That’s definitely one way to win on the road.
The Vancouver Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in overtime. Now, from all accounts and angles, the Sharks probably deserved to win this contest. They dominated most of the play, got the better chances, and generally looked better. But, thanks to excellent work by Thatcher Demko (who was so close to another shutout), the Canucks pulled it off on the road thanks to some overtime heroics. Whether the result should’ve been this close against San Jose is for another discussion.
Here’s the win, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

The game never really flowed into Vancouver’s favour. While the first period saw the Canucks control a 60.00 CF% share, their xGF% only stood at 26.61, giving up 0.83 xGA while managing just 0.3 xGF off 3 high-danger chances. Those kinds of numbers would only worsen throughout the night, to the point that in the third, the Canucks finished with a 38.89 CF% and 7.68 xGF%. Yes, that’s right, seven percentage and some change. Vancouver as a team only managed a measly 0.04 xGF in the final frame, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Sharks managed to equalize after long last. But, thanks to a textbook ref call, the Canucks managed to get an early overtime penalty shot for the win.

Heat Map

The heat map also tells much of the story from last night. San Jose had a slight 18-16 edge in scoring chances at 5v5 but gapped the Canucks by an 11-7 margin in high-danger chances. That’s a huge chunk of their scoring chances being good looks at even strength while also showing how Vancouver is still struggling to get grade-A chances from in tight. It doesn’t get better when looking at the power play either, as in eight minutes of special teams, the Canucks only managed two high-danger chances for. That’s just not good enough, and Vancouver was fortunate that they were playing the young and inexperienced Sharks to put in a performance like this one.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Nils Höglander led the way for the Canucks with a 70.00 CF% to continue his run. The Swede didn’t contribute too much offensively, but considering how anemic the rest of the team was, his numbers were contextually really solid. Höglander was on ice for a 6-1 scoring chance advantage and 2-1 high-danger chance split, which doesn’t sound like a ton but was really solid considering that once again, he played just barely over 10 minutes. Tocchet should look at playing him more if this stuff keeps up.
Corsi Chump: This one is tough, considering that he eventually got the overtime winner. Drew O’Connor makes his Statsies debut as a Corsi Chump by posting a 39.29 CF% on the night. Now granted, it was only a -17.08 CF% rel to team average while primarily facing North Shore Winter Club alum Macklin Celebrini and former Boston College Eagle Will Smith. Given that context, the team-worst 1.62 xGA is more explainable, and it wasn’t as if DOC didn’t do his best to try and claw his xGF% back into a decent range, finishing with just a -5.26 xGF% rel to team average by posting a 28.39 xGF% with 0.64 xGF. His raw expected goals actually ranked him third on the team.
xGF: Back onto the topic of expected goals, Nils Höglander posted the team’s best xGF% of 54.69, which isn’t the greatest against a team like the Sharks. But it does help when he’s only on ice for 0.17 xGA, which was a team-best in that category. The raw xGF leader was Brock Boeser, who managed to record a 0.73 on the night with a team-best five high-danger chances to his name. However, the drawback was the Boeser was also on ice for five high-danger chances against, which essentially evened things out statistically. But, considering that he featured alongside DOC and Filip Chytil to match up against the Celebrini line, it all makes more sense.
GSAx: Thank, Mr. Demko again. Last year’s Vezina finalist was absolutely sparkling in this one, with the Canucks unable to generate much and giving up quite a bit as well. Off of 3.61 xGF that the Sharks created, Demko turned away everything except for one high-danger chance, leaving him with an incredible 2.61 GSAx. Now, should he have been needed to the extent that he was to steal this game against San Jose? Probably not, and that’s something that the team in front of him needs to address. But Demko did his part and then some to continue to rebound into prime form.

Statistical Musings

Where Petey: I feel like I spend every article talking about Elias Pettersson and not the defenceman. EP40 underperformed again, and while the Sharks have some talented pieces, they’re also not exactly full-fledged superstars yet. Pettersson managed to break even in CF% but also somehow managed to tie for second-last on the team with 0.07 xGF. Only getting three scoring chances (with just one high-danger chance!) does not make a superstar, and Pettersson hasn’t gotten into any sort of groove even after the JT Miller trade.
A better Pettersson: Onto a better topic in the form of Marcus Pettersson. The defenceman’s stats might’ve looked pretty rough, considering that he had a team-worst 3.87 xGF% amongst players to actually record an xGF% (Conor Garland finished with zeroes across the board). But, looking a little deeper reveals that Pettersson was playing the part of a defensive defenceman perfectly, taking on the Sharks’ top six and throttling them into the ground. In 17:55 TOI at 5v5, he only gave up two high-danger chances against. Impressive especially when you consider that the Sharks were able to snag quite a bit more high-danger chances in general last night.

As a team

CF% – 52.14% HDCF% – 40.74% xGF% – 34.25%
The Canucks got away with one here. The effort in front of Thatcher Demko wasn’t where it needed to be throughout the lineup, and the team still struggled to generate chances against a relatively weak defence corps. That’s something that Vancouver looked to be turning the corner on, but progress isn’t always linear. At the very least, they got the two points and thrust themselves right back into the playoff picture.
Vancouver returns home to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com
Sponsored by bet365