If ever there was a team that exemplifies giving up on the crest on their sweater, their fans, and their coach it’s the Vancouver Canucks. 
In Vancouver on Friday night, the Canucks were easy fodder for the Colorado Avalanche, who won 4-1.
“I think tonight was the first time it showed for our group that things might be starting to affect some of us,” Vancouver’s Tyler Myers said. “It’s a long season, a lot of time and you might have days like that, but you can’t keep having days like that.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves in the Colorado win.
The Avalanche improved to 24-17-3 with their fourth straight win.
“We’re just playing our style,” Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano said. “We’re getting up the ice a lot quicker, guys are much more predictable, and it seems like we’re defending less and playing more in their end. We got guys like [Valeri Nichushkin] and Mikko and ‘Nate,’ and when they get zone time, they turn the tide of the game and they’re tough to handle and it just seems like our pace of our game is a lot higher.”
Cogliano had a goal in the first period to put the Avs up, 1-0.
Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen scored consecutive 5-on-3 power play goals to give the Avs a 3-0 lead in the middle frame.
“It’s putting our most talented guys out there,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “[We’re] used to having a righty (shot) up there in Cale, so we decided to give it a try. They made some plays, [and] it worked out.”
Elias Pettersson scored the Canucks only goal in the 13th minute of the second period to cut the deficit to 3-1.
“It kind of seems like the mindset and the mood got to us tonight,” Myers said. “You can tell guys are down. It’s not easy times right now; there’s a lot going on. We’ve got to find a way to stay positive and keep working.”
Vancouver dropped to 18-24-3.
Brad Hunt scored with 33 seconds left in the second for the 4-1 final.
Collin Delia made 25 saves in the loss.
“It’s hard to win games if we’re all going to chase the game,” Pettersson said. “But I know this team, we don’t quit, and we don’t quit for Bruce either.”
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