The Rundown

The Numbers

Quick Hits

• A win! The Canucks first since a December 28th victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. And against a damn good team at that. It wasn’t just smoke and mirrors either. Sure, the Canucks were out-shot, but the Blue Jackets did the majority of their damage once the game was out of reach. In other words, their puck possession rates benefitted substantially as a result of score effects (in layman’s, that’s a method to even the statistical playing field which can sometimes look out of wack when the score gets out of hand). The Canucks controlled close to 70% of the expected goals too which suggests that they more than made up for any difference in shot quantity with quality. It’s a nice change of pace from the constant losing, no?

• The Canucks needed someone to step into the offensive void after they lost Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi and countless others to injury at the end of November and the beginning of December. Loui Eriksson seemed like the obvious candidate, given his contract and how well he’d played in November, but he’s reverted to playing less impactful hockey for the Canucks in this season than last — tonight is his 17th straight without a game. On the bright side, Eriksson was on the right side of play tonight. The Canucks outscored the Blue Jackets three-to-zero with him on the ice and enjoyed a 70% ratio of control of the expected goals. It’s not much — definitely not $6-million worth — but it’s something.
• You know who has stepped into the offensive void for the Canucks? Thomas Vanek. Tonight Vanek had two assists and four shots on goal in under 14 minutes of ice-time. Vanek even had a positive two-way impact tonight, which isn’t something you can usually say about him even when he’s at his best. The way he setup the Gaunce and Baertschi goals was downright Sedin-esque. Vanek now has 14 points in 17 games since the start of December, and in relatively limited ice-time at that.
• Markstrom let in that regrettable goal from Jones in the first period, and I couldn’t help but audibly sigh. There’s a softie in every game, it seems. And one couldn’t help but get that sense of impending dread. You want Markstrom to succeed. Hell, I even want the Canucks as a team to succeed. But he lets in that soft goal, and you can’t help but roll your eyes and let out a “here we go again.” Markstrom bounced back nicely though and more than held up his end of the bargain. Having 27 saves on 29 shots is nothing to scoff at, and as the upstart Canucks blog CanucksInSeven pointed out, Markstrom had a positive delta save percentage, which means he stopped more pucks than an average goaltender would have tonight.

• Gaunce’s goal wasn’t exactly a rocket of a shot, but that’s kind of what happens when your stick breaks — it’s hard to blame him for the fluttering puck that somehow found its way to the back of the net. Regardless, Gaunce found the back of the net, for the second time this season, but for the first time in his career with his stick. Hurrah!
• Chris Tanev is so good.
• This was probably one of Erik Gulbranson’s better games of the season. I didn’t like what he was doing in the first period. Gudbranson chased a lot of pointless hits just for the sake of throwing them and often left an unchecked man in space in the process, but none of those turned into goals, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Then Gudbranson went ahead and scored one of his own in the second and was solid for the next forty minutes of the hockey game.

• Per a report from The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline almost immediately after tonight’s hockey game, Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Jack Johnson has requested a trade. And no, the Canucks absolutely should not have any interest. Let’s just get that out of the way now.