Bruce Boudreau has coached 1,047 NHL games over the last 15 years. He has seen nearly everything, but said he had a new experience on Saturday night.
Late in the third period of his club’s 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, three disgruntled fans at Rogers Arenas threw their jerseys onto the ice and the boo-birds were out in force as the Vancouver Canucks went down to defeat for the sixth time in this young season.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been involved with that,” a frustrated Boudreau told the media after the Canucks fell 5-1 to the Buffalo Sabres in their 2022-23 home opener. “I hope the players feel the same way I feel about it. It’s just totally embarrassing.”
With the Canucks back at home after a disappointing 0-3-2 road trip and short of a sellout with an announced crowd of 18,809, the game presentation crew at Rogers Arena worked overtime to amp up the excitement for game night. There was a slick new opening video, giveaways for the fans and even a live cameo appearance from the new team puppy, Ryp.
And while the Canucks made headlines during their road trip for blowing multiple leads, they fell behind early on Saturday and never caught up.
Riding a record-setting goal-scoring streak, Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin opened the scoring at 5:35 of the first period, just 24 seconds after Tyler Myers was sent to the penalty box for holding Tage Thompson. Alex Tuch extended the lead to 2-0 with his sixth of the year at 15:18, capitalizing on a net-front giveaway by Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
But after the Sabres went down to five defensemen in the second period when Mattias Samuelsson left the game with a lower-body injury, the Canucks made a push. They outshot Buffalo 10-7 in the middle frame and pulled within a goal when Conor Garland converted a slick pass from Tanner Pearson while on the man advantage, at 13:27.
It was just the third power-play goal of the year for Vancouver, but Boudreau was even more concerned about his club’s lack of offensive production at even strength.
“We’re not getting enough,” he said. “We’ve got no five-on-five goals again tonight. And other than Petey (Elias Pettersson), I’m thinking (Nils) Aman might be our second-best player.”
A nice compliment for the 22-year-old Swedish rookie, who signed as a free agent with Vancouver during the off-season. But Boudreau’s comment more directly reflected his disappointment with his veterans.
“I told them to look in the mirror,” he said. “Usually, if we’re not successful in the game, I don’t come in (to the dressing room after the game). But I went in today and said, ‘That is totally unacceptable as a professional athlete. Instead of looking at the other guy, look at yourself.’
“I said, I’m looking at myself, seeing what I’m doing wrong. All the coaches are looking at themselves here. We’re not blaming any of the other coaches. So the players should be doing the same thing — looking at in the mirror and saying this just isn’t good enough.”
One of just a handful of Vancouver players to face the media postgame, Garland took responsibility. “It’s embarrassing,” he admitted. “Just not nearly good enough again. It sucks.”
Do the Canucks have the manpower to be successful and resurrect the target of a playoff appearance that dominated preseason conversations?
Certainly, they’re still thin on defense. Tyler Myers played his third game on Saturday after starting the season on the injured list, but Travis Dermott remains sidelined after suffering a concussion, Tucker Poolman missed his third game of the year with an undisclosed issue and new acquisition Riley Stillman is now out after suffering an injury in Minnesota on Thursday.
Most importantly, after logging the second-highest average ice time in the league over his first five games (27:14), Quinn Hughes was scratched on Saturday with what Boudreau described as a lower-body ailment, which he’s hoping won’t keep the deft defender on the shelf for too long.
In Hughes’ place, 23-year-old Jack Rathbone drew in for his first game of the year. Similar to Hughes in both stature and playing style, he logged 17:55, managed seven shot attempts, and looked confident running the point on the power play.
“He did what he could,” Boudreau said. “A lot of the defenseman that were in there were working — the young guys, anyway — doing what they could to help stem the tide. It’s our veterans. The leaders have got to take this and say, ‘OK, enough is enough.’ And if they don’t do it, then it’s a long year.”
After Boudreau arrived last season, the Canucks established a reputation for closing out games well. With an overall record of 32-15-10 after Dec. 5, they were 21-0-4 when leading after two periods and a respectable 4-14-4 when they were behind after 40 minutes, salvaging at least a point in eight of those 22 games.
But during this year’s opening road trip, they couldn’t get their games across the finish line. And on Saturday, they came out flat in the final frame despite trailing by just one goal.
“I don’t get how a team that hasn’t won a game, and you have a really good second period, aren’t excited about coming out in the third and doing the same thing as you did in the second.” Boudreau said. “It looked like there was very little effort.”
The road ahead doesn’t get any easier, either. The Canucks host the 3-1-1 Carolina Hurricanes on Monday and will see the 4-0-1 Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. In between, they’ll make a quick trip south to face the 2-2-2 Seattle Kraken on Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena.
How does Boudreau right the ship from here?
“We get back on the ice tomorrow, and hope that something clicks,” he said. “If you’re going to give up after Game 6, you’re not worth having anyway.
“It’s not fun. But my job is to help us find a way out of this.”
