Road trip gets off to a lacklustre start

Vancouver sluggish despite rare chance to ice healthy lineup, writes Jason Botchford. PANTHERS 3, CANUCKS 1

The Vancouver Canucks played like they had just won the Super Bowl and got to Florida after a two-day bender.

Flat and slow, the Canucks were throttled Tuesday by an aggressive Florida Panthers team.

The final was 3-1, but it flattered the Canucks, who again couldn’t score or generate much offence. They weren’t physical and rarely threatened at even strength. They drew one penalty.

The worst part? This is as healthy as the Canucks have been all season. This is the NHL lineup they’ve been waiting to ice for months. This is what we learned:

WHEN TOP LINE IS QUIET, IT’S PRETTY BLEAK

Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser were electric together Saturday against Tampa Bay.

For the first two periods on Tuesday, however, it looked like the Panthers had found a way to turn the lights out.

There was just nothing really happening one game after Vancouver head coach Travis Green suggested Horvat, Boeser and Sven Baertschi played the best period he had seen all season.

After 40 minutes, the trio had two shot attempts. One of those was a nice chance from Baertschi. But the trio was buried possession-wise by the Panthers’ top line led by Nick Bjugstad.

GREEN HAS BEEN KEEPING GRANLUND FROM SEDINS

The list of wingers who have spent more time on the Sedin

line than Markus Granlund is lengthy. It includes Nikolay Goldobin and Jake Virtanen. In all, Granlund has played 28 evenstrength minutes with the twins.

The Sedins were good Tuesday. In fact, they were the Canucks’ best line. They did not have anyone who could finish.

They spent some time with Loui Eriksson, but the $6-million man continues to prove he just doesn’t have a good enough shot these days to produce regularly.

They also were lined with Sam Gagner, who is more of a playmaker than a sniper.

Granlund has a pretty good shot and showed it Tuesday when he scored the only goal for Vancouver, a snipe on the rush after turning the puck over while killing a penalty. Granlund scored 19 goals last season and it feels like he’s being wasted.

THE PENALTY KILLING UNIT JUST ISN’T GOOD

It’s destined to go down as one of the bigger disappointments in Green’s first NHL season.

The Canucks’ penalty kill has been among the league’s least effective all year.

There’s really no one to blame. Sometimes it’s Alex Edler. Sometimes it’s Horvat.

When the Canucks were victimized in the first period for a power-play goal against, it was just bad luck. Chris Tanev had his stick in the wrong place at the wrong time and the puck redirected into the net off of it.

It’s a unit that could use some luck and they’re not getting any.

MARKSTROM WAS GOOD UNTIL HE WASN’T

By the second intermission, the Panthers had already rained shots down on the Canucks’ net. Twenty-nine had been directed at Jacob Markstrom and he had saved nearly all of them.

Florida was up 2-1 and in many ways it had been a fine performance for the goalie. But you still couldn’t help but wonder if Markstrom could have done a better job on the second goal.

After making Ben Hutton look like a turnstile, Aleksander Barkov had a partial breakaway. Markstrom was in position to make a save, too. Barkov’s shot was disrupted by a quick Hutton slash to his stick.

But somehow the puck leaked through Markstrom, going over his left pad and under his outstretched glove hand. Could he have done better? Of course he could have. That said, it’s tough to fault him for giving up the only goal against of that period when it’s Barkov with a chance like that.

HUTTON, POULIOT HAVE A LOT LEFT TO PROVE

Green didn’t mince words discussing his two most-scratched defencemen.

Ben Hutton was back in the lineup Tuesday and Derrick Pouliot was the one who came out.

The message for both was clear and direct. To paraphrase their head coach it was be better.

“When I look at Edler, I know he’s a great pro. He’s on top of his game and on top of his body,” Green said. “There’s a learning process.

“I know personally. It probably took me seven years in the league before I really understood that and my body and was ready to play my best. I may not have played my best, but I knew how to take care of myself in that way.” Seven years? Whoa.

“For a lot of young guys, that’s a learning process,” he said. “If they’re not on top of it, they’re not going to play their best.

“These guys aren’t bad pros. But they haven’t fully grasped that idea.”