Captain Quinn Hughes sends a warning to Vancouver Canucks teammates after 5-1 loss to LA Kings

Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes shared his thoughts following a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at Rogers Arena.

Hughes spoke about the team’s struggles against the Kings, calling for urgency and better effort.

"I mean, I feel like we had our chances. It's more that we were just, you know, giving them freebies,” Hughes said. "I mean, the problem for our team tonight wasn't that we weren't getting looks; it was that we were just giving them everything.

"I mean, if you wanted to look at the Carolina game a week ago, you could say that you know, we weren't getting looks. But tonight it was just giving them odd-man rushes, loose."

The Kings dominated early, scoring thrice in the opening 10 minutes. Alex Turcotte led the charge with two goals and an assist, setting NHL career highs. His first goal came 51 seconds into the game, while his second followed a defensive error by J.T. Miller. Adrian Kempe scored shortly after, extending the Kings’ lead to 3-0.

Hughes scored for the Canucks in the second period to make it 3-1, but Kevin Fiala restored the Kings’ three-goal advantage before Warren Foegele scored in the third period to secure a comprehensive win.

Despite the loss, Hughes remains optimistic but stressed the need for quick improvements.

"I mean, I'm an optimistic guy, and I believe in our group. It's in saying that it's game 44 tonight,” Hughes said. “whatever that was, and we need to be figuring our stuff out quickly."

The Vancouver Canucks have won just one of their last seven games. They will need to address their defensive lapses and slow starts to turn their fortunes around.

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Apart from Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet rued the loss

Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet also pointed out poor decisions and defensive mistakes as key issues in the loss to the Kings.

Vancouver struggled on the power play again, finishing 0-for-5 with only one shot on goal.

“Honestly, just a couple of bad reads,” Tocchet said (per NHL.com). “I thought we were going to start well. I thought some guys had skating legs.

"We just made some egregious, egregious plays. Pinching, wrong decisions at the wrong times, you can’t do that. Some guys are just making some really bad reads.”

The Vancouver Canucks have a 19-15-10 record and are fifth in the Pacific Division with 48 points. They are one point below the Pacific Division wild card spot. Next, they will play the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at 7 p.m. PST.