First game of the JT Miller-less Canucks.
The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings. Ignoring the final score, the Canucks actually played really darn well. Statistically, this was one of their best performances of the year. They just happened to run into some very solid netminding, but other than that, there wasn’t too much to complain about. Fans got a look at their new acquisitions, and considering that Quinn Hughes didn’t even dress for a performance like this one, it’s not a bad way to kick off the Elias Petttersson Canucks era.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

Vancouver was really good in this one. There wasn’t a single period where they finished below 53.00 CF%, dominating the Red Wings at 5v5 play. The second period stands out amongst them all, where the Canucks tallied up 65.52 CF%, 1.89 xGF, and posted an 80.35 xGF% share while having a big 7-2 high-danger chance edge. That’s on top of a 6-0 high-danger chance lead they managed to get in the first period alone. Now, the raw numbers did drop in the third as evidenced by the line flattening out, but the Canucks still dominated the shares to the tune of 68.79 xGF%. They definitely outplayed Detroit, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

Heat Map

The heat map shows the extent to which the Canucks controlled chance generation at 5v5. They held a massive 29-12 edge in scoring chances while tallying up a 14-2 high-danger chance lead to boot. It’s the kind of effort in creating high-danger looks that we’ve been talking about all year, and it’s exciting to see it finally manifest. Now, it didn’t get them the victory, but this is the recipe for sustainable success offensively. They played well defensively to limit Detroit to nearly nothing while driving the play to ensure that they were getting a lot more probability to capitalize.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Nils Höglander continues his strong run. The Swede led all players with an 81.25 CF%, dominating his minutes with the Canucks posting an 8-0 shot advantage. While Höglander didn’t see the most amount of ice time, he certainly made the time he got count, playing against Patrick Kane for the majority of the night and creating plenty of opportunities. It’s the kind of effort that brings his 2023-24 season back into mind, and one can hope he continues to buzz the way he has been.
Corsi Chump: Jake DeBrusk had an off night. Coming in with a team-worst 44.00 CF%, the lack of possession time translated into a team-worst 21.50 xGF% thanks to a team-low 0.13 xGF. That’s disappointing, considering that DeBrusk was playing alongside Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. But, as a line their numbers were pretty awful (which we’ll get to in a bit). DeBrusk was on ice for both high-danger chances against, without a single high-danger chance to their name.
xGF: Nils Höglander finds himself leading the Canucks in xGF% as well, tallying up a massive 97.17 on the night. It helps when you’re on ice for a team-low 0.04 xGA, while seeing an 8-0 scoring chance lead and 6-0 high-danger chance edge as well. Höglander’s 1.32 xGF actually put him third on the team in that category, which is pretty darn impressive considering that he only played 9:12 last night. Leading the way in raw xGF was Elias Pettersson (D), who racked up a massive 1.73 in Quinn Hughes’ absence. The Swedish defenceman was particularly impressive as he was on ice for a team-high in scoring chances (14) and high-danger chances (8).
GSAx: It’s a game that Kevin Lankinen would probably want to have back. Detroit didn’t get much of anything going last night but still managed to score three goals off of 1.23 xGF, meaning that the Finnish netminder finished with a -1.77 GSAx. The goals came from 2 middle-danger chances and 1 low-danger chance. Simply put, there wasn’t a lot of volume of chances directed at Lankinen, and unfortunately he let some rougher goals get past him.

Statistical Musings

Making an impression: Filip Chytil made his Canuck debut last night, and it was quite the effort that he turned in. While he was anything but perfect, the tools that the Canucks staff saw in him were on clear display with his speed and dynamism. On a line between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland, the trio were rampant at 5v5. While their xGF% was the second-best on the team with an 80.16, their raw xGF of 0.89 was an absolutely massive team-best, a full 0.37 xGF ahead of second place. Considering that they were making plenty of plays throughout the night, it was definitely a deserved statistical mark for Chytil and friends.
Bottom 6 gamers: The Canucks bottom 6 were dynamite too. Drew O’Connor-Pius Suter-Kiefer Sherwood were eating up their minutes, not facing a single high-danger chance against while posting 4 high-danger chances of their own, holding a very solid 73.14 xGF% in their deployment against depth competition. As for Höglander-Blueger-Karlsson, that line was statistically Vancouver’s best in terms of share metrics, coming in with a team-high 78.57 CF% and 93.15 xGF%, with the best xGA of 0.04 while coming in with the second-best xGF of 0.52. It was a complete performance from the depth forward group, to say the least.
But the first line…: This one was a rough one for the alleged first line. The DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser line was noticeably bad against the Red Wings last night. Playing the second-most minutes behind Joshua-Chytil-Garland, without getting specifically matched up against, the trio recorded team lows in CF% (44.00), xGF (0.1), xGA (0.46), and xGF% (18.23). Again, this is Pettersson’s forward group now, so a performance like this one was probably not what anyone was hoping for, especially to the extent of how poor this went. Imagine if the first line was also clicking in a game where literally every other line was doing their part and then some – perhaps it wouldn’t even have made it to overtime.
Hughes-less defence: With Hughes a late scratch in this game, the pairings got jumbled up a little to try and absorb the impact. Marcus Pettersson found himself playing alongside Tyler Myers, and the results were… really good? Playing against Detroit’s top line and the most minutes of any defensive pairing, the Pettersson-Myers duo racked up an impressive 75.72 xGF% despite finishing just below 50.00 CF%, which also included a 1.1 xGF. They didn’t give up a single high-danger chance against while recording 4 of their own, a 10-5 difference overall in scoring chances. It’s pretty darn good considering that it’s Marcus Pettersson’s first game as part of this defence corps.
For Elias Pettersson, he did quite an impressive feat – playing and carrying Noah Juulsen into looking respectable. Yes, they were on ice for a goal against, but Pettersson-Juulsen actually recorded a 95.09 xGF% while holding the Red Wings to just 0.03 xGA, which is really good statistically considering that Juulsen should not be playing heavy minutes in any team’s defence corps. Later on, Pettersson found himself alongside Filip Hronek and posted some even more impressive numbers, an 86.67 CF%, 1.13 xGF, and 95.84 xGF% in just 6:12 TOI together. D-Petey just seems to fit perfectly into this group, and the Canucks are all the better for it.

As a team

CF% – 56.19% HDCF% – 87.50% xGF% – 72.13%
Honestly, the Canucks deserved better in this one than an overtime loss. Every part except for the first line and Lankinen held up their end of the bargain and the numbers definitely favoured the effort they put in last night. But, it’s now how these things go sometimes, and even though the Canucks played a really good game, sometimes these things just happen. At the very least, there are plenty of encouraging signs with this group just from this one game, and it’ll be interesting to see how it develops going forth.
Vancouver hosts the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night for their next contest.
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