It was a winning road trip for the Vancouver Canucks even if it didnâ€t feel that way.
Most times on a five-game trip, if the visiting teamâ€s travel record is 3-1 heading into the last stop on the tour, that final game feels like a bonus. Win and itâ€s a superb trip. Lose and itâ€s still a successful one with six points out of 10. Go .600 on the road all season and youâ€d need to be putrid at home not to make the National Hockey League playoffs.
Normally, you take 3-2-0 in a heartbeat. Get home, rest up and use your own rink to your advantage.
The problem for the Canucks is that Thursdayâ€s travel finale, which they lost 2-1 to the struggling Nashville Predators, looked at least as winnable as the back-to-back home games Vancouver has this weekend against the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.
For the Canucks, there are other problems, of course. There is a potential crisis at centre with no safety net even before Filip Chytil crashed with another apparent concussion Sunday in Washington. The Canucks arenâ€t scoring — two goals in their last seven periods — and their power play has suddenly disappeared.
The power play went 0-for-5 on Thursday, which included a 90-second five-on-three near the end of the first period, and actually finished minus-one because Ryan Oâ€Reilly opened scoring shorthanded for Nashville at 9:01 of the second period.
Big picture, Thursdayâ€s game felt like a missed opportunity for the Canucks not only to add an exclamation mark to their trip but, more essentially, simply stash two more available points in the standings. Two points that may be harder to come by this weekend.
The Canadiens will be in Vancouver before the Canucks get home and had won six of seven before losing 6-5 in Edmonton on Thursday. And the Oilers, though scuffling themselves and playing their own back-to-backs this weekend, still have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and fairly dominated Vancouver in a 3-1 win on Thanksgiving Weekend.
In Nashville, the Canucks managed more energy and a better game than they displayed in Tuesdayâ€s 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. But they were outshot 35-22 by a Predators team that had been winless in four, and the Canucks were outplayed at five-on-five.
Still, it was 1-1 heading into the third period, with both points there to be seized.
But the Canucks were slow to close down Justin Barron at the point, the Predatorâ€s shot was tipped by Cole Smith between goalie Thatcher Demkoâ€s pads and the puck rolled on edge just over the goal-line for Nashvilleâ€s winner at 5:09 of the third period.
Playing their fifth game in eight nights with two time-zone changes, the Canucks generated only seven shots in the third period. Brock Boeser, back from a two-game leave of absence for personal reasons, had one of the few good chances to tie it but couldnâ€t elevate his shot from the hashmarks over Juuse Saros†pad just before the buzzer.
By the time the Canucks see the Oilers on Sunday at Rogers Arena, it will be Vancouverâ€s seventh game in 11 nights.
Itâ€s important to remember the unease hovering around the Canucks when their five-game odyssey began after disconcerting losses to the Oilers and St. Louis Blues.
The team chased away those doubts with impressive wins in Dallas, Chicago and Washington to start the road trip.
But since Chytil was crushed in the final minute of the first period in Washington on Sunday, Vancouver has been outscored 10-3 and lost a pair of games against teams almost nobody is picking to make the playoffs.
The Canucks are 4-4 through eight games. Equal shares of good and bad.
Promoted from minor-league Abbotsford for the road trip, Max Sasson scored his third goal in five games. The skill he displayed in doing a spin-o-rama with the puck in the neutral zone to beat Barron along the boards, then skate away on a breakaway and fool Saros with a quick shot between his pads is why the 25-year-old is changing the narrative around him.
Yes, Sasson is an undrafted, late-bloomer who is undersized and speedy. He had only three goals in 29 games for the Canucks last season. But he is showing on this recall that he can make plays at the NHL level and may yet be able to transport his offensive game from the AHL. Is he the second-line replacement for Chytil? He shouldnâ€t be, not this season.
But Sasson has speed and skill the Canucks need, and he looks capable of breaking through the low ceiling attached to most second-tier prospects.
And by the way, it was a heckuva assist on his goal by another minor-league callup, Sassonâ€s AHL linemate Linus Karlsson, who used his heavy stick and game to emerge with the puck against two Predators behind the Canucks†net, then send a stretch-pass up ice.
Sure, Smithâ€s fortunate deflection broke a 1-1 tie in the third period. But, honestly, the game was decided by a Vancouver power play that allowed Oâ€Reilly to open scoring shorthanded on a two-on-one. It capped an atrocious minus-one night for the Canucks†man-advantage unit.
The power play was mostly peripheral, and the decisive puck movement and player interchanges we saw in the pre-season and the start of October have been missing the last two games. The Canucks were bullied on special teams in both.
WHATâ€S WRONG WITH QUINN HUGHES?
That headline-question gets asked as often in Vancouver as: “Why is this condo so cheap?â€
Hughes is the Canucks†superstar, their one game-changer, not including Demko. And even when he isnâ€t generating goals, Hughes always seems to have the puck and is generating chances.
But Vancouverâ€s captain seems to be pressing so much to help his team win that it is getting counter-productive.
Usually a play-driving force of nature, Hughes had no points and two shots in 29:26 of ice time in Nashville and, almost inconceivably, Vancouver was outshot 18-6 at five-on-five with its best player on the ice. Hughes†expected-goals-for share of 33.5 per cent looked like a misprint.
Through eight games, the Canucks have been outshot 91-64 at five-on-five with Hughes, and that shot-share of 41.3 per cent is more than 14 points below his elite level from last season.
The Canucks have 74 games to go and their surest thing is Quinn Hughes. But through two weeks, the Canucks†desperation is reflected by Hughes†desperation. Even with the greatest players on Earth, less is more sometimes.
Foote on power play: “The last three games, teams have been pressing us a lot on our power play. I think we have to move our feet a little bit more. . . and get a few more pucks to the net. We had some good looks, but it would have been nice to get one there (on the five-on-three).â€
Foote on the schedule: “We donâ€t have much time to, you know, get our legs back. But it is a condensed season that we all are aware of, and weâ€ve been aware of it for a long time. Itâ€s happening to every team, and every team is going to have their. . . tough week or tough two weeks. This is a tough one for us, but weâ€re going to be pros and get ready for the next one.â€
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