Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet was not thrilled with his team’s performance in Game 4 of their Second Round series against the Edmonton Oilers. With a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back home, his group came out flat.
As has been the case for most of the series, it was the Oilers who got off to a hot start. They led 2-0 early, but the Vancouver Canucks showed some grit, battling back and eventually tying the game at 2-2.
But, a game-winning goal by Evan Bouchard with 39 seconds remaining in the third period resulted in Edmonton evening the series up at 2-2. After the game, Rick Tocchet shared some stern words for his team, threatening some lineup changes and healthy scratches for what he deemed ‘soft’ plays.
“I’m disappointed. There are too many soft plays on that (third) goal, four or five plays. You have to dig in there. I thought we had four or five guys make mistakes on that goal. You can’t do that.
“We’ve been a resilient group all year, but we need five or six guys to get going. This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are some guys, I don’t know if they thought it was playoffs, and we can’t play with 12 guys. We’ll be talking about (potential changes) tomorrow (May 15). We have some guys that might be getting in the lineup for us,” Tocchet said after the loss.
One player who drew the ire of Rick Tocchet specifically was forward Elias Pettersson. Pettersson has not had much of an impact in this series against the Oilers or in the postseason as a whole.
Against Edmonton, Pettersson has only one goal in four games. In 10 games in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks third-highest point scorer of the regular season has tallied only four points.
“He’s got to get going. I don’t know what else to say,” Tocchet said.
One of the areas that the Vancouver Canucks need to improve is on the power play. In Game 4 they had the mad advantage three times, but didn’t score once.
“It’s just not good enough. They know it. I don’t think they worked hard, they didn’t manage the puck. It’s a four-minute power play. I think the second unit had some shots, but it’s just not good enough and they know it. You have to have a work ethic and you have to hold pucks, and I don’t think we did,” Tocchet said of his power play.
It will be interesting to see what changes Rick Tocchet makes for Game 5. It is a pivotal one, as the team who comes away victorious more often than not wins the series.
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