Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is not happy with how his team has been doing lately, particularly the power play, and he made sure to single out Elias Petersson.
That loss dropped the Canucks' season record to 16-10-6. The Canucks had a power play in the third period when Vegas was called for high-sticking on Elias Pettersson.
Tocchet said they were looking for someone, likely Pettersson, to create off the man advantage, with Quinn Hughes being tightly checked. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the third before Vegas pulled away with two goals to seal the win.
«Yeah, we were hoping for somebody to get something going. I think they were taking Quinn away a lot so he's trying to dish it to some other guys. Petey had that one-timer (which) missed the net, but, I don't think we had much after that,» Tocchet said.
"We played well. We didn't give up much. They didn't give us much,» Tocchet said. «We had a good start. Really liked our first period. They're a good team. They're going to press. ... We just couldn't get that equalizer.»
Teddy Blueger opened the scoring in the first period with a wraparound. Vegas answered with three straight goals, first with Alex Pietrangelo's second-period slap shot from the point to even the score.
William Karlsson gave Vegas the lead in the third capitalizing on his own rebound and Brett Howden sealed it with an empty-net goal late in the period for a 3-1 win. The Canucks will play the Ottawa Senators next on Saturday at Rogers Arena.