Based solely on the numbers, of course, the Vancouver Canucks should have won on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. A season high of 39 shots on goal at one end. A season low of 12 shots at the other. By almost any measure or metric, the Canucks were unfortunate to come out on the wrong end of a 5-3 final.
But push past the one-sided shot totals and the Canucks greatest flaw this season entered the equation yet again with the team’s tenuous playoff hopes dangling by a thread.
Even with 39 shots, the Canucks really didn’t force Igor Shesterkin to be a miracle worker. Now, let’s be abundantly clear the Rangers netminder was hung out to dry by his teammates in the first 40 minutes and certainly did his job in terms of the volume of shots he faced. But if you go back over the first two periods, you’d be hard-pressed to find many, if any, saves that stand out as spectacular. Shesterkin turned in a magnificent performance in terms of the quantity of shots stopped through two periods. But it’s impossible to laud the Ranger netminder for the quality of saves he had to make.
That’s on the Canucks. And unfortunately, that has far too often been the story of this offensively-challenged season. Shesterkin’s best save in the opening period was likely off Dakota Joshua from the slot moments before the Canucks winger banged home a rebound to open the scoring.
Otherwise, it was a series of pucks thrown to the net, but ones that didn’t arrive there with much of a chance to actually go in especially against a goalie of Shesterkin’s calibre. According to Natural Stat Trick, while the Canucks had 11 shots and eight high danger chances in the opening 20 minutes, they managed just 1.86 expected goals. And, on the afternoon, they finished with 2.99 expected goals at 5-on-5 and, as you know by now, finished with three actual goals.
The real disappointment on Saturday was the team’s inability to stretch its 1-0 lead on an early second period power play with Matt Rempe off for mugging Conor Garland. With the Rangers still showing no signs of life, a Canucks power play goal in that moment might have been the dagger. Unfortunately, it was more of the same.
Quinn Hughes was heroic on Saturday turning in one of his best performances in a season full of them. It’s a shame that his effort was squandered. But even the captain matching his season-high with nine shots on 15 attempts couldn’t get the goal the Canucks needed to put the Rangers away while the opportunity was there in the first half of the game.
And by the time the third period rolled around, the Canucks found themselves without forwards Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander, without saves from an overworked Kevin Lankinen and minus the defensive structure Rick Tocchet has tried to drill into this group for more than two seasons now. Add it all up and the Rangers skated away to a victory they certainly didn’t deserve, but one they managed to secure.
Igor Shesterkin definitely played a key role in the outcome. But with the benefit of hindsight and a day to reflect on the way things unfolded, the Canucks inability to do more with the chances they created was likely the biggest story to come out of the game. Perhaps, based on the lopsided shot total the Canucks figured they’d get a bounce somewhere along the line. But hope can never be the basis of a game plan.
Now as this season lurches toward the end, that lack of finish from so many of the players on this team will not only serve as the story on Saturday but on far too many nights on the schedule.
Yes, the Canucks shot total stood out against the Rangers. But so, too, did the lack of Grade A scoring chances. It’s important to note the Canucks did a lot of things well in Manhattan on Saturday. Unfortunately, goal scoring when it mattered most wasn’t among them.
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