Abysmal penalty killing continues to sink Canucks: 'Not sustainable'

NEWARK, N.J. — There is a stark reality about the talent disparity the Vancouver Canucks face near the start of their rebuild. But not having the talent they’d like doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive.

Penalty killing could be a great equalizer for them. You don’t have to have the best players to be effective while shorthanded. Great PK units tend to be classic sum-of-its-parts success stories, just smart, tenacious, hard-working players working together.

Penalty killing is one factor that could keep the Canucks in games. But in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, it sunk them like a torpedo.

Through six games, the Canucks have yielded a staggering 11 goals to opposition power plays. Before Saturday, there were eight National Hockey League teams that hadn’t allowed 10 goals in total.

The Canucks had the league’s worst penalty killing before they were torched by the Devils, who went 3-for-3 with the man-advantage to blow up a tight game. Vancouver’s shorthanded success rate for the season is now an abysmal 50 per cent (11-for-22).

That kind of execution shorthanded would be unsurvivable over the long-term for even the best teams in hockey. For the Canucks, it prevents them being able to compete.

“Obviously, you know, you’ve got to be able to think the game on the PK,” senior defenceman Luke Schenn said. “But at the end of the day, PK is hard work and competing. And we've obviously got a long ways to go in terms of that. The PK is costing us for sure right now. The PK is hard work. It's everyone being on the same page, being aggressive, blocking shots. It's having good sticks in the corners and through lanes. It's being ready off faceoffs.”

“I mean, I think we were fine five-on-five,” defenceman Elias Pettersson said. “It's the PK that killed us this game.”

It hurt them last game, too, when the Carolina Hurricanes’ power play also went 3-for-3 in a 7-2 embarrassment of the Canucks on Thursday.

It is the first time since 2008 that the Canucks have surrendered three power-play goals in consecutive games.

And they are not making the opposition earn them.

Against the Devils, quick puck movement got the Canucks chasing and Nico Hischier was left completely open in the high slot to tie the game at five-on-four at 8:03 of the first period. Jesper Bratt made it 3-1 at 4:36 of the second period, scoring through the pileup after Canuck defenceman Filip Hronek left Hischier open again at the top of the crease. Hischier made it 4-1 at 19:50 when Pettersson allowed Jack Hughes to pass across the front of the Canucks net.

“Teams are just abusing us down low,” penalty-killing forward Max Sasson summarized. “At the end of the day, like, all these power plays are elite in the NHL. But I think we have to minimize the chances that they get from the middle or back door. Right now, it's just way too easy.

“I think we all need to get on the same page and just get in our structure and kind of have. . . everyone know their responsibilities. But right now, it seems like we're just kind of flying around and one guy thinks one thing, and then another guy thinks something else. Then it’s just happening too quick, and it's in the back of our net. So I think we need to come together as a group on the PK. We're not even giving ourselves a chance.”

Rookie coach Manny Malhotra’s desperation to find workable penalty-killing combinations — and the team’s inexperience through the bottom-half of the lineup — are reflected in the time log of players getting significant PK minutes.

Hronek has been on the ice for eight of the 11 power-play goals surrendered. But several of the PK victims are relatively inexperienced players like Pettersson (seven goals against), Sasson (five), Liam Ohgren (four) and Arshdeep Bains (four).

“Maybe some of the things that happen on the ice, maybe it's because we're young,” Sasson said. “But I think PK is something that we should be able to do and do consistently a lot better. We should be able to kill penalties.”

“I think the PK is something that you don't have to have the most-skilled guys out there for,” veteran Jamie Oleksiak (four PPGA) said. “It's just a matter of, you know, playing smart and playing hard. I don't think it's for lack of effort; I just think that we have to get on the same page. Obviously, we’ve got to win those special-teams battles.”

The Canucks opened the scoring on a power-play goal from Linus Karlsson, who one-timed Brock Boeser’s saucer-pass to the high slot past Devils goalie Jake Allen just 5:27 into the game.

It was Vancouver’s fourth power-play goal in six games. On special teams, including shorthanded goals, the Canucks have been crushed 14-5. At five-on-five, where the Canucks should be most vulnerable due to their lack of talent depth relative to top teams, Vancouver has been outscored just 15-14.

“Obviously, we can't continue to give up goals on the PK at this rate,” Malhotra told reporters post-game. “Take all the special-teams goals out of this game and it’s a 1-0 hockey game. Obviously, we need to find a way to generate offence five on five, but special teams definitely need to be cleaned up.

“It takes a while to (learn to kill penalties) really well, and then have the confidence and the understanding in partners. . . knowing where guys are going to be, how the pressure is going to be maintained. There's just a lot of tough reads right now. The pairs have been switched quite a bit. It's a work in progress; it'll take time. But just from a work-ethic standpoint, it just needs to be much more difficult for teams to recover pucks and get to their sets.”

Malhotra said surrendering power-play goals at this rate “is not sustainable.” It’s certainly not survivable.

ICE CHIPS – Canuck goalie Leevi Merilainen stopped 31 of 34 shots, but had to leave the game for five minutes in the first period when a skate save not only detached his right blade but broke the blade holder. He lost another blade in the second period, but wasn’t beaten either time he was briefly down to one skate. . . Schenn and fourth-line winger Brendan Gallagher returned to the lineup after sitting out in Carolina. They replaced Victor Mancini and Aatu Raty. . . Down 4-1, the Canucks could have started the third period on a five-minute power play after Devil Evan Rodrigues speared Canuck Marco Rossi near the throat after a faceoff false start with 10 seconds remaining in the middle frame. But referees Francois St. Laurent and Stephen Hill, after reviewing replays, downgraded the Devil’s major penalty and instead created a double-minor for high-sticking. Malhotra said he disagreed with the officials’ explanation but did not elaborate. The ensuing Canuck power play failed to generate a shot before Boeser was assessed his second of two hooking penalties at 2:01 of the third period. . . The Canucks visit the New York Rangers on Sunday.