In the last eight years with the Washington Capitals, Braden Holtby’s team never came close to a losing season and won more games than anyone in the National Hockey League.
Since 2014, Holtby had not experienced a regulation-time losing streak longer than the one the Vancouver Canucks have dug for themselves in the span of six days: getting embarrassed over four games in Montreal and Toronto by a combined score of 23-9. Saturday’s dismemberment by the Toronto Maple Leafs was 5-1.
This futility stuff is new to Holtby. To be fair, his .888 save percentage is also new to the Canucks, although goaltending is far down the team’s list of problems at the moment.
It’s understandable if Holtby is little shocked by what he is seeing. But aren’t we all?
In the third period of Saturday’s loss, after a phantom check or effort – there appeared to be neither – by J.T. Miller allowed Auston Matthews to collect the puck uncontested from Holtby’s clearance and score uncontested, Hockey Night in Canada caught the goaltender giving Miller a piece of his mind.
We’re not sure, but the abbreviation of his sentence may have been WTF?
Again, everyone on the West Coast can relate.
What’s clear is even the Canucks know how awful they’re playing. When cameras panned along the Vancouver bench late in the third period, players looked more like a funeral reception receiving line than a hockey team.
“What was said the ice stays on the ice,” Holtby told reporters after the game, confirming that something was said. “I think it’s not just that play, a lot of things it’s just trying to get on the same page.
“It’s hard to take losses like this. They’re piling up on us. That’s frustrating. The only way to get out of it is to get back to work. . . and find a way to get on the same page. We’re a disconnected group right now. It’s showing. We need to find a way to fight through that.”
They also need to find some energy despite falling off a cliff before the last of their 16-games-in-27 days start to the compressed schedule.
Their response on Saturday to being hammered 7-3 by the Leafs on Thursday was to fall behind 1-0 on Wayne Simmonds’ power-play goal at 4:42 and generally get outplayed again at the start. There was no spark in the Canucks, no defiance. They just lost badly again.
“That’s tough, something I’ve never been through in my career, so it’s very frustrating,” Holtby said. “I think as individuals, especially guys with more experience, when you have a bad game, you’ve got to come out flying. You’ve got to be ready to play, right from the start.
“You never know if you’re going to win or lose, but you need a response, and we don’t have that yet. That’s on myself, the other older guys that have been around and know, that have been on good teams, after you have an embarrassing loss, that next game, the next game is important.”
Canucks coach Travis Green, who brought long, lost Loui Erikson back into his lineup to try to make the forward lines more balanced and responsible defensively, had no problem with Holtby holding Miller responsible.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with guys trying to make other players accountable,” he said. “That’s part of leadership. When you’re going through frustrating times, that happens once in a while. I’ve been on lots of teams where you can fight, you can get in arguments. . . but they’re all in it for the same thing. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that once in a while.”
The disconnect between players was as obvious on the ice and as it was in post-game messaging from the Canucks.
“The way it looks right now is everything looks difficult for our team,” Green explained. “Simple plays look hard right now. Simple passes look hard, simple shots on net, it’s not coming easy. Maybe that is a little bit of a mental thing. When you’re winning, everything seems to just flow and it seems easier. In your mind, it seems easier, which obviously frees up your body. Right now, things look difficult for our team.”
Brock Boeser scored the Canucks’ only goal, in garbage time with the score 5-0. But he and linemates Elias Pettersson and Miller, reunited by Green, had one extended shift of sustained offensive pressure at five-on-five. Miller did not register a shot. Pettersson had one.
Overmatched rookie defenceman Jalen Chatfield was minus-four. Another rookie, winger Nils Hoglander, was the best Canuck.
Vancouver gets the pleasure of playing the formidable Leafs again on Monday.
While general manager Jim Benning works the phones to find a trade, as fans in Vancouver howl on social media for change, Canuck captain Bo Horvat said he believes in his team.
“We have a lot of guys that have played some pretty important hockey and they’ve gone a long way in the playoffs and have been on great teams,” he said. “We have a lot of character in our room, a lot of guys that want to win hockey games. We’ve just got to find it within ourselves to get better and to come out of this.”
Soon. Very soon.
