The Vancouver Canucks got an early season learning opportunity on Wednesday night.
The team suffered a stunning collapse against the Calgary Flames. They led 4-1 late in the second period and still managed to lose 6-5 in overtime. It’s not the type of game any team wants to start the year with.
“[We] just got too comfortable and I think we thought it would be easy,” said Brock Boeser about the team’s performance. “They just outcompeted us those last two periods, everyone could see it.”
“We know it’s unacceptable so we have to learn from it.”
The Canucks had a 42-1-4 record when leading after two periods last year. They won 89% of those games but couldn’t do so tonight against a team who finished 28 points behind them last year.
“We just got too comfortable. Maybe we thought it was going to be a lopsided win,” said head coach Rick Tocchet postgame. “It’s the NHL. You gotta be ready. Anybody can beat you at anytime.”
“Get up a 4-1 lead and we sat back and they just kept coming and coming,” continued Boeser. “They just outcompeted us that’s really all there is to it.”
“We made it easy on them,” said J.T. Miller to reporters after the game. “We gave them every chance to get back into the game and they took advantage of some of their looks.”
There were some bright spots for the Canucks despite the loss. Boeser scored two goals and the team’s power play looked dangerous.
Most notably, Miller played in his 800th NHL game and was a standout all night. He finished with a Gordie Howe hat trick and scored the game-tying goal with under two minutes remaining.
“It was an injustice not to pull out the win for him,” said winger Jake DeBrusk about Miller after the game. “He gave it everything he had tonight and, myself included, [we] need to be more like him that way.”
The Canucks have a quick turnaround as they play again in two nights. It’ll be a good chance to get the bad taste out of their mouth as they face off against the Philadelphia Flyers at Rogers Arena.
“This is good for us,” said Miller about tonight’s loss. “At the end of the day it’s game one. Last year we won 8-1 and we’re going to say the same thing going into the next game. We’ve got to turn the page but we need to learn and raise our intensity.”