VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks’ game got a lot better Thursday, but their record got a little worse.
With their season already precarious and the need for points increasingly desperate, no one was taking victory laps because the Canucks played one of their best games this National Hockey League season, outplaying the powerful Dallas Stars through two periods but still losing 4-2 after a pair of late goals from the visitors.
With their speed, forecheck, defensive zone and connectedness profoundly better than in Vancouver’s just-completed three-game Eastern trip against Stanley Cup contenders, when the Canucks were outshot 109-50, the team deserved better against the Stars.
But the Canucks probably deserved worse than the three out of six points they harvested against Carolina, Tampa and Florida. So that’s hockey.
Goalie Kevin Lankinen stole them a couple of points on the road, and on Thursday at home, he was outplayed by Dallas’s Jake Oettinger. And that, too, is hockey.
Overall, there was little “wrong” with how the Canucks played, although they’ll regret for a while their failure to capitalize on an 80-second five-on-three power play in the middle period when Vancouver was pressing to break a 2-2 tie.
But if the Canucks had managed a few more of these games, despite their rampant injuries, in the season’s opening-quarter, getting nothing out of Thursday’s superior effort wouldn’t have hurt so much.
As it stands, the Canucks are 9-11-2, two games under .500 for the first time this season, and have just one win from their last six home games (1-4-1) and three wins in 10 games at Rogers Arena this season.
“I thought we deserved a better fate tonight,” defenceman Tyler Myers said after one of his best games in a while. “Guys were pushing hard. I thought we generated (chances). I thought we were playing fast and our gaps were better because of that. So we just have to stick to it, come out next game with the same mindset and keep pushing forward. A lot of good to take away from it, and that's what we have to focus on. It just never feels good to lose.”
Especially for the handful of forwards — Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk — who had outstanding opportunities to push the Canucks ahead after the teams came out of the first period tied 2-2.
“It's a game that we could have won,” DeBrusk said. “We put ourselves in a good spot. We played the right way. But for me, personally, I probably won't be thinking about that. I’ll be thinking more about the result because it's getting desperate.”
The Canucks played one of their best periods at home this season in the middle frame, but couldn’t manufacture a go-ahead goal, even during the two-player advantage that began at 4:50.
DeBrusk couldn’t get enough lumber to propel Boeser’s goalmouth pass under Oettinger, and on another sequence, Boeser zipped a wild pass across the slot when it looked like Pettersson’s diagonal feed had left him with a semi-open net.
After the power play, Boeser was robbed by Oettinger on a crease-side pass from Garland, who also nicked the goalie with a shot that dinged the bar on an open look from left wing.
“Puck was on my stick; I’ve got to be better there,” DeBrusk lamented of his power-play miss. “We're striving to finish these games now, but we had a five-on-three... we’ve got to have a killer instinct. And I was a huge reason. I had three back-door (chances) I could have had. Give the other goalie credit, obviously, but I’ve got to bury those and it’s a different game.
“Obviously, a lot of positives. But that's what happens when you keep a good team lingering around. They'll make you pay.”
Canuck captain Quinn Hughes’ tough pass and defenceman Tom Willander’s poor read opened enough ice for Stars’ checker Colin Blackwell to zoom in on Lankinen on a breakaway and rocket a shot into the top corner for the lead at 10:47 of the third period.
“I haven't really watched it back,” Willander, who has rarely put himself in bad spots as a rookie, said when asked about the breakaway. “I saw our forward getting a zone entry, so I was just trying to follow up the play, but then I got stuck on that side.”
Stars superstar Mikko Rantanen, who wielded his stick for more violent purposes a couple of times earlier in the game, brilliantly spun away from Boeser on a one-on-one and buried a backhand under the bar to make it 4-2 and clinch the points with 1:31 remaining.
The Canucks countered first-period goals by Mavrik Bourque and Jason Robertson with goals by Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson.
“I didn't have an issue with our third period today,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “We had a mistake. A pass got away from one of our D-man (Willander) and we have to get it deep there. And then we all went on a pinch, and then we didn't play a two-on-one. I mean, it happens. You give a breakaway to a guy from just a mistake, that doesn’t mean we had a bad third period. I liked our game entirely. I didn’t like that play, but it happened.
“It's about consistency. We bring that game more times than not, we’re going to have good results.”
Two games under .500 and four points out of a playoff spot, the Canucks play the Calgary Flames on Sunday before embarking on another difficult four-game trip.
ICE CHIPS – With Garland returning to the lineup after missing one game, winger Lukas Reichel, who has zero shots the last six games and one assist in 13 since his trade from the Chicago Blackhawks, was healthy-scratched by Foote. . . Centre Teddy Blueger, out since Oct. 19 with a lower-body injury, skated with teammates Thursday morning in a non-contact jersey.
