Tocchet, Rutherford, slam their own players after another loss.

The Vancouver Canucks suffered an ugly loss at home on Saturday night and did so against one of their most bitter rivals in the form of the Boston Bruins. There was a clear indication after the game that the performance of the players on the ice had not pleased management in the slightest when both head coach Rick Tocchet and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford were highly critical of their own team.

The criticism from Rutherford was more mild but there was no question that he was unhappy, with Rutherford making it clear that he feels the Canucks will not be a playoff team if they continue their losing ways on home ice.

"You can’t be a playoff team with the record we have at home," said Rutherford matter of factly during a post game interview with Scott Oake.

The criticism from Tocchet however was more direct and left no doubt about the fact that the coaching staff was very disappointed in the effort put forward by the Canucks player in what was a lopsided 5-1 loss to a bitter rival. Tocchet indicated that he and his staff were pissed off at the team ignoring the game plan they developed for the Bruins.

"We talked about a certain play we wanted to do against Boston," said Tocchet. "We didn't do it until maybe in the third. I think that pisses the staff off because we had a good game plan."

Tocchet also appeared frustrated that his team did not play better in front of Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko, who has had a long journey back from injury.

"You're hoping you'd play a little better in front of him, especially at the start of the first period." said a frustrated Tocchet.

Veteran Canucks reporter Jeff Paterson went so far as to suggest that the Canucks performance was so uninspiring at home against the Bruins that it was the kind of performance that could get a coach fired.

It is no surprise that Rutherford and Tocchet weren't pleased after the 5-1 loss and we will have to wait and see how the players respond to being publicly chastised by some of the most influential members of their own organization.