Although the stench of the Carolina stinker still lingers, the Canucks have no choice but to move on.
Heading into this week, they need to be the team that showed up against New Jersey and Philadelphia, not the one that frustrated many in a sloppy 5-3 loss to the lowly Hurricanes Saturday.
While the defeat was disappointing, it also highlighted a couple problems currently hampering this Vancouver team.
For one thing, the powerplay needs to break its 0-for-12 slump assembled over the past four games. For another, the team has to play a full 60 minutes.
The Canucks are third overall in goals for (31) in the first period and first overall in goals for (39) in the third, but during the middle frame, they are second last in the NHL with only 19 tallies.
How's that for inconsistency?
They will have an opportunity to fix that over the next three games when they face a trio of mediocre teams in Nashville, Minnesota, and Atlanta. These are matchups that Vancouver has to at win if they want to be considered a threat in the West.
Because right now, this team is far from being serious Stanley Cup contenders.
