The Vancouver Canucks will try to pick up the pieces following a bruising defeat when they play host to the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
The Canucks not only were thumped 7-4 by the Anaheim Ducks at home Saturday, they lost two defensemen in the process. Kyle Burroughs departed less than a minute into the game after a hard hit, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson exited late in the contest after another hit.
Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau suggested Burroughs would not be available Monday, saying the upper-body injury “doesn’t look very good in the short term.”
What Vancouver did get out of Saturday’s game is the sense that as they make a late push to become eligible for the playoffs, a higher sense of urgency is needed. The Ducks set the bar for what a determined mindset should look like.
“It’s pretty obvious Anaheim was way more of a desperate team, and they knew what was at stake,” Boudreau said. “They came out to avenge their four-game losing streak and we were just thinking it was going to be an ordinary game. That’s where it started and then it just unraveled after that.”
Elias Pettersson continued his hot run for Vancouver with a goal and two assists, boosting his total to eight points (three goals, five assists) over his last five games.
But goalie Thatcher Demko was pulled in the second period for Jaroslav Halak after surrendering five goals on 14 shots.
“There was just no pushback from us,” captain Bo Horvat said. “We’ve been in that position before where it’s tough to fight back (from being) down that much.”
The Kraken had some fight Saturday in a 2-1 road loss to the streaking Calgary Flames. Seattle’s offense stalled and the defense finally cracked when the Flames scored the eventual winner at 7:31 of the third period.
Calle Jarnkrok scored the lone goal for the Kraken.
Defenseman Mark Giordano was the toast of the town in Calgary as the Flames’ former captain made his return with expansion Seattle.
“We came here to win a hockey game and we didn’t do that,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said. “The end result isn’t what we want. Competitively, there were some good pieces in our game today but we came up short.”
Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer did all he could with 35 saves, 18 of which came in a scoreless second period.
“(Grubauer) was solid from the word go and he made some big saves at good times, which you need on the road against a good team,” Hakstol said.
The Kraken have now lost six of their last eight games. They are also 0-2-0 to begin a stretch in which they play nine of 12 games on the road.
Seattle is also looking for its first victory in its third game against its regional rival from Vancouver. The Canucks skated to a 4-2 win on Oct. 23 and a 5-2 victory over the Kraken on New Year’s Day.
The Kraken are making their first visit to Vancouver.
–Field Level Media
