"Lot of careless mistakes": Canucks' Rick Tocchet pinpoints reason behind team's 14th overtime loss this season

The Vancouver Canucks recorded their 14th overtime loss of the season on Saturday, falling 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild. The 14 overtime and shootout losses mark a franchise record for the most in a single season for Vancouver.

After the game, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet pinpointed the reason behind his team's struggles in extra time this year - careless mistakes at key moments.

"Well, this year, there's been a lot of careless mistakes as cost of overtime," Tocchet said. "If you go back in all the overtimes, there's some carelessness that we have to clean up.”

“Tonight's just a, Hoggy's (Nils Hoglander) not usually out there, and he's lost his man. It's man on man, he should have stayed with the man, but he'll learn. He's a young kid, and he'll just learn from it. It's not his fault."

Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Canucks, while goalie Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves in defeat. Mats Zuccarello, Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno scored, Filip Gustavsson has 12 shots for the Wild.

Tocchet stressed the importance of knowing when to take a risk and when to play it safe. Taking responsibility, Tocchet admitted it’s something he needs to coach better and noted they might need to spend more time working on those situations in practice.

"So when you make a crucial mistake, you give a team a two-on-one or a break where they're usually going to score. So I think it's just the understanding of when you're vulnerable, when to go for it, when not to,” Tocchet said.

With two games left in the regular season against San Jose and Vegas, the eliminated Canucks will look to end on a positive note and build for next year.

Recap: Canucks 3-2 OT loss to Wild

Marcus Pettersson got the first goal for Vancouver with Linus Karlsson's assist at 3:11 of the first period. Jake DeBrusk then scored on the power play at 13:08 of the second period, tipping in a Nils Höglander shot at the crease to make it 2-0.

In the early third period, Brock Faber scored on a loose puck in front to cut the lead to 2-1. Then, Marcus Foligno leveled the score 2-2 by redirecting a Ryan Hartman feed at 13:14.

Mats Zuccarello sealed the comeback for Minnesota, scoring the OT winner at 2:47 to give the Wild a 3-2 win at Rogers Arena.