ANOTHER TOUGH LOSS
NHL: Canucks suffer seventh straight defeat.
ST. LOUIS — They say you can’t win them all, but maybe you can lose them all.
The Vancouver Canucks seem to be testing that theory. The Canucks lost again Friday night, dropping a lopsided 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center.
It was Vancouver’s seventh straight loss and with eight games remaining, you wonder how many wins are left in the tank. No pun intended.
Next up for the Canucks are the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, who pay a visit to Rogers Arena on Easter Sunday in a 5 p.m. start. Then the San Jose Sharks are in town on Tuesday before the Canucks hit the road again and head to California for games late next week in San Jose and Anaheim.
A Good Friday it was not for the Canucks against the Blues, who completed a three-game series sweep of Vancouver. The Canucks have been shut out in four of their last five games.
Vancouver was outshot 37-15 and 16-2 in the third period.
“In the third I didn’t think we played good enough,” said Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin. “The first two we battled hard, but made a couple of mistakes. But again we had some chances to get on the scoreboard.”
The Blues got first- period goals from Kyle Brodziak (shorthanded) and Robby Fabbri and cruised to the win.
Brodziak finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Scottie Upshall at the 10:51 mark. Five minutes later, Fabbri took a cross-ice backhand pass from Paul Stastny and beat Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom far side from a sharp angle.
The Canucks had their chances in the first, but couldn’t finish. Jannik Hansen and Chris Higgins were both stopped on breakaways by St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott, who registered his third straight shutout.
“We had those two breakaways in the first, hit the post on the same play in the second,” Henrik said. “We had chances to make this a different kind of game, but when you don’t finish those it’s tough. We’ve had a tough time scoring lately.”
Defenceman Carl Gunnarsson made it 3-0 at 15:32 of the second period, beating Markstrom from long range. Defenceman Joel Edmundson scored his first NHL goal at 12:15 of the third period.
The seven-game losing streak is the Canucks’ longest since the John Tortorella-coached 201314 team dropped seven straight. In case you’re wondering, the Canucks’ longest losing streak in franchise history is 10 games, set in the 1997-98 season.
But enough with the negatives. There are Canucks fans, plenty of them, who are cheering every loss. The date they have circled on their calendars is April 30, when the NHL will hold its draft lottery.
With each ensuing loss, the Canucks improve their chances of earning a top- three draft pick and landing one of the two highly regarded Finnish forwards — Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine — or even consensus No. 1 pick Auston Matthews. Friday’s loss leaves the Canucks in 28th place with 67 points, just two more than the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Canucks, of course, have never picked first in the draft since entering the NHL way back in 1970, when they lost that coin flip with the Buffalo Sabres.
None of this helps the mood in the Vancouver dressing room. The players want nothing to do with “the tank.” You can see it in their eyes, especially those of the veterans like Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Alex Burrows, Jannik Hansen and Dan Hamhuis.
They are trying to win, they really are, but the Canucks simply aren’t good enough. Their injuries, combined with all the youngsters they are playing, simply has them outclassed most nights. Friday was no exception, against a big, physical Blues team. The Canucks were thoroughly outclassed.
Coach Willie Desjardins acknowledged that all the tank talk can be a distraction for his team.
“That is a real tough question for a coach,” he said. “We all understand the dynamics of the game and where we’re at. But honestly if you ever get in your locker-room that you are playing not to win it will set you back even farther. You can never play that way. Whenever you go on the ice you have to play to win, you have to do what you can to win.
“If you lose that it just takes you back way too far. We are committed to staying focused on what we want to do. Our schedule is tough, that is our biggest problem.”