Canucks: Pre-season slog has now sunk to must-compete desperation

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Maybe it’s those T-shirts emblazoned with the confusing “Unfinished Business” slogan.

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Maybe it’s just the annual slog through the National Hockey League pre-season schedule that often brings out the worst instead of the best in players. 

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Or, maybe, it’s something more significant with the Vancouver Canucks — something that can’t be simply summarized by patience to find a rhythm and other convenient clichés.

When compete is often replaced by passiveness, you get what occurred Saturday in Seattle and what can’t happen again Monday in Edmonton. A disturbing 4-0 loss to the Kraken not only has the Canucks at 0-2-2 in the pre-season, and scoring but five goals, it’s more about how a team that’s better on paper can’t translate that potential to the ice.

NEXT GAME

Monday

Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers

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6 p.m., Rogers Centre. TV: Sportsnet. Radio: AM650

Expecting success and working for success are polar opposites in professional sports because winning is a habit and so is losing.

That sensational 32-15-10 second-half run last season should be the springboard to this campaign and not a belly flop of entitlement. And while we’re at it, that “Unfinished Business” moniker is reserved for teams that go a great distance in the post-season — not one still trying to get back there — and perhaps a sobering pre-season can be an effective wake-up call.

After all, the Canucks have surrendered seven-straight goals to the Kraken after opening a 3-1 lead on Thursday at Rogers Arena.

Injuries to Brock Boeser, Ilya Mlkheyev and Travis Dermott are a factor. And so are pre-season lineups that sport a mix of veterans and hopefuls. The absence of Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Andrei Kuzmenko and Conor Garland was clearly evident Saturday, but there was enough potential to make some noise and not go quietly into the night.

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Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau had that post-game look of disdain and would have gone off to a greater degree had the setback been in the regular season. He looked somewhat bewildered and called the effort “a little disappointing” and that was an understatement. 

When the highlights were Thatcher Demko keeping his club in it early and often, and Bo Horvat hustling back into his own zone to break up a 3-on-1 break in the second period to keep it scoreless, it was going to be a tough night. The Canucks took two early lazy penalties and were then outshot 7-1 to set the one-side tone. 

The mistakes were glaring — especially a pair of giveaways on the second and third Kraken goals in the third period before an empty-netter — as the hosts held a 26-17 edge in shots and 55-39 in attempts.

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The Canucks had only nine shots from forwards with just one apiece from J.T. Miller and linemate Tanner Pearson who were a minus-4. Four of the first seven shots came from Tyler Myers, who had two good scoring chances down low, but the Canucks had trouble defending and mounting any kind of net presence in the offensive zone.

“A lot of the pressure in our D-zone and we couldn’t handle their speed a little bit,” said Boudreau. “We have to move pucks before they get in on the forecheck and make the right decisions. They are difficult things to do.

“We’re going to get better. It’s just not happening as quickly as I’d like it to be.”

Here’s what happened on the Kraken goals:

• Oliver Ekman-Larsson tried to deny Matty Beniers in the high slot during the second period, but the centre manoeuvred to get a shot away that hit the heal of the defenceman’s stick to change directions on Demko.

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• Myers threw a blind back pass from behind the net that allowed a wide-open Alex Wennberg to score in the first minute of the third period.

• Tucker Poolman had his outlet pass picked off in the neutral zone before stumbling in retreat and allowing Yanni Gourde to score on a breakaway before he added an empty-net goal.

It wasn’t all bad.

Curtis Lazar, 27, was acquired to be a right-shot, penalty-killing and agitation addition. The versatile forward worked well in a penalty kill duo Saturday with Jason Dickinson and won his first three draws. 

“He’s not a kid,” said Boudreau. “He looks like a real professional out there and one of the few guys I can look at and say he’s going to be good in that spot.”

Dakota Joshua, 26, was the third element of that Lazar line and had three shot attempts Saturday, four hits and a take-way and brought a physical presence. He’s still not up to speed after arriving in Vancouver a day before main camp in Whistler.

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“He wasn’t noticeably bad at all and I’m not worried about Dakota because he’s doing his job and he’s playing hard,” said Boudreau.

Luke Schenn had four hits and three blocked shots, but bemoaned a lack of team structure.

“We need to have more poise with the puck in the D-zone, and when we don’t have the puck, we’re stick-checking and we’re too soft,” he said. “We need to figure out what being hard to play against means and feels like. We figured it out last year. The only way you win is to defend hard.”

OVERTIME — Forward Carson Focht has been assigned to Abbotsford (AHL), defenceman Alex Kannok-Leipert was released from PTO, joining Abbotsford and defenceman Quinn Schmiemann released from ATO, joining Abbotsford.

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