Fatigue, frustration trouble Vancouver Canucks in 5-2 loss to Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago Blackhawks' Tyler Bertuzzi (59) and goaltender Spencer Knight (30) celebrate after defeating the Vancouver Canucks during an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

VANCOUVER — Adam Foote knows frustration crept into the Vancouver Canucks’ game on Wednesday.

His team outshot the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 35-19 across the first two periods.

Then Vancouver’s game unravelled in the third.

“The first two periods we doubled them in chances. I think we all saw that. I think one of those goes in, there’s a pretty good chance we win that hockey game,” Foote said after the Blackhawks took a 5-2 win.

“Little mishap on the first one they got, defensively we made a mistake. And I think we just got off a little bit from there. I don’t know if it was fatigue from the (road) trip, coming back. We just over pressed. And you guys saw the rest.”

The Canucks (7-8-0) were playing their 12th game in 20 days, and their first since returning from a three-game road swing through St. Louis, Minnesota and Nashville.

Over a span of eight minutes and 21 seconds in the third, Chicago scored four goals to take a 4-0 lead.

Tyler Bertuzzi sparked the offensive outburst when, stationed back door, he deflected a long Matt Grzelcyk shot in behind Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen with his skate.

He added a second tally on a power play less than four minutes later, and former Canuck Ilya Mikheyev followed with his fourth of the season. Bertuzzi completed the hat trick — the fourth of his career — at the 11:37 mark of the third period.

Bertuzzi’s first goal of the night came off a defensive error, Foote said, and that had a costly cascading effect.

“The next couple, I don’t know if it’s mental fatigue maybe, and then it’s mental fatigue and you allow maybe frustration to come in and you over press,” the coach said. “We’ve all been there as players, where you help a buddy out too quick … I’m not telling you it’s one thing.”

Aatu Raty and Evander Kane each scored for the Canucks (7-8-0) before Blackhawks star Connor Bedard sealed the score with an empty-net strike.

Vancouver had ample chances over the course of the game, outshooting Chicago 45-28.

“Obviously we got some shots to (Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight),” said captain Quinn Hughes. ”And I think we gotta just keep doing that and find some greasy goals, especially when not much is going in for us right now.

“But besides the offence, I think that if you ask the coaching staff, they’d probably be more focused on the lapses defensively than what we could have done offensively.”

With Wednesday’s result, the Canucks have now alternated a win and a loss for their last six games.

Kane said there were “positive signs” to take from the way Vancouver played against Chicago, despite the final score.

“I thought we played well enough to win,” said the winger, who has three goals in his last two games. “Obviously, dominated the first two periods. A little soft in front of our net. They got a few lucky bounces and capitalized the power play there. So, tough.”

BACKDOOR TROUBLES?

Bertuzzi described his first two goals as “tap ins” and said his third was “also kind of a tap in.”

Asked whether giving up backdoor goals is becoming a problem for the Canucks, Lankinen said it’s something the team needs to take a look at.

“That’s a challenging play for a goalie,” said the Finnish netminder who made 23 saves against the Blackhawks. ”But it’s a five man unit and six guys, including the goalie, so we’ve just got to work better as a unit.”

HOMETOWN GOAL

Bedard got his first goal in Rogers Arena late in the third period, sliding an easy shot into the empty net.

The 20-year-old North Vancouver product also had an assist on Bertuzzi’s second goal of the night, extending his point streak to six games with six goals and five assists across the stretch.

“Connor has been consistently game in and game out, committed to winning hockey,” said Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill.

“He’s competed extraordinarily hard, he’s done all the kind of winning things. He hasn’t been perfect but, man, he’s done a lot of good winning hockey habits, and he’s been rewarded offensively because of it, and I think we’ve been rewarded as a team because of it. So, really impressed with kind of the approach he’s taken all season long.”

This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published Nov. 5, 2025.