A seven game road trip over 13 days, an afternoon start after weather-impacted travel delays, a night-before dinner at Panda Express, HB jinxes… it was a perfect culmination to lead to a sluggish shootout loss in Columbus. Here are your highlights:
Fatigue is real, but so is a fantastic 5-1-1 Eastern road trip record on their longest outing from Rogers for the year (and their longest in the past six years). The boys tired immensely after the first, getting outshot 36-16 over the final two frames plus OT. You could see it in their legs and in their mental game. But they hung around enough – with a big helping hand from DeSmith – and pulled out a point. People talk of managing losses, and this was pretty on point with that.
Despite the loss, the boys know where they’re at, how they can play, and the languished effort was not reflective of that.
“Listen, it was a good road trip,” Miller said. “We came together as a team, I thought, won in some really fun environments to play in (against) some hard teams. We just didn't play well today; there's not a whole lot to like about it if I'm being honest. That was just kind of a dud for us. I think we know that. We have high expectations that we'll get back to where we need to be for next game.”
Tocchet knows too. He understands the factors, the travel, the tiredness of these long road trips. I’m sure he’s just as excited to get back to Vancouver as the boys are.
“We grinded, we were a tired group,” he said. “We made mistakes that we usually don’t make and mentally it was a tough game for some guys, but we hung in there.
“I mean, it's been a hell of a trip. There's been a lot thrown at the guys and you can tell (they were) mentally fatigued. But like I said, to grind out a point at this stage of the seventh game, going home, I think it's just nice to get on that plane and get home. It's a long trip. Guys to see their families and stuff like that, it's been a while, it's been two weeks. So it's nice to get home and kind of reboot ourselves. Hell of a trip. I'm really proud of the guys and I've got to give them a lot of credit... digging hard to even get this point.”
Maybe Tocc was even feeling the burnout when he put together his shootout choices? They were… odd. The Canucks are 0-2 in the skills competition, but with 27 of 29 wins coming in regulation, he gets a pass on that.
All in all, a successful road trip. The Canucks still sit first overall in the league, and bashed their way into the brains of some East Coast media folk who don’t get to see them too often. Now, they get to be home for a bit, as they open a five game homestand against Arizona on Thursday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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