Let’s not sugarcoat anything; THE The efforts of the Vancouver Canucks tonight against the New York Islanders were no match for the Rick Tocchet style of hockey that this organization and its fans have become accustomed to.

The Canucks welcomed Dakota Joshua back into the lineup after missing training camp, the preseason and the first 14 games of the season while recovering from successful surgery for testicular cancer. Also a highly touted prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored his first NHL goal on the first shot of the game in the first three minutes of the game.

Morale was good; there was a lot to play for. Unfortunately, after that, they collapsed and went into the second intermission with a score of 3-1, recording only six shots on goal.

It’s safe to say Tocchet wasn’t happy with the team’s performance on the ice or behind the bench. He met with the media after the game to discuss his thoughts on tonight’s efforts. Let’s start by addressing the fans:

“I have to apologize to the fans. We don’t play well enough at home. It’s on me. The guys played light tonight. I thought we were ready to go; we weren’t. It’s for me. I have to get this team to play harder. In the first half, (there were) crazy here and there, but not enough from a lot of guys. We have practice tomorrow and go straight back to the drawing board.

The team struggled through the neutral zone tonight, both passing offensively and stopping the opposition defensively. Tocchet talked about what might have gone wrong there and praised the way the Islanders played and their coach.

“(We) didn’t move our feet. We talked about hitting the weak side; we didn’t do it. The attackers were skating backwards instead of passing through. It’s not the defense or the attackers; this is the collection of five.

“I give the Islanders credit. (They are) A well-coached team tonight. Patrick surpassed me tonight.

With tonight’s loss, that brings the Canucks’ home record to 2-3-3 at Rogers Arena. Last season, the Canucks dominated at home, finishing with a 27-9-5 record this year, not reaching the six-loss mark – which they reached tonight – until their 23rd home game on January 24 against the St. Louis Blues. .

Tocchet remains unanswered on what is wrong at home and what needs to change in the future:

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s the answer I have to get. We have to change our skates before the game or do something different because we can’t play light. We are too light a team. You can’t guess where the puck is going. You don’t have to kill people, you don’t have to put guys through the boards – although every once in a while I wouldn’t mind – I’d rather have a guy just stay in front of a guys. In front of the net, there are too many scrambled goals. This has to stop. »

The match seemed to run out of steam just after Lekkerimäki opened the scoring. Here’s what Tocchet had to say about what the Islanders did well to stop the Canucks after that point:

“They double and triple quickly, so you have to be ready. You have to be able to get out of it quickly. Whether it’s a pass or a takedown. When you’re slow and playing light, they own the boards. It’s a great team. We were just shy tonight and guessing where the puck is. It drives me crazy when F1 guesses where the puck is. Your job is to get through a guy or at least tag him.

“It’s a frustrating situation because fans are paying $2-3-4-500 dollars per ticket and we’re throwing duds away. So I apologize to the fans again. We need to fix this.

The only issue Tocchet continued to mention was how light the Canucks played tonight. He touches more on this topic and how things need to be changed quickly, and what the repercussions could be for the team if they don’t in his closing remarks:

“The game plan was there. After the first one, I’m talking to Footy (Adam Foote, Canucks defense coach): “Why are we playing so slow tonight? We did it against Edmonton. I don’t know what we do at home. Obviously we’re 6-1 on the road, (are we playing) an easier game? Stick to the game plan? I don’t know. We just have a few guys who play really light. And you have to correct that very quickly because you play like that, and you can lose 6-7-8 in a row.