Vancouver Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins stepped to the podium after another demoralizing home loss and pointed the finger at himself.
On the heels of Saturday's humiliating 5-2 defeat to the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canucks talked about needing to be a whole lot better on Monday against the Minnesota Wild.
It didn't happen.
With interim head coach John Torchetti behind the bench for his first game since the Wild fired Mike Yeo, Minnesota nearly ran Vancouver out of Rogers Arena over the first 22 minutes, leading 3-1 on the scoreboard and 19-4 on the shot clock in what would end up as a 5-2 final.
It was another example of the Canucks not being ready from the start of a home contest they badly needed.
"I always think if one or two players don't play good, I think it's the players," Desjardins said moments after the loss. "If the team as a group isn't ready to go then I think it's probably the coach more."
He added his team was prepared for an opponent that was eager to end an eight-game losing streak, but for some reason the response wasn't there.
"Our guys knew what was coming," said Desjardins. "It wasn't like we were surprised by what was coming. We just took a little while to adjust."
The Canucks were outshot 38-19 by the last-place Leafs over the weekend, including 16-7 in the first period of a nationally televised debacle that included commentators criticizing Desjardins' bench management on air, and then again in a candid exchange during a commercial break that made its way online.
Vancouver had been buoyed by back-to-back road wins over Colorado and Arizona last week to get back in the playoff picture, but now sits six points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with just 26 games left on the schedule.
If the Canucks (22-22-12) fail to make the post-season after a 101-point campaign in 2014-15 that earned them the Pacific Division's second seed, they will be able to point to a home record that stood at just 9-12-5 heading into Thursday's visit from Anaheim.
"We're not trying to change our game in any way, we're not trying to be fancy, we're not trying to please the crowd," said forward Jannik Hansen. "We are trying to play the exact same way (as) when we were successful on the road. Obviously it's not happening."
Vancouver is a dismal 0-4-1 over its last five games at home, including losses to Columbus, Calgary and Toronto. Daniel Sedin, who leads the team with 22 goals, said it boils down to the team understanding its strengths and weaknesses.
"On the road we focus on defence, each and every guy," he said. "At home there are too many guys trying to produce and push for offence. You have to play the right way. We are a different team on the road than we are at home."
It's a trend the needs to be reversed quickly with 15 games remaining at Rogers Arena. The Canucks believe they can still salvage the season, but with the Feb. 29 trade deadline fast approaching there isn't much time left to show management the current roster deserves to remain intact.
"I think (the players) are still playing," said Desjardins. "I don't question that. We have to be better at the start of the game."
And as he made clear, that's on him.
