It just seems appropriate for Vancouver Canucks to enter Monday night’s game against the visiting San Jose Sharks after an overtime loss to Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
Vancouver (37-29-14, 88 points), eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, is tied with Calgary Flames for the most overtime losses in the league.
Minnesota, which led the wild card race in the Western Conference, has lost only seven times during the extra period.
Turn these overtime records around and it would be Canucks trying to seal a playoffs on the way into Monday night’s competition.
“That’s a good question,” answered Vancouver -captain Quinn Hughes when asked what causes his team’s overtime deficiencies. “I don’t know.”
Canucks coach Rick Tochet blames his team’s youth and inability to stay calm in the crunch time for his overtime problems.
Vancouver, behind goals by Marcus Pettersson and Jake Debrus, held a lead of 2-0 into the third period against Minnesota. But Wild gathered to bind it on goals by Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno and then won 3-2 when Mats Zuccarello made 2:47 to overtime.
“It’s a kind of story of our year,” Debrus said. “We get it to overtime and just can’t find it extra.”
Said Tocchet said: “We were up 2-0 and we stopped playing, guys became antsy. It has been a common theme sometimes with our team. We just need to relax. Many young guys in our range. It’s understandable. There are some games where you just have to calm down.
San Jose (20-49-11, 51 points) are associated with a nine-game losing line (0-7-2) with a 5-2 setback on Calgary on Sunday. The sharks, who have already climbed the worst record in the league, were tied 2-2 which entered the third period but allowed three unanswered goals.
“It (stinks),” said forward Tyler Toffoli, who scored goals during the first period to reach the 30-goal mark for the third straight season. “Gave ourselves a chance to win and after the first period gave up a couple of goals that could easily be prevented. It is unfortunate because we came out with a really good start.”
Said defender Jan Rutta said: “We have played well enough to win many games and always find a way to lose, so we have to find it within the group. It’s not easy to win. I liked our effort for most of the night. We can win these games, but in the end we will not win.”
The good news? San Jose has already unlocked a top-three draft of elections and has a 25.5 percent chance of getting the total election no. 1.
-Field level media
This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams. Vancouver has won the previous three, depending on one goal.
-Field level media
