonna be coming back. We’re probably either gonna be in the hunt or we’re gonna be out of it. It’s probably that simple.”
Here’s the good news: The Canucks can still hope to return to Vancouver with a .500 record across their six-game road trip if they manage to pick up a win on Thursday versus the St. Louis Blues. Winning half the games on this trip was always the bare minimum required just to stay in the playoff conversation.
There’s bad news, though: Going .500 on the trip could prove counterproductive, leaving the playoffs within statistical reach, but not providing enough points to meaningfully improve Vancouver’s odds of getting there.
There’s an argument here that mediocrity might be the worst possible outcome.
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With the loss on Tuesday, the Canucks remain at 56 points, now over 57 games, good for fourth in the wild-card race. Vancouver continues to sit four points back of Los Angeles, though the Kings now have two games in hand with which to pad their lead.
The team’s long odds when it comes to locking down that position could tempt management into listening to offers on Hansen, Burrows, and especially Miller. But with a playoff spot still seemingly within reach, indecision could win out.
A different road trip — for better or worse — might have made that decision an easier one.
Crosby has to wait another day
If there was a very small silver lining for Canucks fans in Tuesday’s loss, it was the delaying of an important milestone. Sidney Crosby entered the game with 998 career NHL points. He picked up No. 999 with an assist on Jake Guentzel’s second-period goal, but Ryan Miller denied Crosby’s best attempt in the dying minutes of the third period, forcing Pittsburgh fans to delay their celebration.
While the Canucks avoided the Sidney Crosby Party, they did fall victim to the Evgeni Malkin Show. Malkin returned to the lineup after missing seven games, registering a goal and an assist.
The streak is over
Entering Tuesday’s clash with the Penguins, the Canucks had scored a power-play goal in five consecutive games. That streak ended in Pittsburgh as the team failed to convert their lone chance with the extra attacker.
The Canucks are now 5-for-17 on the man advantage over their last six games, good for a success rate of 29.4 per cent. In their 14 games prior, the Canucks also scored five times on the power play, but it took them 37 opportunities to do so.
