VANCOUVER – Nic Deslauriers has hurt a lot of opponents in the National Hockey League. Just not often with his stick.

The 35-year-old heavyweight scored twice Tuesday, matching his goal total from the last two years, as the Carolina Hurricanes pulled away from the Vancouver Canucks in the third period to win 6-3 at Rogers Arena.

Just like the Tampa Bay Lightning pulled away in the third period against the Canucks on Sunday. Like the Florida Panthers did the game before that. Like both the New York Rangers and Islanders did last week.

The Canucks have lost eight consecutive games (0-7-1), but in these last five have been tied three times after 40 minutes, trailed by a goal once, and led by two in another. But Vancouver has been outscored 11-0 in the final periods of these last games and lost them all.

Several of these teams, like the reigning Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes, are also NHL heavyweights. And when they come out swinging in the bell round, the Canucks have been pushed back to the ropes and tried to survive by covering up.

They have not succeeded. They are taking a pounding.

“It’s super frustrating,” longest-tenured Canuck Brock Boeser said. “I mean, you never want to lose this many games in a row in this league. I know we're in a kind of rebuilding stage, but it doesn't matter; it sucks to lose. We’ve got to dig deep and find a win here.

“It's like one mistake (in the third period) and it's in the back of our net, and then we're chasing. And then it's another mistake. It's frustrating for sure. It's just some of the small detail stuff we talk........

© Sportsnet