Real youth movement hasn’t arrived just yet
L.A. 4, VANCOUVER 1
More often than SALT LAKE CITY not, the team with the players who are a little better and a little quicker tends to win the game.
Even taking into account the absence of the Vancouver Canucks’ wunderkind Elias Pettersson, Monday night’s 4-1 pre-season loss to the L.A. Kings in Salt Lake City was a sobering reminder of the challenges the local hockey squadron will face this coming season.
The Canucks weren’t bad, but they just weren’t all that good. Playing against a very strong Kings team, the Canucks struggled to generate much offence.
It’s hard to win when you score just once. The shots-on-goal battle finished pretty even — 29-26 for the Canucks — but on average, L.A.’s were better. And it’s that slow aggregate death that will be the Canucks’ challenge this season.
That’s where Pettersson will surely help. We’ve already seen a good dose of the difference he makes in the lineup, so there’s hope there, but not all the Canucks’ problems are going to be solved by a 19-year-old rookie.
Here’s what we learned:
RUSHIN’ DEFENCEMEN
“It’s not easy to score in this league,” has been a regular response from Canucks defencemen this preseason, when asked how the team is going to generate more offence.
The Canucks got pitiful production from their back end in 2017-18, finishing second-last in the NHL in primary points accumulated by defencemen.
Much of the talk from coach Travis Green has been about the need for his defencemen to play more aggressive, to get in on the rush more than they have.
They have yet to produce results from the approach, but there’s no doubt Troy Stecher got the message on Monday night. He was leading the rush multiple times over the course of the evening.
EVEN-STRENGTH GOALS
The Canucks now have four even-strength goals through five pre-season games. Yes, it’s just preseason, but when even the coach acknowledges it’s a worry, it’s a talking point.
POWER-PLAY PERSISTENCE
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the new-look Canucks power play will be a strength. Even missing Pettersson, the Canucks’ man-advantage created lots of shots and had plenty of good puck movement. Gagner was put in the Pettersson spot on the right halfboards and although he’s a right shot, he meshed well with the rest of the Canucks’ first unit.
The Canucks’ second unit had moments too, showing good distribution and probably might have scored against a goalie other than Quick, as the Kings’ goalie made a couple of impressive flexible saves on back-door chances.