Bo Horvat: 'It's exhausting and unacceptable'

Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat says the teams 6-12-2 record has left him feeling exhausted, and that performances like Wednesday's 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins are unacceptable. The Canucks have won just once in their last eight games.

Video Transcript

- Bo, what has to change?

BO HORVAT: I mean, I think-- Obviously, it's getting exhausting coming in here and talking about the same things all the time. And I think it's got to come from within. It's got to come from us in the room. And at the end of the day, we've got to start getting the job done because it's slipping away from us.

- Are the bodies in that room, are your teammates, are you all working hard enough for one another?

BO HORVAT: I mean, I think at times we are. And there's times where, you know, we just make simple mistakes. And it's costing us. And we made a couple of turnovers tonight and it's in the back of our net. And we consistently seem to make those on a nightly basis, and that's what's been killing us.

- The breakdowns do seem pretty elementary. I mean, you look at the first goal. You look at the third goal in particular. Are you guys still playing hard for your staff?

BO HORVAT: I mean, obviously, we're going to play hard for whoever and it's on us to go out there and do it. You know, they put the system in place and it's up to us to go out there, and do it, and work hard, and do it for each other. And, again, those simple plays and those simple turnovers that happen has, at the end of the day, is what's costing us.

- Do you feel like you have the group that can turn it around? Or does this feel like a self-fulfilling spiral at this point?

BO HORVAT: No. We've shown bits and pieces throughout the year, and lots of stretches where we're a good hockey team, and where we don't make those simple mistakes, and we don't turn pucks over and it ends up in the back of our net. And we've been doing a lot of good things earlier on. It just seems, lately, I don't know if we're pressing too hard to score or just trying to play out of our element to try and turn things around. And I think it's fighting us.

- 14 points through 20 games. That's actually a point less than you guys had last season, and so much has been made about the slow start last year. What's your reaction to that?

BO HORVAT: Yeah. I mean, again, it's unacceptable. I mean, at the end of the day, we were excited about this year, and it's unacceptable on us, and it's on us to try and turn this thing around.

- Earlier in the season, you guys had talked about even though you weren't winning, your defensive play, especially at five on five, had been better. But when you look at some of the odd man rushes conceded tonight, what do you think has slipped in that regard?

BO HORVAT: Yeah. Again, I think it's just a matter of I don't know if we're pressing too hard or just-- We're trying to make something out of nothing right now, whereas we're not playing the way we should be playing in order to win. And I don't know for pressing for offense or what. I don't really know the answer, but that seems to be that way. We turn pucks over and it's in the back of the net.

- We're going to move to Zoom with a question from Farhan lalji, TSM.

FARHAN LALJI: Bo. When you guys have gone through what you have in the last couple of weeks, record wise, and there's been a lot of turmoil and speculation around this team, are you concerned that if this keeps up, very soon somebody either in the coaching or management department is going to be paying the price for this?

BO HORVAT: I mean, yeah. I mean, that's out of my hands. For me, I'm just trying to do whatever I can in the locker room to try and turn it around. And we have to worry about us in the room and leave it up to-- It's on us to turn this thing around. It's nobody else. It's us bearing down, and getting these wins, and doing it for each other, and at the end of the day that's all we can control?

FARHAN LALJI: In the same context, though, when all of this has been happening, and you guys have the first period that you had tonight, some would view that as, you know, a team not buying into the coach's message at that point and would suggest that the room has been lost. Do you see it that way?

BO HORVAT: No. I mean, I think-- You know, again, they put this system in front of us and they, obviously, are telling us what structured system we're going to run in, and what we're going to do, and it's up to us to go out there and do it. And we didn't do a good enough job of that tonight.

- We'll take two more. Ian McIntyre, SportsNet.

IAN MCINTYRE: Bo, almost everyone we asked about the first game of the last road trip, the terrible game in Denver, said that the team wasn't ready to play. The first ten minutes tonight, other than the Penguins not finishing as well as the Avalanche did. But in terms of shots and chances, it looked almost the same. How would you explain that? How could that happen again so soon?

BO HORVAT: Yeah. I mean, I wish I had answers for you guys. Again, it comes from our room and it comes from us being ready to play. It comes from knowing what we're going to be up against. We knew they were going to be a fast team. We knew they were going to come hard. And, again, we should have been ready for that.

IAN MCINTYRE: Thanks Bo.

- Final question from Patrick Johnston, Postmedia.

PATRICK JOHNSTON: Bo, I think one of the things we thought coming into the year was that offense would not be a problem for this team. Can you put your finger on why you guys are struggling so much to score?

BO HORVAT: I mean, I think it all comes down to getting to the dirty areas to be honest with you. I think we are doing a good job of sustaining some ozone pressure and getting shots towards them. That, we are getting a lot of shots. It's just a matter of getting to the dirty area to go score those greasy goals if you will. I find we're getting lots of shots, but there's not enough traffic. There's not enough bodies and pucks going, or bodies going towards the net to make it difficult on the goaltenders. And we haven't scored a lot of greasy goals this year.

PATRICK JOHNSTON: Are you guys playing fast enough?

BO HORVAT: Well we knew they're going to be a fast team, and that's part of our game where we want to play fast, too. I think, tonight, they think they outquicked us a little bit on their transition. And I think we did some good things as we got going, but, again, it wasn't good enough tonight.