Just when the Vancouver Canucks thought it couldn’t get much worse, it got terribly, terribly worse. Like, season-crippling, franchise-altering worse.
The Canucks have been an absolute train wreck of late, but they might have bottomed out Monday night in Vancouver. The Canucks held a 3-0 lead entering the third period against the lowly New York Islanders, but the Isles scored seven (!) third-period goals en route to a shocking 7-4 win.
“I’m blown away. I can’t (explain it),” center Ryan Kesler said after the game, according to the Vancouver Sun. “Seven goals in the third period, two points that we need, giving up a 3-0 lead. … It’s the National Hockey League. It can’t happen.”
The embarrassing loss doesn’t do Vancouver any favors in the playoff race, obviously. The Canucks now sit four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. They’ve also played 67 games, more than any other team in the conference. John Tortorella’s bunch is just 2-7-1 in its last 10 games after recently snapping losing streaks of seven and then four games.
“We have to somehow put it behind us, but it won’t be easy,” Tortorella told reporters after the game. “It’s a tough loss for us.”
