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Tanev is also a financial fit at a $4.45-million-US cap hit for this and three more seasons. And his modified no-trade clause doesn’t kick in until 2017-18.

Tanev has returned to Vancouver for further evaluation on a foot injury. He got tied up with Anze Kopitar on Oct. 22 in Los Angeles and played through pain the next night in Anaheim. But when run into the end boards by hulking forward Nick Ritchie, it only aggravated a foot injury.

Tanev wore a walking boot, missed three games and returned Wednesday in Montreal.

The mood of management is often mirrored by the vibe in the room. The Canucks had been blanked in four of their six previous games before facing the Islanders and on too many nights, it looks like they may never score.

Better structure through the defensive zone is also taxing. It means tighter gaps, no cheating and not blowing the zone early. And when you cough up the first goal in 11 of the first 12 games and start chasing the game, it becomes exhausting — and creating something in transition is harder.

And if they can’t score, where’s the help?

“There’s no talk of that in the room,” stressed winger Daniel Sedin. “We believe we can score and we have those guys on our team. It’s a matter of putting that first one in the net and things will get easier.

“And it’s a different feeling from last year. We scored a few goals but the system was back-and-forth and we gave up 48 shots here (Brooklyn) last year.

“We’ve been playing real well defensively and we’ve got to believe it’s going to get the job done. We’ll take a 1-0 win and a 2-1 win right now, and we can move on.”