Even when their down, the Vancouver Canucks are never out.
The team has shown an incredible resilience streak that dates back to last season and has continued this year. They are now 9-5-1 after allowing the first goal after a comeback 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.
“It took us a little bit to get into the game,” said Kiefer Sherwood. “But good thing is we found two points and keep things rolling.”
“You’ve got to credit them because they don’t give up,” said head coach Rick Tocchet about his team.
The Canucks have struggled to put together a full 60-minute performance, especially on home ice, but have still gotten out to a strong start this season. They’ve had to overcome lots of injuries and other obstacles but have found a way to win through it all.
“Team is getting some adversity this year, there’s a bunch of stories that have hit us, and we’re dealing with it in a good way,” said Tocchet.
The Canucks have missed key contributors like Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Dakota Joshua at different times this year, as well as other players. They’re eighth in the league by points percentage.
While the come-from-behind wins are nice, the Canucks know they’ll need to be better to find success in the spring.
“I think we’re all pretty aware that our starts aren’t good,” said Brock Boeser after the win. “I don’t know if it’s a lack of preparation or what but we need to be ready to win our puck battles and playing our style of hockey going through guys in the first period.”
“Luckily we recovered and got two big points but it’s obviously got to stop.”
“We’ve got to start learning, if we don’t have our legs…we can’t use that excuse,” said Tocchet. “We just didn’t manage the game, a lot of turnovers, can’t do that when you’re not super ready.”
“It’s tough to come back in this league, so kudos to the guys coming back, some keys guys making some good plays, but that first period we’ve got to learn from it.”