The second halves of back-to-backs are tough, no matter the opponent.
The Vancouver Canucks lost a tight game to the Pittsburgh Penguins, dropping a 5-4 decision after a very rough first period. Arturs Silovs did not look good to start the game and the Canucks weren’t ready to contain the Pens. The team’s defence was not good, giving up chance after chance. But, even with all of this and being down 4 goals at one point, Vancouver was still able to make this interesting with a fierce comeback. At the very least, this team has firepower. If they didn’t get into as big of a hole early on, it might’ve been a different result to write home about.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

Vancouver couldn’t match the energy that Pittsburgh had in the first. It should be expected, given that they were just coming in from Boston after the back to back, but the Canucks simply just didn’t have enough gas in the tank to climb out of the hole that they dug themselves into after the first period. The opening frame saw Vancouver put up only 24.29 xGF%, with the Pens able to generate 1.14 xGF to the Canucks’ 0.37. While they were able to win the balance of things when it came to their share metrics, Vancouver simply did not have the raw chances to make up for the deficit they were in, finishing the game with just 1.19 xGF in total.

Heat Map

The heat map is another reflection of the Canucks’ inability to stop the Penguins. While the scoring chances were an even 17-17 at 5v5, the Penguins had an 8-3 high-danger chance edge that was reflected by the hot spot that they had in tight. That gap only widened when accounting for all situations, Pittsburgh racking up a 11-4 lead in high-danger chances for the entire game. That meant for the Canucks, they only managed a single high-danger chance on the power play. Again, chance generation once again rears its head for Vancouver, an issue that they still have yet to rectify.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Quinn Hughes did all he could to try and get the Canucks back in this one. The defenceman led Vancouver with a 68.57 CF%, being on ice for just 1 high-danger chance against despite seeing over 22 minutes of ice time at 5v5. Hughes racked up a 70.29 xGF% share, good enough for third-best on the team while chipping in 3 points on the night. There wasn’t much else that he could do to help the Canucks win this one, besides playing goalie himself.
Corsi Chump: Aatu Räty brought up the rear in the Corsi department with a 30.77, which isn’t the best considering that he saw sheltered deployment against the bottom 6 of Pittsburgh. At the same time, it wasn’t as if the Finn was getting caved during this TOI, managing to hold onto a 57.60 xGF% which was the 7th best on the team. Räty also didn’t see a single high-danger chance against during his TOI, which is pretty darn nice considering that he got on the scoresheet himself.
xGF: Nils Höglander continues to be in Tocchet’s doghouse, though the Swede is putting up some decent metrics along the way. Iced in yet another fourth-line role, Höglander led the Canucks with an 81.72 xGF%, on ice for 2 high-danger chances for a 0 high-danger chances against. His team-best 0.09 xGA played a large role in boosting his share metrics to the top, and that is a nice change considering that he hasn’t exactly been the best at keeping pucks out of the net at 5v5 for the last while. Leading the way in raw xGF was none other than Hughes’ 0.57.
GSAx: Arturs Silovs needs some time to work on his game in the AHL. Against the Pens, who racked up 2.81 xGF, the Latvian netminder would finished with a -2.19 GSAx, essentially the difference between Vancouver winning the game or losing it. His shaky start did not inspire much confidence, though the Canucks’ defence in front of him wasn’t that great either. Silovs gave up 3 high-danger goals and 2 middle-danger goals in what was yet another disastrous start in the 2024-25 season for him.

Statistical Musings

Send Help: The Vancouver Canucks’ defence is bad. That isn’t an outrageous statement, and this game just put that much more into perspective. Starting with the biggest culprit in Erik Brännström- Tyler Myers, the duo struggled against the Pens, and that’s being generous. Combining for a 38.46 CF% and atrocious 14.72 xGF% together as a pair, they also gave up team-highs in xGA, with Myers being a team-worst 1.21 and Brännström not far behind in second-last with 1.13 xGA.
That gets us to Carson Soucy – Noah Juulsen. While their stats weren’t bad, it was also apparent that they made far too many misreads and miscues to be an effective pairing. Soucy was lost on the positioning for the second goal, his man cutting right behind him for an easy backdoor goal. And then, on the third goal against, neither defenceman decided to clear out the crease, simply standing in a perimeter and letting the Penguins get an easy tap in for a tally. It is not good, and especially with Filip Hronek taking a knock at the end of the game, the Canucks desperately need to address their defence corps.
Max Sasson making the most of things: Being a depth player, there’s not a lot that should be expected out of Max Sasson when it comes to offensive contributions. However, along with posting two points in two contests, he has done pretty darn well to show that he isn’t a liability at the NHL level, at the very minimum keeping things low-event and eating up minutes without costing the Canucks. On a line with Höglander and Räty, the trio posted the best xGF% of any Canuck forward line with a 61.48, keeping the Penguins to just 0.09 xGA during their 6:06 TOI. They aren’t playing against the best that the opposition has to offer, but doing enough against the bottom 6 of the opposition shouldn’t go underappreciated.

As a team

CF% – 53.27% HDCF% – 26.67% xGF% – 37.79%
The Canucks lost this game once the Penguins went up 5-1. Unfortunately, despite a fierce comeback that fell short, some holes are just too deep to dig out of, especially when aspects of this team aren’t firing at all. Silovs was shaky at best, the defence outside of Hughes-Hronek looking lackadaisical, and the chance generation simply wasn’t enough to score a total of 5 goals in this game. It’s very much a pattern that the Canucks haven’t been able to correct all season, and sure, while they are missing quite a few important players from their lineup, it feels systematic for them to not generate good opportunities even on the power paly. Compounding this is the lack of good personnel on the back end, making every rare opportunity wasted stand out all that much more.
Vancouver heads into Buffalo to face their expansion brother Sabres on Friday.
Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com
Sponsored by bet365

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