It appears solely acceptable that the Vancouver Canucks enter Monday night time’s recreation in opposition to the visiting San Jose Sharks following an time beyond regulation loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night time.
Vancouver (37-29-14, 88 factors), eradicated from the Stanley Cup playoff race, is tied with the Calgary Flames for probably the most time beyond regulation losses within the league.
Minnesota, main the wild-card race within the Western Convention, has misplaced simply seven occasions within the further interval.
Flip these time beyond regulation information round and it could be the Canucks attempting to seal a playoff spot heading into Monday night time’s contest.
“That is query,” Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes replied when requested what’s inflicting his crew’s time beyond regulation woes. “I do not know.”
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet blames his crew’s youth and lack of ability to remain calm in crunch time for its time beyond regulation issues.
Vancouver, behind objectives by Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, held a 2-0 lead going into the third interval in opposition to Minnesota. However the Wild rallied to tie it on objectives by Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno, then received it 3-2 when Mats Zuccarello scored 2:47 into time beyond regulation.
“That is type of the story of our 12 months,” DeBrusk mentioned. “We get it to time beyond regulation and simply do not discover that further one.”
Mentioned Tocchet: “We had been up 2-0 and we stopped making performs, guys had been getting antsy. It has been type of a standard theme typically with our crew. We simply must loosen up. A number of younger guys in our lineup. That is comprehensible. There’s some performs there you simply variety to need to relax. We had been type of chipping pucks away when there was no one round us. These are issues it’s important to work on, tips on how to cope with underneath stress.”
San Jose (20-49-11, 51 factors) is mired in a nine-game shedding streak (0-7-2) with a 5-2 setback at Calgary on Sunday. The Sharks, who have already got clinched the worst report within the league, had been tied 2-2 going into the third interval however allowed three unanswered objectives.
“It (stinks),” mentioned ahead Tyler Toffoli, who scored within the first interval to achieve the 30-goal mark for the third straight season. “Gave ourselves an opportunity to win and after the primary interval gave up a pair objectives that had been simply preventable. It is unlucky as a result of we got here out with a very good begin.”
Mentioned defenseman Jan Rutta: “We have been enjoying nicely sufficient to win a variety of video games and at all times discover a option to lose, so we have got to seek out that throughout the group. It is not straightforward to win. I actually preferred our effort for almost all of the night time. We are able to win these video games, however, in the end, more often than not we come up quick.”
The excellent news? San Jose already has locked up a top-three draft decide and has a 25.5 p.c likelihood to garner the No. 1 general decide.
–Area Degree Media
This would be the fourth assembly between the 2 groups. Vancouver has received the earlier three, all by one aim.
–Area Degree Media