By Andrew Phillip Chernoff | CanucksBanter

October 16, 2025

The Vancouver Canucks (1-2-0) begin a 5-game road trip tonight with back-to-back games against the Dallas Stars (3-0-0) at American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, and continuing tomorrow night against the Chicago Blackhawks (2-2-1) at United Center, Chicago, Illinois.

5-GAME ROAD TRIP

• At Dallas Stars : October 16/25 @ 05:00 pm PDT
• At Chicago Blackhawks: October 17/25 @ 05:30 pm PDT
• At Washington Capitals: October 19/25 @ 9:30 am
• At Pittsburgh Penguins: October 21/25 @ 4:00 pm PDT
• At Nashville Predators: October 27/25 @5:00 pm PDT

HOW DO I DEFINE SUCCESS ON THIS ROAD TRIP? AT LEAST TWO WINS

Yes, success on this road trip is getting at least two wins. That is contingent upon correcting the team’s defence-first failures and generating goals on the dormant power play. The better they play, the more success they can have but by adopting the old “Keep It Simple Stupid” I expect the worst and hope for the best.

Vancouver is on a two-game winless streak with previous losses at Edmonton (1-3) and St. Louis Blues (2-5) at Rogers Arena.

If Vancouver can overcome their poor defensive showing and generate some goals with the man advantage, after being denied a goal in seven opportunities this season, they could improve their performance, and that would be a start in the right direction for this team.

THE Cs FOR SPORTS TEAM AND ATHLETE SUCCESS

Competitiveness, Commitment, Collaboration, Coaching, Consistency, Confidence, Clarity, Correction, Culture

The above are all sports-related and athletic concepts used to motivate athletes and achieve team success. Great concepts, but it’s not translating on the ice, not after three games.

THE 4Ds OF ATHLETE AND TEAM SUCCESS

Desire, Dedication, Determination, and Discipline

“These principles are fundamental to achieving athletic goals, with Desire being the driving force, Dedication being the unwavering commitment, Determination being the will to overcome obstacles, and Discipline being the consistency to stick to the process.”

The above principles are what I need to see and hear about starting tonight and throughout the rest of the season.

BETTER NOW THEN LATER

If Vancouver could start each game by controlling the tempo and committing to executing their game plan, rather than yielding to their opponent’s play, it would be encouraging.

It’s like swimming against the current, gotta keep pushin’ on. You’ll get there, hopefully sooner than later.

WHEN TO START? HOW ABOUT NOW?

The prevailing issue with the Canucks is that they are consistently failing to “start on time,” leading to frequent first-period deficits and placing immediate pressure on the netminder. The team is routinely allowing dangerous opportunities immediately upon puck drop.

RESILIENCE, ENDURANCE, EXECUTION and STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

The team’s overall success for this is explicitly linked to their “Resilience, Endurance, Execution and Strategic Management,” along with managing the “toll of extensive travel”.

CONTAINMENT BY OPPONENTS SNUFFS OUT TOP LINE

Vancouver Canucks top line of Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, and Brock Boeser spent the entire preseason playing together. Still, so far this season, where it counts, they have allowed their opponents to keep them in check, tying up their sticks and snuffing out any offensive drive they may have, which has yet to be seen as a trio.

POWER PLAY OUTAGE UNACCEPTABLE

A complete failure to convert on power play opportunities is unacceptable for a team featuring high-caliber offensive talents such as Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes. 

The lack of Power Play production compounds the existing challenges faced by the struggling 5-on-5 unit. Power plays are intended to generate high-quality scoring opportunities, establish momentum, and provide relief from 5-on-5 struggles. At 0 for 7, it’s all headaches, not relief.

For a team facing a strenuous, high-fatigue road trip, a reliable Power Play is a necessary tool for conserving energy and securing points.

SUPPORT YOUR CANUCKS GOALIES

Canucks goalies Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen have provided Vezina Award caliber goaltending giving their teammates every chance to win every game so far this season. Which is great when they need to provide that caliber of goaltending but not for 60 minutes a game.

AGAINST THE CURRENT

Doing better offensively at even strength instead of being put on the defensive by the opposition, which occurred often in the previous two games, could also lead to a favourable road trip for the Canucks.

Whether it was forechecking or backchecking, the Canucks repeatedly spent too much time on the defensive because their opponents were dominating them, with Vancouver unable to provide any sustained pushback against that dominance.

STOP COMPLAINING, MAKE THE ADJUSTMENTS, MANAGE AND MITIGATE  –  DO IT!!!!

So the 5-game road trip has begun. The first games are back-to-back contests, which means:

• Managing the road trip and mitigating cumulative physical and mental fatigue with the from the travel schedule.

• The Canucks are struggling, need to find their “identity” and produce a winning form, while tightening up defensively as a team; overcoming issues with roster cohesion and offensive zone execution by doing it as a team.

• The Vancouver offense needs their top forward lines to dominant offensively, get more high danger shots on net, and more importantly, score goals to support the stellar goaltending of Demko and Lankinen they are getting from the pair.

• The defensive pairings need to start figuring out how they are going to play defense and add to the Canucks offensive game, like Head Coach Adam Foote would like, but not at the expense of their opponents overworking the goaltenders.

• The power play has received no success from two rotations of five different players, and is embarrassing to say the least. And with the Canucks 5-on-5 game struggling to get shots on net and score goals, I don’t think buying a goal is possible either.

SHOOT-TO-SCORE-TO-WIN

Defence wins games, but you need to outscore the other team to make it official.

The Canucks are unable to take control of the game. This inability forces them to spend excessive time defending. As a result, they are generating less offensive pressure. You can not score a good goal unless the puck goes in the other team’s net.

The significant time spent defending and chasing reduces the time for getting shots on net. This can lead to goals from both the quality and quantity of scoring attempts.

Until next time, hockey fans