The Canucks began their National Hockey League regular season last week full of positivity, but fully understood that their biggest challenge would be scoring goals and that their top players, collectively, have to be better than they were last season.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t good enough on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you know what? It’s early in the season,\u201d head coach Adam Foote told reporters Monday night when asked about the top players. \u201cWe’re at Game 3, and we’re not going to get into that. You know, the top guys know. I’m sure they’re thinking about their power play; it’s been three games and they want to get it going. But we’re not going to over-analyze that at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canuck power play, another potential source of increased scoring and coming off a dynamite pre-season, had only one failed attempt against the Blues (which tells you how little the visitors were put under duress) and is now 0-for-7 through three games.<\/p>\n
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n
Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cEvery team, your first line is supposed to be your best line,\u201d DeBrusk said. \u201cI take pride in that, and we haven’t been. I feel it the most. Saying that, we’re chasing the game a lot. That means that the forecheck isn’t great, which is my responsibility, and our neutral zone and our breakouts aren’t that great. It’s a group of five, honestly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve just got to find my game. You know, it’s three games in, but it’s frustrating, to be honest with you. I think at the end of the day. . . I\u2019ve got to be a threat out there. I feel like I haven’t really been a part of anything. That’s my fault, I have to be better on that and can’t allow that to happen anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n DeBrusk, Boeser and Pettersson combined for four shots. Pettersson\u2019s ice time was 15:36.<\/p>\n DeBrusk wasn\u2019t the only Canuck blaming himself.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I probably had five Grade-As (chances) and I didn\u2019t score on any of them,\u201d second-line winger Conor Garland said. \u201cWe might be talking about something else if I could bury something early. I feel like we’re making plays. Feel like we’re trying to attack, trying to play with some juice up front. But it doesn’t go in and they get a couple of weird ones, so it’s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n Matchup defenceman Marcus Pettersson lost net-front coverage on Jimmy Snuggerud\u2019s goal that opened scoring for St. Louis at 8:48 of the first period, and the Canucks\u2019 botched a line change that allowed Brayden Schenn to make it 2-0 in the aftermath of a partial breakaway at 2:10 of the second period.<\/p>\n Sherwood, whose line with Aatu Raty<\/a> and Arshdeep Bains<\/a> was easily the Canucks\u2019 best, tried to bring Vancouver into the game. He scored from Raty\u2019s clever pass in traffic at 5:33 of the middle period and again on a beautiful shorthanded breakaway deke at 12:12 that could have injured St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington.<\/p>\n But instead of using the goals to build momentum and their game by stacking together solid shifts, the Canucks looked eager to blow out the Blues before the second intermission. They charged into mistakes.<\/p>\n Elias Pettersson\u2019s hooking penalty allowed the Blues\u2019 power play to restore the two-goal lead at 8:13 of the second period, Snuggerud scoring a step in front of Canuck Drew O\u2019Connor after Tyler Myers had the puck knocked away by Schenn behind the net.<\/p>\n