Tocchet mulling changes for Canucks after Game 4 loss in Western 2nd Round

EDMONTON -- Rick Tocchet wants more from some of his players, and the Vancouver Canucks coach said lineup changes could be coming following a 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Vancouver was outshot 30-21 and gave up the game-winning goal at 19:21 of the third period, just 62 seconds after it had tied it 2-2. The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 entering Game 5 in Vancouver on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX) .

“I’m disappointed. There are too many soft plays on that (third) goal, four or five plays. You have to dig in there,” Tocchet said. “I thought we had four or five guys make mistakes on that goal. You can’t do that. We’ve been a resilient group all year, but we need five or six guys to get going. This is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There are some guys, I don’t know if they thought it was playoffs, and we can’t play with 12 guys.

“We’ll be talking about [potential changes] tomorrow. We have some guys that might be getting in the lineup for us.”

The Canucks were on their heels for the first half of Game 4. They generated just four shots in the first period, falling behind 1-0 on a power-play goal from Leon Draisaitl at 11:10, and were outshot 14-9 in the second period, when Ryan Nugent-Hopkinss pushed it to 2-0 at 19:20.

“We have to figure it out quick, it’s 2-2 (in the series). Obviously, it’s a tough one," Tocchet said. “Edmonton came to play. They wanted it more early. The second goal at the end of the period was a killer, another couple of mistakes, and then the last goal (in the third), you can’t do that.”

Despite making a strong push in the third period, tying the game on goals from Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua, the Canucks weren't able to sustain their momentum and push the game into overtime.

“In the second period, I thought we had five or six shifts in a row where we were there and then in the third, there were chunks of it, but not consistently,” Tocchet said. “You can say positively, but we need more consistent effort from more guys, and instead of four or five shift chunks, you’ll have more possession time.”

Tocchet added that effort needs to come from desire.

“It’s a will to get the puck, it’s not X's and O's,” Tocchet said. “You know the puck where it’s going to go, you just have to get there before the other guy, and I think we’re pausing. Some guys are playing pause hockey, and you can’t win if you have five or six passengers. There’s at least a half a dozen passengers tonight.”

Elias Pettersson is one player in particular who is struggling. The center had 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 regular-season games but has just four points (one goal, three assists) in 10 playoff games, including one goal in the four games against Edmonton.

“He’s got to get going,” Tocchet said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

If the Canucks are going to get back on track in Game 5, they are going to have to play better than they have thus far in the series.

Vancouver fell behind 4-1 in Game 1 before coming back to win 5-4. In Game 2, it led 3-2 but was outshot 15-2 in the third period before going on to lose 4-3 in overtime. It managed to hold on to win 4-3 in Game 3, but was outshot 45-18.

“Anyway you lose it’s disappointing, but we probably didn’t play well enough to win,” Garland said. “We fought back, which we’ve done a lot this year, but we gave them one too many plays.

“I felt like we had life in the second for a while. We didn’t convert. I missed a big one and then we had a lot of pressure and that one at the end (of the second) kills us. We can’t let that happen.”

The Canucks also failed to convert on the power play Tuesday, going 0-for-3, which included a double minor to Oilers forward Evander Kane for high-sticking in the first period. They struggled to gain the zone and spent most of the time on their power plays retrieving pucks cleared down the ice.

“It just not good enough. They know it,” Tocchet said of his power-play units. “I don’t think they worked hard, they didn’t manage the puck. It’s a four-minute power play. I think the second unit had some shots, but it’s just not good enough and they know it. You have to have a work ethic and you have to hold pucks, and I don’t think we did.”

J.T. Miller added that he wasn't good enough on Evan Bouchard's game-winning goal with 39 seconds remaining, either.

“It’s tough. We fought back and I have to get in the shooting lane there, and that’s tough,” Miller said. “I was in the wrong spot in the D-zone and didn’t block the shot. We had a breakdown and it ended up in the net. I’m pretty upset with myself at the moment, that was a pretty big play at the end there. That pass (from Draisaitl) should have never get to Bouchard, and it certainly shouldn’t have gone past me. [Arturs Silovs] can’t see anything.”