The Vancouver Canucks may be the only NHL team itching to get back on the road.
An ugly 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday left the Canucks (15-9-5) searching for answers as to why they have struggled so much at Rogers Arena this season.
Starts in games, in particular, have been a problem, with the team allowing the first goal in 16 of their 29 games.
On Saturday, it only took a little over five minutes for the Bruins to take the lead when Brad Marchand scored a power play goal. A few minutes later, the Bruins took a 2-0 lead on a goal from Morgan Geekie.
“Let’s face it, four or five players are struggling,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. They have a hard time getting emotionally invested in the game, and it’s my job to get those guys invested.
“There are still some players we need to find the next gear in. You have to understand that it’s the NHL, and you can’t have one good game and two bad games. It’s a game, a sport, the NHL, where you have to be motivated to play. You must be emotionally involved in the duel. Sometimes guys take like 30 minutes to get into the match for one reason or another. »
The Canucks are 5-7-4 at home this season and 2-2-1 in their current six-game home series.
“I don’t know why, but the guys are tense at home. We seem a little more relaxed on the road, said Tocchet. For whatever reason, when we get the puck here, we just want to clear it. So we need to understand that and continue to work on that. »
The Canucks’ road performance has been completely different: the team is 10-2-1 and 4-1-1 in a recent six-game series.
There were times at home when the team dominated, including Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
When asked why the Canucks have struggled to be consistent so far, especially at home, captain Quinn Hughes didn’t have an answer.
“That’s a good question. If we want to be a very, very good team, we have to find ways to string these performances together, he admitted. We played very well against Florida. That wasn’t the case tonight (Saturday), and we just have to find a way to string together good performances. »
