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“There’s got to be a sense of urgency for us. I think that’s the most important part. I don’t think we’ve played well enough the last few games. The way we started the season, I think we were competing better and our structure was great. We were fighting for pucks. The last few games, at times we got away from our structure and it cost us.

“You don’t want to regret (at the end of the season) that you didn’t give it your all for a little span at the beginning. All we can do is push each other and hold each other accountable, and get through this together.”

Canuck coach Willie Desjardins, whose leash length may be revealed on this road trip, conceded the lack of production from Eriksson and Baertschi has surprised him. He noted that Baertschi is getting scoring chances and his line with Horvat and Jake Virtanen was good Saturday, but said Eriksson has yet to find a comfortable spot in the lineup.

“I think he is feeling pressure to perform,” Desjardins said. “I think he feels responsible. I haven’t seemed to find a good match with him yet on a line.”

The Canuck power play, which was 0-for-3 on Saturday and looked fairly dismal on its first two chances, is 3-for-28 in October and ranked 28th in the league. Eriksson has had 28 minutes of power-play time, Baertschi 12½.

Injured Canucks Alex Burrows (neck) and Derek Dorsett (shoulder) are expected to practise today and could play in Montreal, but neither should be expected to help the offence. The Canucks returned minor-league call-up Mike Zalewski to the Utica Comets on Sunday, which was a day off for the team.

“Tonight was a big game,” veteran Jannik Hansen said Saturday. “Being 5-3-1 or 4-4-1 looks a whole lot different when you’re going out on a six-game road trip to some tough cities.

“You never want to fall behind (in the standings). Your margin for error is so small. You lose one game and you see other teams pulling away from you. You scrape and claw every point you can get now to get yourself a cushion. You want to play important games and meaningful games in March and April. Nobody wants to play those games that don’t matter.”

They all mattered in October.