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At some point in any NHL season, a franchise executive will offer the following critiques of his struggling team:

“They were harder on the puck and won more battles than us.”

“We started chasing the game and it got away from us.”

“We need to be ready right off the hop and play hard.”

Jim Benning said all of the above Monday when the Vancouver Canucks’ general manager was asked to assess a two-game road trip. A 4-2 loss in San Jose on Saturday followed by a 6-3 setback on Sunday in Las Vegas seemed to raise one familiar question: Haven’t we seen this movie before?

After another tough November in which the club went 4-8-3 — including a sobering 6-1 loss in Dallas, a five power-play goal explosion in Nashville for a 6-3 triumph, a 2-1 playoff-like shootout victory in Washington and blowing a 6-3 third-period lead in Pittsburgh to be blitzed 8-6 by the Penguins — the Canucks reeled off three straight wins.