Weekend woes have players feeling blue
Canucks must step it up to be considered a contender — and captain Naslund says fault lies with team, not coaches
There was no finger pointing at players in the Vancouver Canucks’ dressing room Tuesday, only players pointing fingers at the team’s latest woes.
The Canucks were dismal on the weekend, losing 2- 1 to Phoenix and 6- 2 to Northwest Division nemesis Colorado, leaving everyone feeling more sour than bad lemonade.
Words like “too comfortable” and “ too passive” were being kicked around like slush on a Tuesday street corner.
Vancouver has lost four straight to the Avalanche and three of the games were over early. Colorado, tonight’s visitor to GM Place, has outscored the Canucks 25- 16 in five meetings. Slow starts have plagued Vancouver all month against every manner of opponent.
So what gives?
“Maybe we’ve been too comfortable by the fact we’ve still been winning,” veteran defenceman Mattias Ohlund suggested. “ I think we’ve been fooled a little bit because our record has been fairly good the whole year.”
The Canucks are 15-8- 2 overall and a league- leading 10- 1- 0 at home. They won five of six before the lost weekend but nobody was overly enthused with their performance other than against Detroit.
It seemed inevitable the slow starts and less than 60- minute efforts would come back to bite them, which is precisely what happened against the Coyotes and Avs.
“We’ve said for a long time now that we haven’t played as well as we’d like to and maybe we haven’t realized it enough,” Ohlund continued. “I hope the last couple of games was a starting point. We have to prepare better and we have to be ready for games. We’re 25 games into the season and we can’t let it slide any further.
“We’re not going to be a contender playing the way we have.”
Captain Markus Naslund insisted the coaching staff, led by Marc Crawford, was not to blame for the continuing first-period disasters.
Vancouver was outscored 6-0 in first periods on the weekend and has surrendered eight first-period goals without a reply in its last four games.
“The coaches are doing everything in their power to work on the areas that we need and to motivate us before games, too,” Naslund said. “It just comes down to us. It’s work ethic and being prepared.
“Our way of playing was to use our speed and intensity to beat guys and I think we’ve gotten away from that.
“I think we’re hesitant and too passive overall. The forecheck and backcheck are not what they should be. We have to go in, work hard, dig pucks loose and out- work teams that way,” he said.
According to Naslund, there is still harmony within the ranks and players aren’t being critical of one another.
“ There’s no dissension at all,” responded the captain. “I know what’s being said in the room and what we’re discussing and I think that’s all that matters. We’re sticking together as a group and we’re working towards playing better. Even though we’ve got a decent record and it’s 25 games into the season, we shouldn’t be fooling ourselves.”
The Canucks held a meeting Tuesday to hash out the problems but grinder Jarkko Ruutu noted that talk won’t solve anything if there is not the proper will in games.
“You can always have meetings,” said the Finn.
“But the bottom line is you have to out- work the other team every night. You have to be ready and it doesn’t matter how you do it.
“When you work hard, you get rewarded. Even when you play hard and you lose, you can feel good about yourself. But it’s inexcusable to be sloppy and not try your best.”
Centre Brendan Morrison conceded that, even after victories, the players haven’t been particularly pleased with the manner in which they were achieved.
“ We don’t leave the rink after a lot of our wins feeling good about ourselves,” Morrison commented. “I mean, we got the two points but we know we can do much more. It’s the quarter mark and to just be kind of lingering around is a little troubling.”
They can begin to end those troubles with a triumph tonight over Colorado.
If not, the sky will start falling anew on Thursday.
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