All things considered, it wasn’t too bad.
A shorthanded, undermanned Vancouver Canucks team dropped a close 4-3 decision to the New York Rangers. The quality of the game wasn’t the most brilliant at times, a tight game in spite of a lot of the flow. The Canucks had to attack where they could, and honestly, they did a pretty good job of responding whenever they needed to. Ultimately, they came short, but considering everything surrounding the team, it definitely wasn’t the worst defeat – in fact, it was quite respectable.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

Statistically, the Canucks didn’t deserve to win this game, and that was okay. They did a lot of damage control throughout the matchup, conceding a big 35.71 CF% share in the first period that put them in a possession hole they couldn’t climb out of. That opening frame also saw Vancouver give up a 30.70 xGF%, so coming out of that with a 2-2 tie was probably one of the best-case outcomes. The rest of the way saw the Canucks come ahead in the possession share, not matching the Rangers’ raw numbers from the first period keeping them in New York’s half possession-wise. There weren’t a lot of chances generated on both ends for the teams, so much of the offence remained stagnant throughout the contest.

Heat Map

This was one of the first games that the Canucks actually managed to produce some decent opportunities on the power play. At 5v5, the scoring chances favoured the Rangers by a 20-16 margin, a slim 7-6 high-danger chance edge for them as well. But, accounting for all situations, Vancouver gave up a 21-23 scoring chance deficit but managed to even up the high-danger chances to 9-9. The lack of raw chances is apparent in the heat map, and with both teams having a similar amount of high-danger chances, it made sense that the Rangers would have a slightly larger hot patch that extended into the high slot.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Elias Pettersson led the way last night with a 63.64 CF% as he chipped in with a two assist night. There was plenty to like about the Swede’s game in which he definitely became the Canucks’ primary play driver amongst the forwards – something that he was expected to do, but hasn’t done so thanks to a slow start. It’s been encouraging to see him start finding that talent, especially in the absence of some of Vancouver’s best forwards.
Corsi Chump: Jonathan Lekkerimäki was on the other end of the spectrum, posting a 22.22 CF% for a -26.98 CF% rel to team average last night as the Canucks’ worst Corsi man. That came along with a third-worst xGF% of 14.71, on ice for a 1-8 scoring chance differential and a 0-3 high-danger chance hole. On a patchwork line with Danton Heinen and Teddy Blueger, the trio struggled against their opposition, overmatched against every single Ranger that they were iced against. Such is the issue when Lekkerimäki is tossed out without the likes of JT Miller, showing a little more of his inexperience.
xGF: It also isn’t a surprise to see Pettersson lead the Canucks in xGF% last night, recording a 76.75 xGF%. That included a team-high 0.59 xGF (which is also a bit of a concern when the raw xGF is below 0.6), and a team-low 0.18 xGA. Pettersson was on ice for a 9-3 scoring chance advantage and 3 high-danger chances for, with zero high-danger chances against. The Swede stepped it up in this one to try and get the Canucks to a result, and Vancuvuer needed him to do so. It’s nice to see that he’s finding his game once more.
GSAx: Arturs Silovs didn’t have the best of nights, but the loss shouldn’t be faulted on his shoulders either. With the Rangers managing a 2.11 xGF, that meant that Silovs finished with a -1.89 GSAx. One goal came from a high-danger chance, with the other three chances off of middle-danger chances. It wasn’t his best performance ever, but Silovs also generally outplayed his counterpart. This wasn’t a game that he was able to steal – and that’s realistically where he’s at here.

Statistical Musings

Patchwork: As mentioned previously, Heinen-Blueger-Lekkerimäki was trotted out last night and just struggled. The extent of it was tough to see –  Tocchet was trying to ice them against a variety of opposing lines and yet nothing worked at all. In 7:39 TOI, the trio recorded a team-worst 18.75 CF%, 0.01 xGF, and 1.67 xGF%. Yes, that’s right, when this line was on ice, the Rangers were controlling a 98.33 xGF%. And this was without Heinen-Blueger-Lekkerimäki having a specific matchup, playing evenly across the entire New York lineup.
Send help: The Vancouver Canucks, to be a serious team, needs to figure out a solution on their second pairing that isn’t Carson Soucy – Tyler Myers. The duo was not good last night yet again, posting a 19.05 CF% and 9.31 xGF% together. Seriously, those were their numbers as a pairing at 5v5 together. That was how badly the Rangers outplayed the Canucks while the “second pairing” saw ice time. It was not good, and the two goals against them in that span just absolutely made sense given the stats.
Where Hughes can’t do it all: Quinn Hughes was trying his best again last night to do everything. Unfortunately, that also came as a double-edged sword, as the Canucks’ captain was on ice for a team-high 0.92 xGA along with 2 goals against. It’s an unfortunate side effect of being the only Canuck pairing to play against tough competition, the third pairing doing well with their deployment and the second pairing being… yeah. But with the load that’s being place onto Hughes, it’s unfortunately reasonable to see these kinds of lapses, just with how much he is needed to do to help the Canucks be competitive.

As a team

CF% – 44.66% HDCF% – 50.00% xGF% – 46.69%
The Canucks didn’t have the numbers or flow of the game that warranted a victory. But considering where they were, how depleted their personnel was, how many flaws on the team they would have to paper on over, everything wasn’t too bad given that context. They took their chances whenever they got them and made this game interesting, and while it slipped away, it was at least nice to see that they were still able to keep up despite the circumstances.
Vancouver heads out east to Ottawa, taking on the Senators on Saturday.
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