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Rick Tocchet didn’t hold back in his assessment of his Vancouver Canucks after Game 4 on Tuesday night.
The Jack Adams Award finalist was candid when discussing the team’s last-minute loss.
“We need five or six guys to get going here, I mean it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs,” started the head coach. “Some guys I don’t know if they thought it was the playoffs. We can’t play with 12 guys.”
“We’ve got to figure it out quick.”
The Canucks looked lost at the start of the game as they struggled to generate any offence. They played much better over the final 40 minutes but a few crucial errors proved to be too much to overcome.
“The second period I thought we had about five, six shifts in a row we were there. Then the third there was chunks of it, but not consistently,” explained Tocchet. “We need more consistent effort from more guys.”
The Oilers had more shots, scoring chances, and looked more engaged in puck battles.
“You can’t win if you have five or six passengers, or seven, I don’t know how many it was, we’ll take a look,” continued Tocchet. “There’s at least half-a-dozen passengers tonight. Quite frankly, that’s what it was.”
The coach’s blunt feedback extended to the evaluation of a few key players. When asked about Elias Pettersson who has just one goal and four points in 10 playoff games, Tocchet wasn’t fragile in his response.
“Like I said there’s five or six guys…he’s got to get going, I don’t know what else to say,” answered the head coach.
The Canucks power play was a sore spot tonight. They had one two-minute opportunity and one four-minute opportunity in the first period and barely managed to break into the offensive zone, much less create a dangerous scoring chance.
“It just wasn’t good. Not good enough, they know it,” said Tocchet about his team’s play with the man-advantage. “I didn’t think they worked hard, they mismanaged the puck…it’s just not good enough. They know it.”
The Oilers did a good job at frustrating the top unit with good zone-entry denials and strong clears.
“I’m just going to be honest with you, I’m tired of talking about it,” said J.T. Miller when asked about the power play struggles after the game. “I’m just going to tell you the same thing.”
For all of their struggles, there were some Canucks who played well. Conor Garland scored a goal and was used heavily in the third period. He finished with more than 18 minutes of ice-time.
The coach is hoping Garland can serve as an example for those passengers he referenced earlier.
“He doesn’t give up, that’s why he’s out there. He’s digging for us, he’s one of the guys that we rely on to give us juice,” said Tocchet. “Hopefully some guys look at that and say ‘hey man, I’ve got to get going.’”
The series now flips back to Vancouver as a best-of-three after the first four games were split. The puck drops for Game 5 on Thursday at Rogers Arena at 7 pm PT.
“The next game is a new game,” said Tocchet, always emphasizing a forward-facing approach. “Some of those guys can be a hero for us. They’ve got to step it up.”