The Vancouver Canucks will try to move on from their most challenging loss of the season when they travel to Calgary to face the Pacific Division-rival Flames on Tuesday night.
Vancouver holds a one-point lead over fifth-place Calgary in the Pacific and the race for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
The Canucks are coming off a 5-4 overtime loss to Seattle on Saturday, during which they blew a three-goal lead in the final 4:45 of regulation. Vince Dunn then won it at 2:15 of overtime for the Kraken with a breakaway goal to cap an epic meltdown for the Canucks.
“Honestly, it’s pretty devastating,” said Vancouver forward Jake DeBrusk, who had a goal and an assist. “We should never be losing that game, let alone letting it get into overtime. … Take the lessons of how this feels and make sure this never happens again.”
Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet thought his team was “pretty good for 55 minutes.”
“We needed a couple of composure plays,” Tocchet said. “We didn’t get them. I’m sure that some of the guys feel bad. We did a lot of good things, had a 4-1 lead.”
Tocchet said it’s important for his team to move on and prepare for a stretch of seven of their next eight games on the road, where the Canucks have compiled a 10-3-2 mark.
“For me … we’ve got to get over it,” Tocchet said. “We have to play a tough Calgary game. There’s no crying in your spilled milk right now. There’s mistakes being made; let’s not make them again.
“That’s really what it comes down to, eliminating those mistakes.”
The Canucks will try to bounce back without two of their key players in Quinn Hughes, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman, and center Elias Pettersson, a four-time All-Star. Both are out with undisclosed injuries.
“They’re not going to make the trip,” Tocchet said. “‘Petey’ is probably a week away, give or take a day here and there, and Quinn is probably week to week.”
Calgary returns home from a short two-game road trip that saw the Flames split a back-to-back starting with a 3-1 win at San Jose on Saturday followed by a 3-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
“San Jose, I really liked the team game,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought we did a good job of playing fast, and I thought the way our team needs to play was present for a lot of it. The next night in Vegas, I thought it was a hard game. I don’t think we were necessarily at our best in Vegas, and we couldn’t find a way to get a goal. … There were a few quality (scoring) chances but not enough, for sure.”
It’s the start of a three-game homestand for the Flames, who have compiled a 12-4-3 home mark. Calgary also hosts the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday and the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
“These games are critical,” said goaltender Dustin Wolf, who made 21 saves in the win at San Jose. “For sure, it’s going to be a tough stretch.”
This will be the third of four regular-season games between the two teams. The first two were in Vancouver. The Flames won 6-5 in the season opener on Oct. 9 on a Connor Zary overtime goal, then the Canucks won 3-1 on Nov. 12, behind a goal and an assist by Pettersson.
–Field Level Media
