John Tortorella rips Canucks for losing to Panthers

John Tortorella has been on his best behaviour since
taking over as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

His team's worst performance of the season brought some of the
old temper bubbling to the surface Tuesday.

"We sucked," Tortorella said after Vancouver dropped a 3-2
shootout decision to the lowly Florida Panthers. "It was easily our
worst game of the year. We didn't deserve a point."

Having already lost four in a row, the Canucks came out flat
against an opponent that has already fired a coach and endured a
nine-game losing streak this season.

And while Tortorella didn't have one of the post-game explosions
he made famous during stints with the Tampa Bay Lightning and New
York Rangers, he was clearly disgusted with the effort, especially
in a first period that saw Florida carry the play and take a 1-0
lead.

"It's lack of respect and we have no business (showing) a lack
of respect to any hockey team," Tortorella continued. "In the
situation we're in going into tonight's game, I just don't know what
we're thinking as far as how we started the game.

"I can't explain it."

Jonathan Huberdeau scored the only goal of the shootout, beating
Vancouver netminder Roberto Luongo with a nice backhand-forehand
deke on Florida's first attempt. Chris Higgins came closest to
scoring for the Canucks, hitting the post behind Tim Thomas on
Vancouver's final shot.

Like their coach, the Canucks were at a loss to explain the
performance.

"They're never easy. It doesn't matter who you play," said
Luongo, who finished with 34 saves through regulation and overtime.
"As soon as you start thinking that, it's game over for us. There's
no easy points in this league. You've got to perform every night,
every team's going to give you a challenge.

"Especially given the fact that we lost four in a row, I don't
understand why we would think it would be easy."

Shawn Matthias and Brad Boyes scored in regulation for Florida
(6-12-4), which got 27 saves from Thomas and has now won three of
its last four.

The 39-year-old Thomas, who took last season off to spend time
with his family and clear his head, was back at Rogers Arena for the
first time since leading the Boston Bruins to a their Game 7 victory
over Vancouver in the 2011 Stanley Cup.

He signed with a Panthers team in the pre-season that prior to
Tuesday had not won a game in Vancouver since 1994.

"That's why he's won before, he's won a Stanley Cup before, he's
won a Vezina and that's why," Panthers interim head coach Peter
Horachek said of Thomas. "He's confident (and) he's got a smile on
his face when he is doing it.

"He gives our guys confidence."

Jannek Hansen and Higgins replied for Vancouver (11-8-4), which
has just six goals total during its five-game slide.

"I don't think anybody played well. We looked lethargic at
times," said Tortorella. "It's disappointing and it starts from
the beginning. You need to respect your opponent. We didn't."

The Canucks killed off a full two-minute penalty in overtime,
with Luongo making a huge pad stop on Huberdeau.

Vancouver then poured it on in the final minute of the extra
period, but couldn't find a way past Thomas.

Playing in just his second game back after a long absence with a
lower-body injury, Hansen jumped on a bad clearing attempt and wired
a shot past Thomas for his third of the season at 2:35 of the final
period to tie snap a 1-1 tie.

After the teams exchanged chances, Matthias brought the Panthers
back to level terms by ripping his third of the season past Luongo
from the slot at 8:34.

Down 1-0 after that lacklustre first period, the Canucks came out
with some renewed intensity in the second and were rewarded when
Higgins beat Thomas through a maze of legs for his seventh goal of
the season at 3:26.

Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with Boston
back in 2011, then made a big stop on Canucks forward Alexandre
Burrows before Daniel Sedin sent a shot just wide.

Florida opened the scoring at 3:43 of the first against the NHL's
No. 1 penalty killing unit. With Hansen off in the box for
goaltender interference, Aleksander Barkov's shot off the post
bounced right to Boyes, who beat a down-and-out Luongo for his
eighth of the season.

Burrows, who has yet to score this season in 11 games, had
Vancouver's best chance of the period but he hit the post on a
Florida power play with about five minutes to go.

"This clunker here, it just makes no sense to me," said
Tortorella. "I think a team should be chomping on the bit to get
into a win column but it was a total lack of respect. There are no
easy games in this game. It's a lesson learned and I hope we do
learn from it."

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