Some Vancouver Canucks players 'struggling to get emotionally invested': coach

Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand (63) scores on Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) as Carson Soucy (7) and Boston's Elias Lindholm (28) watch during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

The Vancouver Canucks may be the lone NHL team looking forward to getting back on the road.

An ugly 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday left the Canucks (15-9-5) searching for answers as to why they've struggled at Rogers Arena.

Starts in particular have been a problem, with the team giving up the opening goal in 16 of 29 games.

Vancouver fell behind just over five minutes into Saturday's game when Brad Marchand popped a power-play goal in behind goalie Thatcher Demko on a first-period power play. Midway through the opening frame, the Bruins took a 2-0 lead when Morgan Geekie scored.

“Let's face facts here — four or five guys, they're struggling," said head coach Rick Tocchet. "They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game, and that's my job, to get these guys (invested).

"There’s still certain guys, we gotta find another gear from them. You gotta understand that it's the NHL, and you can't play one good game and two bad or whatever. This is a game, a sport, the NHL, where you have to be jacked up to play the game. You have to be emotionally in the game. Sometimes guys are taking like, 30 minutes to get into the game for whatever reason.”

Vancouver is 5-7-4 at home this season and has gone 2-2-1 through the first five games of it's current six-game homestand.

“I don't know why, but guys are tense at home for whatever reason. We seem a little bit more relaxed on the road," Tocchet said. "To make a play here, for some reason, we're getting it and we just want to punt it as soon as we get it. So we got to figure that out, got to keep working at it.”

The Canucks' road play sits in stark contrast — the squad boasts a 10-2-1 away record and went 4-1-1 on a recent six-game swing.

There have been times at home, too, where the team has dominated, including Thursday's 4-0 victory over the Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers.

Asked why the Canucks have struggled with consistency — particularly at home — captain Quinn Hughes didn't have an answer.

“It’s a good question. If we want to be a really, really good team, we have to find ways to string these performances together," he said. "We played really good against Florida. It wasn't there tonight, and we’ve just got to find a way to string those together.”

SASSON SCORES

Vancouver's lone goal on Saturday came from depth forward Max Sasson

Star centre J.T. Miller picked off a pass, skated up the ice and sliced Sasson a no-look pass from the top of the faceoff circle just over 10 minutes into the third period. Sasson slid a shot under Bruins' netminder Jeremy Swayman for his first NHL goal.

“A goal in this league isn't easy to come by," Sasson said of the feat. "And obviously I'll cherish it for the rest of my life. I’ll remember this moment. Obviously I would have liked to do it in a win, but what are you gonna do?”

PASTA SHARES

Bruins right-winger David Pastrnak recorded his 400th NHL assist on Boston's third goal of the night. He's the 11th player in the franchise's history to achieve the milestone.

The Czech forward put up four points — a goal and three assists — against Vancouver and admitted he's more know for putting the puck into the back of the net than for helping set up his teammates.

"Yeah, I'm a goal scorer but I feel so far, I haven't been this year. I haven't got the looks," he said. "We were struggling a lot on power play, now the power play keeps coming last 3-4 games. So you know it's gonna be better and I always try to look to make plays. And I don't mind assists.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2024.