Lines

Highlights

Stats

Game Thoughts

• This wasn’t Quinn Hughes’ best game. I don’t mean to single him out given that plenty of Canucks had poor showings tonight, but Quinn struggled with the Dallas Stars’ aggressive and heavy forecheck. However, I liked his resilience. He didn’t let his breakout struggles stop him from trying to make an impact even when the Canucks were down and out. Jamie Benn’s power-play goal, in part, resulted from Quinn Hughes taking an interference penalty on Tyler Seguin. Off a defensive faceoff, Hughes found the puck below the goal line and was stick lifted, turning the puck over to the Stars for a chance. Quinn was able to regain the rebound and he sent a soft chip off the glass to the blueline and Miro Heiskanen sent the puck right back in for Tyler Seguin. Hughes did not have the step on Seguin and took an interference penalty for it. Tough stuff for Hughes but where I draw the positive is that in a game where almost every Canuck showed negative body language and had mentally checked out, Hughes was a gamer until the end. The clip below is from the third period, Hughes makes a great move at the point to freeze Seguin, creating a lane to attack downhill. His shot is stopped and in transition, he hustles back to make sure he’s in position to help thwart the oncoming rush. In a game full of apathy from the Canucks side, Hughes cared.

• Speaking of the Hughes penalty that resulted in Jamie Benn’s second goal of the evening, it should be noted that Hughes was tired and trapped on the ice due to a JT Miller dump and chase attempt that turned into an icing. Vancouver was brutal through the neutral zone tonight and seemed to create very little off the rush. Their passing was misaimed and the forwards seemed out of sync. This could partially be due to the new combinations but the play between the blue lines needs to be better.
• I thought Adam Gaudette was one of the lone Canucks that looked interested in playing tonight. As the third center, his reliable puck carrying abilities were on display as he exited his zone with the puck on his stick and skated it through the neutral zone multiple times tonight.
• I really liked this sequence by Gaudette and his linemate Sven Baertschi. It starts with good support down low by Gaudette and he quickly moves the puck over to Baertschi with time and space. Gaudette builds speed below the circle and Baertschi finds him with a saucer pass. Gaudette brings the puck up and over the redline before dumping the puck in. Baertschi does an excellent job to recover the dump in and this results in a Jordie Benn shot and an offensive zone faceoff for the Canucks.

• Speaking of Baertschi, I thought other than his backchecking effort on the Taylor Fedun goal, he played a responsible two-way game on Vancouver’s third line with Gaudette. In my opinion, he’s a great winger for Gaudette as he is reliable along the boards on the breakout and can feed Gaudette for an exit. The two also look comfortable together in the offensive end.
• The power-play really let the Canucks down tonight. Not that they should have had any business being in this game but at one point, Vancouver had a two-man advantage and was down a single goal. Not a lot of chances were generated from that opportunity and Dallas used that momentum to bury the Canucks.
• I like that they tried Brock Boeser in the bumper slot; the Canucks should try to use a quick-set-low option with Boeser as the triggerman to add another wrinkle in their power-play. I also wouldn’t mind Adam Gaudette in that position too if they want to keep Boeser on his off-wing. Currently, the power-play feels too predictable and stagnant. more movement is not only needed with passing but also when players are away from the puck. Boeser and Pettersson, when they don’t have the puck, need to be moving north and south more to open up passing lanes and create unpredictability.