Vancouver wins hockey game against Colorado – Recap and scoring chances

Chris Higgins scored a shorthanded goal in a 1-0 win. Cory Schneider got the shutout for the Canucks, their second 1-0 shutout in as many games with different goalies. The first line didn’t score. But we know those storylines.

For more detailed analysis, the Statistical Three Stars and Goats and scoring chance data, click ahead.

-The important numbers in this one, I guess: Vancouver were out-chanced 14-15 by Colorado and 10-12 at even strength, thanks in part to a terrible second period. With the score tied at even-strength, the Canucks had a 3-2 advantage.

-In regards to the above numbers, “Woohoo”? This was not a very fun game to watch, with long stretches going without a scoring chance, but both goaltenders were pretty solid when tested. You can’t blame Semyon Varlamov for allowing a goal on one of the eight or nine breakaways that Colorado gave up, but he wasn’t tested all too often.

-Cory Schneider was the story of this one. Our friends at Pass it to Bulis asked “How long will it take for people to say that Schneider’s 1-0 shutout was more impressive than Luongo’s?” after the game on Twitter. Here at Canucks Army, we keep a spreadsheet every game that notes a players’ “game score” which is sort of like an estimated goal differential versus a replacement. Roberto Luongo’s game score against the Kings was 3.2. Schneider against the Avalanche was 3.6.

-So the calculators came out in full force for Cory Schneider tonight.

-The calculators also really liked David Jones, who had a scoring chance 7:17 into the game, and none afterward, but ended with a pretty solid defensive game and had eight shots on net. He’s a guy that the math geeks liked at the trading deadline and I believe he is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

-Then again, so was Daniel Winnik, and San Jose took him aboard for Jamie McGinn at the trade deadline. McGinn had a tremendous night for the Avalanche and was particularly dangerous in the second period, when he took two scoring chances and set up another for Paul Stastny. McGinn finished with a +4 scoring chance differential and two shots on net, although he had a game-high 10 attempts at net.

-Both #26s in this game were pretty good. Samme Pahlsson had a very impressive game at both ends, clicking very well with Chris Higgins, moving the puck forward and creating chances. Pahlsson and Higgins were both on for just four scoring chances total in this game, but they were involved in all of them: Pahlsson took two and set one up, Higgins took two and set both of Pahlsson’s up. With 7:39 remaining in the first period, however, Higgins took an unassisted chance, ruining the symmetry. The shot missed the net, however.

-They connected on the goal, too, which was pretty wicked. I like Pahlsson a lot.

-I like how confused Joe Sacco looks there. “Heh”

-Manny Malhotra was on the ice for two scoring chances and took both of them. If he finds an offensive game, well, then, the fact that Henrik Sedin was invisible may not matter.

-Oh, the first line for the Canucks was awful. Mason Raymond, Zack Kassian and Henrik Sedin averaged a minus-5 chance differential between them and got nothing accomplished on the powerplay. (Wait, did they play the powerplay together? I don’t know, because even with the 5-on-3, I don’t have any scoring chances with a frame of reference for who was playing with who)

-The powerplay was mitigated by the penalty kill, which gave up just three chances in 10 minutes of action and created two. Pretty cool, huh?

-I don’t know what happened to Chris Tanev in this one, but playing against Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O’Reilly and Marc Olver probably couldn’t have been helpful. He’s only super effective in those limited minutes.

-The Canucks won 62% of face-offs, which is a pretty good thing because 52% of the draws at 5-on-5 took place in the Canucks end, with just 30% in Colorado’s end. Manny Malhotra took the bulk of the defensive draws in this one, which may have been matchup-influenced.

-David Booth fought Marc Olver, which was strange, because Maxim Lapierre went in to fight and should have picked up two for roughing for being the third man in. Luckily, the referees had the chance to correct their error when they penalized Lapierre for what looked like a perfectly clean hit. Then the refs gave one up to Matt Hunwick who deflected a puck over the glass and was called for delay of game. Hey, sometimes the rulebook is stupid but the rigorous standards of… yeah, whatever, there were some bad calls in this one.

-Speaking of bad calls, Sacco matched up Shane O’Brien against the Canucks’ top line.

-Wait, the top line got beat in their matchup by Shane O’Brien?