The Vancouver Canucks don’t need a whiteboard lecture to know what the road has become. They need execution, and they need it fast.
A two-game trip to Anaheim and San Jose this week adds another layer to a last-place team already carrying plenty of weight. Vancouver’s 1-5-1 road record has been a mix of shaky starts, brief spurts of competitiveness and long stretches where momentum never sticks. For rookie head coach Manny Malhotra, the message stays the same even as the losses pile up.
“The overall game is starting to look better in terms of our ability to get up the ice cleanly,” Malhotra said Sunday before his club dropped a 4-2 decision to the Minnesota Wild. “A major factor we have to continue to work on is our offence. Sustaining more pressure and getting more shots to the net.”
That’s been the Canucks’ problem in a nutshell. They rank last in the league with 19.8 shots per game, sit 15th in goals at even strength with 23, and are last in goals surrendered at 5-on-5 with 38.
For Liam Ohgren, the latest reminder came in the form of a healthy scratch Thursday. The 22-year-old left winger has the kind of tools Vancouver wants, including a quick release, but his game hasn’t been showing up consistently enough. Through 12 games, he has five points, with two goals and three assists, along with just 14 shots.
Ohgren said the scratch was a reset, but also admitted the pressure is there to justify the organization’s faith in him as a key part of the blockbuster Quinn Hughes trade.
“I have to play strong, faster, win more battles and be hard to play against,” Ohgren told Postmedia. “I just want this thing (healthy scratch) to never happen again. I’ve been thinking a little bit too much out there to not screw anything up and stay up in the lineup.
“When I think, I don’t play good. I have to play on instincts and trust my game.
I play my best when it just happens and sometimes you just have to play it safe and get pucks deep when there’s not a play to make. But when you get a chance, you have to be brave enough to do it.”
In Other News...
Canucks Newest Addition Is Giving Fans A Reason To Watch Abbotsford
Jacob Quillan has wasted little time making himself noticeable in Abbotsford. The center has picked up six points in his first four games with the Canucks AHL affiliate, and he has quickly settled into a top-line role while helping keep the team rolling during a strong stretch of play.
The latest example came against Calgary, where Quillan gave Abbotsford another spark in a game that fit the clubs recent form. For Vancouver fans scanning the farm team for signs of help, Abbotsfords five-game winning streak has offered at least one reason to keep tabs on the lineup, and Quillan is becoming part of that story. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Are Desperately Searching For A Lineup Fix After 10 Straight Losses
The Canucks were back on the practice ice after their 10th straight loss, and the urgency around the room was obvious. With a two-game road trip coming up, Manny Malhotra spent the session experimenting with new line combinations in search of some kind of spark, a reflection of just how far the lineup is still from settled.
Linus Karlsson and Filip Hronek both got maintenance days, but the expectation is theyll be available for the next game. For Vancouver, the message from practice was less about one dramatic fix than about continued trial and error, with Malhotra trying to find the right chemistry before the losing streak starts to define the season even more than it already has. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Thompson Could Soon Give The Canucks Needed Blue Line Help
Jack Thompsons path back into game action is finally opening up after a start to the season spent on Vancouvers NHL roster while he recovered from injury. The defenceman cleared waivers and is headed to the AHL Abbotsford Canucks, where he should give a depth chart that has already been holding up well under head coach Ryan Papaioannou another option on the blue line.
For the Canucks, it is a timely bit of reinforcement for an organization that has been managing injuries and watching its affiliate settle into a good rhythm. Abbotsford has been rolling lately, and Thompson now gets thrown into a group that has found its footing quickly, with an immediate test waiting against the San Jose Barracuda, his old team. [Read more 🡒]