A late start in Edmonton threw Marco Rossi off his rhythm, and the Vancouver Canucks centre said the night didn’t really end until 2:30 a.m. when he finally got back to his Lower Mainland home.
That kind of disruption is part of the grind, but Rossi’s bigger challenge right now is getting his offence back on track. He opened the season with four points, scoring three goals and adding an assist in the first two games against the Oilers, then managed just one assist over the next 12 contests. After a seven-shot, no-point night in Winnipeg on Thursday, he entered the Canucks’ 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers with seven points, three goals and four assists, in 17 games - a total he knows isn’t enough.
The Flyers game didn’t change the picture much. Vancouver again started slowly against a team playing the second half of a back-to-back, and Rossi finished without a point, with one shot and a minus-2 rating in 12:01 of ice time.
“You try not to overthink, but it’s in your head,” he admitted. “But I know it’s going to come.
The game in Winnipeg I could have had two goals. But I’ve got to be more hungry, more to the net.”
Rossi’s frustration has only grown because the opportunity has been there. When Filip Chytil re-aggravated a shoulder injury on Oct. 29 in San Jose and missed 13 games, Rossi moved up the lineup and got more minutes. The production still hasn’t followed.
At 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, he’s been living more on the perimeter than he’d like, and the Canucks could use more of the dirty work from him around the crease. He has 31 shots, which ranks fifth on the club, but his shooting percentage sits at 9.7 despite averaging 15:36 of ice time.
There is one area where Rossi has held steady: the faceoff dot. He’s winning 52.1 per cent of his draws, and he’s not hiding from the scoring drought.
“I have to stay with it, and as long as you have chances, it’s good,” said the 25-year-old Austria native. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t care about it (lack of scoring).”
Rossi also showed where some of his competitive edge comes from. He said he was raised on Formula 1 by his grandfather and even attended an Austrian Grand Prix to watch Max Verstappen, whose success he clearly admires.
“Crazy, he’s the best for a reason,” Rossi said. “It was impressive, like he has a different car. Race after race he’s always one of the best guys, and it’s also how he tries to be as calm as he can be.
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Now the challenge is starting to shift from surviving the absences to figuring out what happens when everyone is healthy again. A roster that looked flexible a week ago can suddenly feel crowded, and the Flames will have some uncomfortable decisions to make about who stays in the mix and who heads back to the AHL once the injured forwards are ready to return. [Read more 🡒]