Canucks learned tough lessons in loss to Jets

VANCOUVER — Three periods, three different stories for the Canucks on Thursday night in Winnipeg.

The first was a case of a good start for the Canucks but the Jets seizing control about halfway through.

The second was the reverse: some early Jets power but mostly a strong push from the Canucks.

The third, though, that’s where the real lesson lay. The Jets are deep. They’re strong. They’re fast.

They have top-end talent a long way down the lineup. They’re going to punish mistakes.

It was a bit of a bittersweet finish for the Canucks, who came in really believing they could go 4-2 on the road trip.

“It would have been nice to go 4-2,” Bo Horvat said. “I thought we played some good hockey … I think we opened up some eyes in our room.”

Derrick Pouliot was disappointed about the finish, too.

“We played well for probably 30 minutes, maybe a bit more,” he said. “In the third period there, tied, going in on the road, end of the trip, we’re looking pretty good; but they kind of dominated the third on us.”

“We weren’t as sharp, we weren’t winning enough battles, especially in our zone. They took advantage when they had their chances.”

The coach, too, figured the win was there.

Through two periods, his team was up 7-4 in high-danger scoring chances. Each team had racked up 33 shot attempts. It was tight. And then the Jets blew the door off the game, scoring three times in the third.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I’m happy with the loss, but going into the third period I was real hopeful that we could push a little harder and find a way to win,” said Canucks coach Travis Green, whose club hosts the Boston Bruins tonight.

“I think our team learned a few things [on this trip], the way we need to play to have success, the consistency within our game. We have to have everyone going.”

The third-period struggles were a reminder of what great teams are like, that even when the opposition — like the Canucks — have been making things happen, there’s another gear to be found.

“They’ve got a good goalie. They’ve got a good team. You want to score. You want to beat these teams; you’ve got to be hungry, you’ve got to be good on the puck, you’ve got to do a lot of things right,” he said.

Brandon Sutter said it was a quiet scene as the team came off the ice, a statement about how the team had been feeling about their game.

“Just disappointing. Coming back in here, just kind of a low feeling. We were looking forward to [maybe] finishing this road trip 4-2,” Sutter said.

“Would’ve been nice to tie it up at two. Wasn’t quite our best finish.”