Buium's struggles continue for Canucks as losses pile up

ELMONT, N.Y. — From the moment he arrived with the Vancouver Canucks, Zeev Buium said his plan was to write his own story and not try to be another version of the superstar player he was traded for.

But it seems at times like he can’t get out of Quinn Hughes’ shadow and just play like Zeev Buium.

Dropped to the third defence pairing on Tuesday — and from the power play entirely — as Canucks coach Manny Malhotra tried to ease some of the pressure and burden on the struggling 20-year-old, Buium still made a critical turnover on the New York Islanders’ second goal and was screening his goalie when Kyle Palmieri scored the winner in the third period of a 3-2 victory over Vancouver.

It was the Canucks’ fifth straight loss.

Buium finished minus-two over 16:32 of ice time that was a season-low by 3 ½ minutes. Through eight games, the fleet, talented blue-liner from San Diego has one assist and is minus-six, and his 38-per-cent shot share and expected goals-for at five on five are among the lowest on the Canucks.

“I think over the course of playing hockey since I was four, I've definitely been through stretches like this,” Buium said. “But I’ve just got to stay positive and stick with it. I mean, (losing) definitely makes it harder. 

“You know, you want to help the team win. And when you're on the receiving end of getting scored on or whatever, obviously it doesn't feel good. For me, it happened. You can't go back in time and change anything and just kind of have to move forward and hope for the next shift, the next opportunity.”

Working up the side boards in his zone, Buium badly missed teammate Jake DeBrusk with a 15-foot pass that was intercepted by Matthew Schaefer and relayed to Islander Matias Maccelli, who had time and space in front of the Canucks’ net to pick his spot short-side on goalie Leevi Merilainen to make it 2-0 at 15:50 of the first period.

Vancouver played an excellent second period and rallied with goals from Max Sasson and Brock Boeser. But Palmieri scored the winner at 5:38 of the third period from the remnants of a four-on-three rush. As the Canucks collapsed around their net, both Buium and Drew O’Connor were standing in Merilainen’s sightline as Palmieri’s shot went past the goalie’s glove.

To be clear, there were many more things that contributed to the Canucks’ loss than a costly turnover by the sophomore defenceman.

The Canucks also failed to get the puck out of their zone on the Islanders’ first goal, and a re-jigged power play, which featured Jonathan Lekkerimaki on the top unit ahead of Marco Rossi, failed to generate much of anything on a pair of early advantages when the game was scoreless.

And although the Canucks pushed admirably at the end, and were physically invested in the battle, they were still badly outshot and outplayed in the third period for a third straight game. New York outshot them 19-8, pushing Vancouver’s shot deficit against the Islanders, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils to 41-16 over the final 20 minutes.

But with virtually no margin for error, when so much must go right for the rebuilding Canucks to win games at this stage, it’s impossible to overlook the struggles of Buium, the newly-named alternate captain and owner of a $75-million-US contract extension signed in September.

“I’m not worried about any of that, to be honest,” he said. “I want to do better as a player, and right now I think I have a lot more to give. I’m just trying to find it. I mean, it's hard sometimes. I think some shifts are good, some shifts kind of go sideways, so I’m just trying to find some sort of consistency where I feel like. . . I'm doing the right thing. I'm just trying to find that.”

“I think that's one of the things that makes him so good is that he is hard on himself,” Malhotra said. “He wants to be better. So for us, it's a matter of taming expectations and making sure he's focused on the things that we need him to get better at. But he's driven and motivated to be better, and that's why he's in the position he is.”

On his costly turnover, Buium said: “Just a weird angle off the wall, and it kind of came off my blade weird. Those are the plays that, you know, you make nine times out of 10. And the one you don't make ends up being in your net. Like I said, you can’t dwell on it the rest of the game; you’ve just got to move forward.”

Buium had a new defence partner in Luke Schenn, who has helped mentor numerous young NHL defenceman, including Hughes.

“I just basically (said) ‘Keep going, let’s not focus on what just happened,’” Schenn said of his conversation at the bench with Buium. “OK, mistakes are going to happen. Yeah, we're just working through things. At the end of the day, what are you going to do? Dwell on mistakes? I just told him to keep playing, keep moving his feet. I actually thought, you know, he made some really good plays on the breakouts and was moving. You’ve just got to keep grinding. Just keep working through it; there's really no other option.”

Now 0-4 on their road trip, the Canucks travel Wednesday to Florida to play the Panthers on Thursday before ending their odyssey Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“A lot of positive takeaways,” Malhotra said after his team’s best game of the trip. “Being able to come back from a 2-0 deficit and just kind of staying with the process was a positive. Coming out of the second period (tied 2-2), obviously we would have loved to have come away with at least a point. But again, more lessons learned. It's that one shift off or that one lost puck battle that's the difference right now.”