Where in the world was this team?

The Vancouver Canucks topped the Pacific-leading Anaheim Ducks by a 5-4 scoreline. This team continues to be wildly inconsistent, swinging from one extreme to the other when it comes to their play. One night, they could be played out of the building by the worst team in the NHL. The next night, they’re going toe-to-toe and coming out on top against the division’s top team. Perhaps it’s just another sign that the Canucks simply aren’t good enough this year, as a whole.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

The first period was Vancouver‘s worst at 5v5 action. Posting a 27.03 CF% and 36.10 xGF%, it would make sense to have seen the Ducks storm out to an early lead – except it was the exact opposite that happened by the end of the opening frame. Carrying a 2-1 lead out of their worst period in the game allowed the Canucks to play their way back into the game. The second was a very back-and-forth tilt, resulting in the teams basically splitting the CF% and xGF% shares as the Ducks had a slight 8-7 lead in high-danger chances. However, the third saw Vancouver take the initiative in very limited 5v5 minutes, tallying up a 67.07 xGF% while splitting the high-danger chances to 4-4. It was a very solid frame to close out the game, and a big reason why the Canucks managed to take home the two points.

The scoring chances from last night were honestly pretty darn even. At 5v5 play, the Ducks held a slight 31-27 advantage in overall chances, with a 17-14 edge in high-danger chances. That much is shown by their hot spot being thicker and denser than the Canucks’, but not by too much. Vancouver was really only out-chanced heavily in the first, with the teams being neck and neck the rest of the way through. At the very least, it wasn’t as if this group got overwhelmed and in fact, managed to ride out the wave.

Corsi Champ: Max Sasson led all Canucks with a 70.59 CF%, and it wasn’t as if it wasn’t well deserved. He and the rest of the fourth line were a big reason for the Canucks’ success at 5v5 play even if they didn’t play much, managing to take full advantage of their softer opposition. They were on ice for 3 goals for and 1 goal against, which definitely is a significant contribution.

Corsi Chump: Tom Willander posted the team’s worst CF% at 15.63, which doesn’t sound great on paper. The young Swede also faced down the third-worst xGA at 1.28, but managed to balance that out slightly with a 0.66 xGF to finish with a 34.16 xGF%. That was still towards the bottom half of the team, which makes sense when seeing that Willander was on ice for a 4-12 hole in overall scoring chances at 3-7 high-danger chance deficit. However, that should also be put into the context that Willander was paired up with Marcus Pettersson, playing primarily against the red-hot Leo Carlsson and much of the Ducks’ top 6 as a shutdown option. With that in mind, the fact that he posted a multi-point night and split a 1-1 goal differential at 5v5 play is quite tidy work.

xGF: Leading the way in xGF% was Sasson as well, who tallied up a massive 89.22 xGF% in his limited minutes. Again, while he wasn’t seeing a ton of ice time, there were plenty of raw numbers generated. Sasson had the team’s third-best raw xGF at 1.25, on ice for a 7-2 scoring chance lead and big 7-1 high-danger chance advantage. It wasn’t as if he was just taking advantage of the margins of being a fourth-liner, with some actual substance behind his share metrics. Filip Hronek once more demonstrated his value to this Canucks team as well, racking up a team-best 1.73 xGF. The Czech has been more than solid all year and continues to provide plenty of punch from the back end.

GSAx: Considering the Canucks’ goalie situation, one might be forgiven for thinking that Nikita Tolopilo was being thrown to the proverbial wolves as a sacrifice. Instead of folding though, the Belarusian stepped up to the plate in a big way. The Ducks continued their offence-heavy ways, putting 41 shots up against Tolopilo for a 5.22 xGF. Only 3 high-danger chances and 1 middle-danger chance got past the netminder, resulting in a 1.22 GSAx on the night. That’s really tidy work by Tolopilo and was yet another reason why the Canucks were able to get this result against one of the league’s best teams.

Abbotsford Line buzzing: As mentioned previously, the Abbotsford line of Arshdeep Bains – Max Sasson – Linus Karlsson were all over the ice making plays last night. Again, they saw limited ice time at 5v5, but their raw numbers were right up there with pretty much any other forward unit. Together, the trio had a 100.00 CF% and 100.00 xGF%, putting up the second-most xGF with 0.58 in just 3:10 TOI. It’s an absolutely bananas contribution in such limited time, and drawing Bains back into the lineup seemed to work like a charm against Anaheim last night.

Not a struggle: Maybe it was just a matter of time for this line, or maybe it was a particularly good game. The Conor Garland – David Kampf – Brock Boeser line looked good, playing heavy minutes with plenty of defensive responsibility but still coming out on top. Their CF% hovered around team average, but it was their team-best xGF of 0.97 that stood out against the Ducks. They played strong at both ends of the ice and were duly rewarded with chances, getting their scoring wingers back into action.

The Canucks are just so inconsistent. They can go toe-to-toe with the league’s best or play down to the worst teams. Last night, while they weren’t dominant by any stretch of the imagination, they played quite well to trade blows and ride out momentum swings against them. That was invaluable in helping secure the win on the road, against a very hot team coming out on the other end of a rebuild. Now, it’s a question of which team will show up in their next contest.

Vancouver heads up to NorCal to take on the San Jose Sharks tomorrow afternoon.