Avalanche 7, Canucks 1 – Another time bomb start adds to an impressive and sobering explosion

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The calculators were already out.

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It’s customary to wait for the 20-game mark before evaluating whether a slow and often disturbing start to this season by the Vancouver Canucks adds to the danger of the playoff chase.

That’s the National Hockey League’s historical indicator of whether any club is on the right track or into the ditch, because the rankings are rarely altered in any significant way after Thanksgiving.

The growing anguish among loyal fans over the 14-game mark was already justified by poor performances by the club’s special team. And a disastrous start and a complete lack of recovery Thursday in Denver only added to the anguish.

The Canucks suffered an impressive, sobering and embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche to open a three-game road trip. Playoffs? Seriously? It would take an extraordinary career.

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Coughing up three goals in a span of less than seven minutes in the first period, being outscored 9-0 in the process and with no legs or the appearance of a push, forced coach Travis Green to finally call for a timeout.

“They looked like a team that is trying to find its game and thinking about winning the Stanley Cup and we looked like a group of guys who were half a step behind,” Green said. “We had a lot of guys that weren’t very good tonight. If they thought it was going to be an easy game to play against Colorado, they wouldn’t think they would have to talk about it.

“We had a lot of guys who weren’t ready to play and they weren’t playing well. You have to play like it matters every night and that team was much hungrier and faster. We seemed slow and lost a lot of disc battles. There is something to learn from every game and we have a lot of guys who need to show their character in the next game and respond with a much better effort, that’s for sure. “

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NEXT GAME

Saturday

Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights

7 pm, T-Mobile Arena. TV: CBC, Sportsnet Pacific; Radio: AM650

After all, it took the Canucks 10:02 to make a shot, and at that point it was 2-0. Nils Höglander would provide the only offense early in the third period after Jaroslav Halak replaced Thatcher Demko.

Never mind that the Avalanche, projected to be a Stanley Cup contender, got off to a slow start with a 4-5-1 record, missing Nathan MacKinnon through injury and lacking a player in the league’s top 60. It didn’t matter that the club was struggling to score with just 2.90 goals per start to rank 27th and was also struggling to defend, allowing 3.60 goals per start, second-worst in the NHL.

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All that mattered Thursday was that Avalanche was ready to play. The Canucks weren’t. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Tucker Poolman received a five-minute penalty in the third period.

Here’s what we learned when the Canucks fell to 5-7-2:

TICK, TICK, TICK, KABOOM

It was like lighting a fuse.

As soon as Vasily Podkolzin received a lazy penalty early in the opening period, the much maligned one, the 30th eliminated by penalty was once again under pressure not to break. Did.

Valeri Nichushkin easily outplayed Jason Dickinson who was late for a rebound to make it 12 of 14 games in which the Canucks have conceded the first goal and the sixth consecutive game in which the murdered penalty has allowed the first goal.

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The regrettable death penalty is far more worrisome. It is a chronic condition, and taking the wrong readings or leaving the seams open has destroyed collective confidence. Tyler Motte cannot return early enough from offseason neck surgery rehab to help stabilize the underpriced PK ship.

“We should be ashamed, we obviously didn’t come to play tonight and it definitely showed,” Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. “It is unacceptable and we cannot allow it to happen again. It was our lack of effort. They came and went strong and it seemed like they wanted to win the game and we didn’t show any signs of a response.

“You have to find ways to compete and stay in the fight and we just didn’t have that. We didn’t have the game to help Thatcher and this should encourage us to play the next game better. This has to be unique. There cannot be a repeat. It doesn’t put me off because we haven’t had a game like this in a long time. “

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MORE MISTAKES, MORE TARGETS

Demko didn’t get much support and even her stunts on the crease weren’t enough.

A terrifying coverage sequence ended with Gabriel Landeskog staying wide on the side of the net for a two-foot tap-in to turn it into a two-goal cushion. Demko had stopped Darren Helm on a 2v1 break with Bowen Byram and then made another sprawling save before the captain connected.

It kept turning in the wrong direction when Elias Pettersson tried to get out of the defensive zone only for Byram to step forward to remove the puck within the blue line, allowing Mikko Rantanen to break one side of the glove. It was then that Green finally called for a time-out.

Byram left the game later in the opening period and did not return after the Cranbrook, BC native was struck in the face by an elbow from Horvat while trying to control the defender.

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WIDER OPEN DOORS

The Canucks had a bit of a run to start the second period, but it didn’t last long. The avalanche struck three more times.

The Canucks were trapped in their own zone and Logan O’Connor completed a cross feed. And when Höglander’s power pass into the offensive zone got caught in Podkolzin’s skates, Helm accelerated to a 2v1 as the Canucks gave up their first personal foul goal of the season. Devon Toews then went to the post and came in from the spot before JT Compher hit the power play.

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