The Vancouver Canucks have gone from bad to historically bad.
While the NHL record books don’t consider this 11-game losing skid historic due to a couple of overtime losses, the Canucks have still never lost 11 games in a row in their 55-year history.
After losing their 10th straight on Saturday to the Edmonton Oilers, head coach Adam Foote showed sympathy for his team.
On Monday night, it was a different story.
Even though their 4-3 defeat against the New York Islanders was more competitive than the 6-0 spanking from Edmonton, Foote sounded like he’d seen enough.
Specifically, he noted that his most seasoned skaters need to be better.
“Our veterans are the ones that feel defeated first,” Foote acknowledged. “It’s been going on here for a few years.”
“We get off our game. Get frustrated… slamming the gate, things like that.”
“It’s something we got to get out of our culture. Our culture is not going to be that anymore.”
Just last month, when Quinn Hughes was traded, general manager Patrik Allvin showed some genuine surprise after being asked if the Canucks had a culture problem.
Well, what about the inability of veteran players to prevent frustration from creeping into their game? Would that constitute a culture problem?
“Even without this season, I really found that the group, even the guys that aren’t here anymore, when it didn’t go their way, they over-created, or the frustration came in play. Then there’s bad changes, or they slam the gate,” Foote said.
“Other teams are pretty bright, and they can see that. You give them the juice, you give them the energy.”
Foote believes that may have been the issue with the Canucks on Monday night.
Vancouver led this game 2-1 after the first period. However, Foote noted that the game got away from them after they allowed their league-worst 43rd power-play goal against in the latter stages of the second period.
Barely a minute later, Ryan Pulock scored to give New York the lead, walking right up the middle of the ice, unchecked, before blasting a puck past Kevin Lankinen.
Remember when the Canucks used to protect the “guts” of the ice?
Now, it’s fair to assume that the losing streak is taking a toll on the Canucks. How could it not?
“I haven’t been a part of a long losing streak like this one,” Marcus Pettersson said after the loss.
Hey, most players haven’t. However, Foote doesn’t believe the issues are unique to this historic skid.
“It’s always been there,” he said.
“When I came here and watched 10 games before I took the job with Rick [Tocchet], we’d see it clear as day. We worked on it for a long time, and we almost got through it completely, but it’s still there.”
“We cannot go rogue. We cannot get the defeated feeling and get frustrated. That lingers here. If they want to win and be more consistent, they’ve got to get it out, and it starts with our vets.”