Hurricanes 4, Canucks 1: Vancouver without drilling is still a long way off

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Your goalkeeper can only do so much.

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At some point, you have to finish.

And in losing 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in Raleigh, NC, the Vancouver Canucks underscored this point.

Thatcher Demko wasn’t at his best, but he was still solid, but that was irrelevant given how weak his offense was.

It was the same story as Thursday night, when the Canucks worked hard, worked pretty smart, but proved too weak on offense.

Saturday’s numbers showed the Canucks created just as many scoring chances as the Hurricanes, but the score told the whole story: Carolina finished better.

And Elias Pettersson’s struggles are still tough at this point. For the second straight game, the Canucks star got another glorious opportunity to score at a crucial moment, but he couldn’t bury the shot, instead hitting the puck inside the post seconds after Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck put home. team up 2-1.

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He was also in excellent position to score on a run, but his stick exploded when he moved to shoot. The moment only got worse when Hurricanes goaltender Freddy Andersen pushed the puck into the corner and Pettersson tripped over Andersen’s stick, falling against the end boards in clear frustration.

He seems about to burst into something resembling his former self, but the Canucks can’t wait much longer.

Everyone from management to fans to scribes to broadcasters knew this road trip would play a huge factor in this season’s Canucks story.

And it’s unfolding as the reality check most hoped it would be. The Canucks have competed well, but that won’t get you to contender status.

This team needs to find more finishing and needs to find more creativity down the blue line.

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The Hurricanes got goals from Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trochek, Martin Necas and Steven Lorentz, while Bo Horvat had the Canucks’ only goal.

This is what we learned…

Now what

Three straight losses in regulation, plus the loss on penalties just before New Year’s, means the Canucks have lost four of five.

Sunday’s game in Washington is definitely a win-win situation.

And with Jaroslav Halák in the COVID-19 protocol, he was meant to start on Saturday but tested positive 40 minutes before the showdown, surely Thatcher Demko will have to start all over again.

Starting with the same goalkeeper back-to-back is not ideal, but it’s hard to see any other way. The Canucks have a player in Spencer Martin’s current backup, but he has only started three NHL games in his career and none in five years. That’s a tall order to throw your way.

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shoot shoot shoot

“There aren’t a lot of people in the league who shoot from above the circles on a consistent basis,” Conor Garland joked Friday of the Canucks’ efforts to get more shots from close range.

Horvat obviously didn’t pay attention. His shot was from the top of the faceoff circle, wide, the kind of shot Andersen would want to get back. That made things 1-1 in the first.

It was an important goal to go back, given that the Canucks were 6-13-3 entering the game when their opponent scored first.

But in the end it turned out to be just a blip on the radar over the course of the game.

Power play without punches

Carolina’s penalty kick is the best in the league, but the Canucks had three power play opportunities in the first period and didn’t threaten much.

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They had two more chances over the course of the game, but they couldn’t make anything happen either.

The Hurricanes kill penalties aggressively, putting pressure on the puck all over the ice and keeping the opposing power play on edge at all times.

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