HC Rick Tocchet critiques Vancouver Canucks players' inability to "make plays under pressure" during 3-1 loss to Golden Knights

The Vancouver Canucks lost 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. Goalie Adin Hill made 33 saves for the Golden Knights, helping them win their third straight game.

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet was not happy with his team’s mistakes under pressure. He said they gave the puck away too much instead of making smart plays.

"Somebody would have a puck, and we'd ice a puck like we weren't skiing with it," Tocchet said. "I don't know if we're nervous or nobody was supporting the puck.

"So when you're playing under pressure, you got to be able to make plays under pressure, and you might have to skate 5 feet and pass a puck to a guy, than just deferring to throw the puck away. 15 minutes or we're just tossing pucks away - (that) was frustrating."

Tocchet also wondered if the long 4 Nations break caused some rust but said they needed to handle pressure better. Tocchet himself was part of Team Canada's coaching team as assistant coach under coach John Cooper.

"I don't know if it's the two weeks off or the rust, but you gotta make plays under pressure," Tocchet said.

The Vancouver Canucks will try to bounce back in their next game against Utah on Sunday.

Vancouver Canucks' Jake DeBrusk talks about team's effort in 3-1 loss

Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk scored first for Vancouver at 6:22 of the second period. DeBrusk talked about the Canucks effort after the game.

"I think there is some positives to take and some things, obviously, that need to be cleaned up," DeBrusk said (3:28). "But I guess it's to be expected, a little bit of both. Coming back after a break, you know, we had some pretty good practices, but this game, there was a couple plays that were pretty close... we didn't do enough to win."

Kiefer Sherwood passed the puck from behind the net, and DeBrusk tapped it in. Vegas tied the game at 11:02 when Ivan Barbashev scored on a rebound after Kevin Lankinen made the first save.

Brandon Saad gave Vegas a 2-1 lead just 18 seconds into the third period. The Vancouver Canucks thought they had tied the game at 5:17 when Nils Höglander scored, but the goal was overturned for goalie interference.

DeBrusk also gave credit to the Vegas Golden Knights for their performance.

(Got to) give them credit. They play a hard game, they play a tight game," DeBrusk said.

Later, Tomas Hertl scored an empty-net goal at 19:29 to make it 3-1.