ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Vancouver Canucks had a game plan Thursday to defend the Anaheim Ducks’ rush attack. You just couldn’t tell from the way they played.

After building a 2-0 lead in a game it desperately needed, Vancouver allowed Anaheim to score four straight rush goals before an empty-netter gave the Ducks a 5-2 win that felt like a body slam to the Canucks.

It was the 17^th time this season the Canucks lost a game in which they led.

Sixty games into the team’s turbulent regular season, coach Rick Tocchet still can’t count on his team to execute a game plan.

“Well, we had a game plan,” Tocchet lamented to reporters. “They’re a rush team. We got a 2-0 lead, and we had a two-on-one (and) we didn’t connect. And I think we had a breakaway. A couple of missed opportunities. And then all of a sudden, we had a rush game. And then we decided to forever abandon the game plan. 

“We need some guys to rise to the occasion, whether that’s a middle drive or go to the net. Like, we had shots on net with nobody going to net, so (I am) a little disappointed in the grit part of our game.”

The Canucks have 22 games remaining, barely a quarter of their season left and nobody knows what they are going to bring night to night. 

Thursday’s crushing setback followed Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings in which the Canucks also squandered a 2-0 lead but recovered.

There was no recovery against the Ducks, the second team behind them in the standings to beat Vancouver on this road trip.

Vancouver is 1-3 on the trip that ends Saturday in Seattle against the Kraken.

“We knew they were going to come out harder in the second (period),” Canuck defenceman Tyler Myers told reporters. “We’ve got to find ways when we do get those leads — it happened last night, too — we’ve got to find ways to still keep pushing. We don’t want to sit back and have defending be our main focus. The best way to defend is to keep our legs moving, keep puck possession and get it behind them. 

“We made some tough plays that allowed them to get some rushes on us, and they were able to hit a lot of late guys and a lot of weak-side plays.”

The Canucks seemed to have one foot on their charter to Seattle after the first period. 

They led 2-0 after Myers sniped one goal and beautifully dished to Pius Suter on another. They had chances early in the second to make it 3-0, but Suter missed the net on a quick breakaway and Filip Chytil forced a pass into a defender on a two-on-one.

The Ducks had nothing going. And then suddenly they did.

“I mean, we’re in the room and we’re saying all the right things,” Canuck defenceman Derek Forbort said. “We talk about how we’ve got to stay on them, stay on our feet and don’t sit back. And then, I think, they get a goal and then you can kind of feel it. We just need to be mentally stronger when they get the first one.”

Frank Vatrano snatched the first one back for Anaheim out of nowhere, finding just enough room above defenceman Flip Hronek to whip Ryan Strome’s pass from the end boards past Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs at 5:27 of the middle period.

Then Canuck rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson made a terrible pivot on a three-on-three rush and left enough room wide for Cutter Gauthier to follow Vatrano’s laser over Silov’s glove with one of his own at 9:09. 

Vancouver failed to cope on another three-on-three Ducks attack when Forbort was a step slow to adjust to Strome fading right, and Anaheim’s top centre had space to shoot across Silovs and score on the blocker side and make it 3-2 at 18:41.

“I thought our rush defence really killed us tonight,” Myers said. “They were hitting late guys and hitting the weak side way more than they should have been, especially when we talked about it. 

“We have to make sure we come into the next game. . . and make sure we’re ready to go. We’re doing a lot of swinging right now. We’ve got to get back to playing simple hockey and just focus on doing our job.”

Now chasing the game, the Canucks generated only six third-period shots. And when the Ducks sealed the win on Jackson Lacombe’s goal at 15:46, naturally it came from another three-on-three rush.

“You’ve got to be crazy to think that anything’s over,” Tocchet said of the lost lead. “We’re a desperate hockey team. I don’t care if it’s 4-0, you have to keep playing the game plan. And we just had too many guys that instead of going straight, went right or left. A little too much perimeter for my liking.

“(Quinn) Hughes had a couple of opportunities; he shot the puck (and) we have guys standing at the side of the net. Like, that doesn’t win hockey. Just a little disappointed in the team. We just, we kind of gave in.”

How are they going to make the playoffs in April and actually challenge anyone if their resolve is this fragile for a Thursday game in Anaheim against a team that was eight points behind them in the standings?

“If we want to start putting some wins together, we’ve got to be way more consistent,” Myers said. 

He added: “Our urgency has to be as high as it’s ever been this year to finish these last games out.”

ICE CHIPS – After missing nearly four weeks with an injury, Hughes played his second game in 24 hours and was the most dangerous Canuck. He logged 22:58 of ice time, and led Vancouver with four shots and 11 attempts. Hughes was also on the ice for three of the first four Anaheim goals. . . In his second start of the trip — and second in the NHL since November — Silovs gave up the four goals on 24 shots.