from Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Province,

It’s not forward Brock Boeser the Canucks need most, it’s goalie Roberto Luongo. A couple of defencemen like Mattias Ohlund and Ed Jovanovski wouldn’t hurt, either.

The Canucks’ 7-5 loss to the Canadiens actually represented a far better effort than Vancouver showed in 7-1 and 6-1 losses the last week against the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames, but their goaltending and defensive play aren’t giving them a hope of winning.

The Canucks have surrendered 36 goals in the seven games they’ve played since top centre Bo Horvat left the lineup with a broken foot on Dec. 5. No wonder the team is 1-6 since then and base jumping towards the bottom of the National Hockey League’s Western Conference standings.

Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson, who appears to be duelling with Jacob Markstrom to see who’s No. 2, was beaten six times on 31 shots by the Canadiens.

Yes, there were another pile of outnumbered rushes presented by the Canucks, but that kind of save rate (.806) doesn’t win anything. It doesn’t keep you in professional hockey if it persists for long.

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