Team President Jim Rutherford gets brutally honest about Vancouver Canucks' playoff chances amid woeful home record

Vancouver Canucks President Jim Rutherford recently spoke on the "After Hours" show about the team’s struggles at home. The Canucks have a 15-9-5 record as of mid-December, sitting in fourth place in the Pacific Division with 35 points. Their home record (5-7-4) is a major issue, while their road record (10-2-1) has been strong.

Speaking about this phenomenon, Rutherford pointed out that the team sometimes beats itself as they don’t play with the same urgency at home.

"We beat ourselves at home sometimes, I'd say probably 2-3 games this year." Rutherford said, "We don't play with the same urgency at home. On the road, we seem to be more comfortable. Most teams like to put on a little more of a show at home, and I think we try to do that sometimes."

Their inconsistency is reflected in Vancouver Canucks' recent two games. They secured a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Arena on Thursday. But they lost 5-1 against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Rutherford believes the problems are fixable but stresses the need to improve quickly.

"We're in the middle of playing a lot of games... so we get a lot of days off." Rutherford said, "We didn't practice yesterday, we've had a couple of other home games when we didn't practice, and we didn't play well. We have some adjustments to make, obviously, but they're fixable, but we better fix them quick 'cause you can't be a playoff team with a record like we have at home."

With important games ahead, including against Colorado Avalanche, the Canucks must perform better at home to stay in the playoff race.

Vancouver Canucks lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins

The Vancouver Canucks lost 5-1 to the Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena. Brad Marchand scored first with a power-play goal at 5:12 in the first period. Morgan Geekie made it 2-0 after a pass from David Pastrnak. Pavel Zacha extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second period on a breakaway. Marc McLaughlin’s deflected shot made it 4-0.

Pastrnak scored the Bruins’ fifth goal, 26 seconds into the third period. Max Sasson scored the Canucks' only goal at 10:13, his first in the NHL. Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 19 shots, while Thatcher Demko made 23 saves for Vancouver Canucks.