from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

Watching the Vancouver Canucks trying to win hockey games is like watching a drowning man trying to swim. Towards a school of piranhas, backed by sharks. With his pockets full of rocks.

The Canucks keep flailing on the surface. But whenever it looks like maybe they’ll actually get back to dry land, they suddenly make a U-turn and head towards deeper water and the hungry carnivores. It’s painful to watch, torturous.

With two wins in eight games – and this has been the “good” stretch of their season – the Canucks had a three-goal lead Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. What could go wrong? Everything we’ve already seen go wrong this season.

The gave up a goal late in the first period, a shot from Oiler Dominik Kahun that dribbled through goalie Thatcher Demko shortly after a Brock Boeser turnover, to make it 3-1. And honestly, it felt like the start of another loss. Forty-one minutes from victory may as well have been 41 miles from shore.

The Canucks looked nervy, terrified. So crisp and confident with the puck in the first 18 minutes, they suddenly struggled to make passes, couldn’t get out of their zone, could make a simple play quickly. The biggest surprise is that it took until the third period for them to go under again, as Edmonton scored three more goals to beat Vancouver 4-3 at Rogers Arena.

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Game highlights are below.