And it’s all over.

The Vancouver Canucks dropped their season finale to the Vegas Golden Knights by a 4-1 scoreline. It was a pretty bang average loss, all things considered. The Canucks started decently enough, looking like a team that wanted to finish the season off on a high note. But after that, Vegas took over the game, the momentum swinging with them all the way until the end of the contest. In many ways, it mirrored the first game of the season against the Calgary Flames, with the noticeable lack of a comeback.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

The game looked like it would be the Canucks using up the last of their juices in this contest. They opened up the first period with a 62.50 CF% and 71.61 xGF% with a 5-1 edge in HDCF, dominating them and deservedly grabbing the first goal of the game. But after that, the wheels just kind of fell off the train. Vancouver would go on to record a 26.68 xGF% share in the second and a 34.35 xGF% share in the third, while not breaking 50.00 CF% in either period, either. That was more than enough for Vegas to capitalize, roaring back with four unanswered goals to see this game out.

The heat map doesn’t look awful. The scoring chances were only at 18-16 for the Golden Knights, with the visitors also holding a 7-6 edge in high-danger chances. However, the concerning part comes in the distribution of these chances. Vancouver got five of their HDCF in the first, which meant that they would only post a single HDCF for the rest of the game. Vegas tallied five in the middle frame and one in the third, with the Canucks not managing to get a single HDCF in the final frame when they should’ve been pushing to get back into the contest. It was as the momentum suggested – Vegas took it to the Canucks and they simply didn’t have an answer.

Corsi Champ: Elias Pettersson played against the best and finished with the best CF% on the team with a 70.83. Seriously, he was seeing most of his ice time alongside Quinn Hughes against the best that the Golden Knights had to offer. The xGF% did suffer as a result of that, with Pettersson recording a 43.18%. However, it wasn’t too far below average compared to the rest of the team, sitting at a -4.47 xGF% rel. Pettersson was on ice for only two high-danger chances against, which isn’t horrible considering the quality of competition.

Corsi Chump: Pius Suter tallied his 25th goal of the season but also finished with the worst Corsi numbers on the team. Standing at 40.00 CF% last night, he actually punched relatively above his weight. Suter finished just below team-average in xGF% while being on ice for a 3-4 split in HDCF. Considering that Suter was used as a top-six forward, it was a good result to be turning on. It seems the Swiss forward is just adding more value to his next contract with each passing game.

xGF: With how limited the scoring chances were last night, the expected goals numbers won’t be too mind-blowing. Teddy Blueger led the Canucks with a 63.18 xGF%, posting the team’s best xGA of 0.11 while being on ice for 0 HDCA. It was a solid, if uneventful, game for the Latvian, a staple and reliable performance from the bottom-six forward. Leading the team with a 0.96 xGF was Filip Hronek, the Czech on ice for the most scoring chances on the team with eight and by proxy the most HDCF with five.

GSAx: Kevin Lankinen and Nikita Tolopilo split this game, with the Finn having to leave the start early due to a muscle strain. Lankinen faced 2.22 xGF and turned away all but one middle-danger shot against for a 1.22 GSAx, while Tolopilo gave up a middle-danger goal and a low-danger goal against a 1.44 xGF for a -0.56 GSAx. Again, not bad performances from either goalies, but it was clear that Lankinen at least gave the Canucks a better chance of winning and stealing this game from the Knights than Tolopilo.

The Canucks absolutely deserved to lose this one. They started the game off so well but just let it slip from their grasp, and against the Pacific Division winners in the Golden Knights, it was all the window that they needed. But, at the same time, it just encapsulated the frustrations with this team this season. Vancouver could play with the best at times – they simply just didn’t do that enough. Death by a thousand cuts and of their own volition, blowing up a season that promised so much going into it, after a year where so much goodwill was built. A merciful whimper at last.

Thank you for reading along this season.