Pinning Canucks’ loss on referees discredits more-composed Jets

VANCOUVER – It’s always easy and uncomplicated to blame a lone culprit or even two.

But to pin the Vancouver Canucks’ 4-2 loss Saturday to the Winnipeg Jets on the referees breezes past some important facts and discredits the more-composed winners.

Yes, there were some contentious decisions on calls and non-calls by referees Brian Pochmara and Eric Furlatt. But at the end of the night, the power plays were 4-4.

And, sure, those helped the Jets more than they helped the Canucks because the Winnipeg power-play scored twice and Vancouver’s not at all. But with the game on the line, tied 2-2 at the start of the third period, defensive breakdowns by the Canucks at five-on-five allowed the Jets to score twice in two minutes on poorly-defended outnumbered rushes.

And once the Jets built their two-goal lead by 9:42, the Canucks were unable to break down the Jets and managed only one shot on net in the next nine minutes.

Like the league-leading Canucks, the Jets are an excellent team. They lead the NHL in goals-against and provide opponents few freebies and little margin for error.

Hockey is hard, and playoff hockey is harder. It’s the NHL; there are always going to be suspect calls. The team that powers through them while managing their emotions and the puck usually wins.

Saturday was a terrific lesson for the Canucks, who deserved better — not because of the officiating, but their superior five-on-five play — but lost on a couple of key mistakes and their failure on special teams.

“You’re going to have these games,” Canuck coach Rick Tocchet said. “Whether you think you got screwed or not, it doesn’t really matter. These guys… it’s a hard game. You know, the last couple of games we’ve taken a lot of penalties. That’s for people to say if they are penalties or not (but) I’m not going to go there. We played hard. Just unfortunately, they won the special-teams battle tonight.”

Tocchet’s takeaway: “Just don’t get frustrated. I think we were getting frustrated with some things out there, and just don’t let it fester. Because then what happens when you get frustrated, you run out of position or you do something that’s uncharacteristic. We’ve got to build a resolve when you’re in tight situations that you’ve got to make sure you keep your head. That’s all.”

That frustration was still evident post-game in the Canucks’ dressing room.

“The first hit of the game is not a penalty and he calls it a penalty because I’m a bigger guy,” veteran Tyler Myers lamented, referring to an elbowing call 6:39 into the game when the six-foot-eight defenceman had his elbow down and tucked in as he hit Alex Iafallo, who is eight inches shorter. “It felt like we were battling two teams tonight. It’s unfortunate.”

But teammate Conor Garland, held without penalty by Iafallo in the third period shortly before the Jets’ winning goal, offered a different viewpoint on the referees.

“I mean, you know, they’re human beings,” he said “If they make a mistake, they’re not doing it maliciously or for the wrong reasons. I make mistakes, they mistakes. And I really don’t know if they made any tonight. I’d have to go back and look. But it was a 2-2 game going into the third and they scored two five-on-five goals.”

Myers tied the game on an outstanding individual effort at 14:19 of the second period, anticipating Gabe Vilardi’s risky, cross-ice pass, stepping in front of Winnipeg winger Kyle Connor (who quit on the play), stickhandled around Neal Pionk in the slot and beat goalie Connor Hellebuyck with a backhand.

But Vilardi and Kyle Connor redeemed themselves in the third when Canuck defenceman Noah Juulsen’s hellacious hit on Mark Scheifele inside the Vancouver blue line left Winnipeg a three-on-one rush that Vilardi finished from Connor’s pass at 7:47.

On Juulsen’s next shift, he was beaten by a Scheifele-Connor give-and-go that created another two-on-one that Scheifele converted against goalie Thatcher Demko at 9:42.

“I’ve got to be better there; it’s myself,” Juulsen said, attempting to take blame for the loss. “I go for the hit. I’ll have to go back and look at it. I thought that it was the right read at the time but maybe not. And then the fourth one, I make a soft play in the neutral zone and it’s in the back of our net again. Little slipups here and there can cost a game, and that’s what we learned tonight.”

Juulsen had opened scoring 19 seconds into the second period – his first NHL goal since 2018 and first since his resurrection with the Canucks organization – but Vilardi scored on a power play at 5:16 and Sean Monahan added another with the man-advantage at 9:25

“Lost a little composure on those plays,” Tocchet said of the third-period goals. “So yeah, it’s a good learning lesson for us. We’ve just got to be careful on those things (and) not run out of position.

“I thought five-on-five we were really good. They won the special-teams battle but I thought we were better five-on-five. There’s a lot of care in that room. I’m actually happy with the effort.”

Just back from a five-game road trip, the Canucks depart Sunday for another three-games-in-four-days tour that opens Monday afternoon in Minnesota.

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