Did you really think the Vancouver Canucks would make it easy?

Okay, so last night at Rogers Arena was… a real gong show, wasn't it? The Tampa Bay Lightning came to town and just absolutely rolled over the Vancouver Canucks, 6-2. Seriously, if you blinked in the second period, you missed a whole bunch of Lightning goals. J. Guentzel got them started in the first, but then it just exploded. D. Raddysh, Y. Gourde, and N. Kucherov all scored within five minutes in that second frame, and yeah, that pretty much sealed our fate, didn't it? L. Ohgren got one back for the Canucks, and L. Karlsson tallied in the third off a nice feed from M. Rossi, but by then, A. Cirelli and B. Hagel had already piled on more for the Lightning. The shot count, 30-21 in their favor, really tells you how much the Vancouver Canucks were chasing.

It's tough, right? This loss pushes the Vancouver Canucks to 21-39-8, keeping them firmly at 8th in the Pacific and clinging to that Wildcard #10 spot. Our last ten games are looking pretty grim at 3-6-1, and this extends the losing streak. The mood here in Vancouver this morning feels a lot like a rainy Tuesday after a long weekend – just kinda grey and heavy. People are probably grabbing an extra donut from Honey Doughnuts & Goodies on Granville Island to cope, I know I am. We've got a tough road ahead, and with the playoffs feeling more and more like a distant dream, every game from here on out is about playing for pride, and maybe, just maybe, showing us a glimpse of what could be next season?

Stay skookum, Vancouver.

You know Keith and the gang are already breaking down every single play over at mornings.live.