Considering everything, this result isn’t even that bad.
The Vancouver Canucks come up just short on the end of their road trip, falling to the Minnesota Wild by a 3-2 scoreline in overtime. That being said, with how banged up this group is, the fact that they fought as hard as they did is quite encouraging. Minnesota is currently the best team in the NHL, and at the very end of an east coast swing, the Canucks still managed to hang on and push them to overtime, with depth pieces playing well above their usual deployment. Not bad in the slightest.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

Possession-wise, it’s not really a surprise that the Wild were running away with it. The Canucks just didn’t have the legs and skill throughout the lineup to consistently get control of the puck, but what they did do a good job of was taking their chances where they could get them. The first period was a little ugly, with Vancouver only managing to post a 28.42 xGF% share, but the second period saw them bounce back to record a 63.53 xGF% and a 45.69 xGF% in the third period to follow that up. Not bad, and the Wild aren’t exactly easy opposition.

Heat Map

Something the Canucks did really well last night was limiting high-danger chances against and their special teams. While the scoring chances heavily favoured the Wild with a 25-14 edge at 5v5, the high-danger chances only stood at 7-6 for Minnesota. Vancouver did a very good job at holding them to the perimeter and not letting a lot of good looks happen. When accounting for all situations, the scoring chance margin dropped to 30-27 for Minnesota, and Vancouver actually had the high-danger chance lead with a 14-8 advantage. The Canucks were able to do a good job at killing off the Wild’s power plays without giving up any high-danger chances, while getting a good amount of grade-A opportunities on their own power plays.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: This is definitely not territory that he usually finds himself in, but Noah Juulsen led the Canucks last night with a 47.06 CF%, a steady 21.06 CF% rel above team average. His efforts also included a second-best 70.38 xGF%, where his 1.00 xGF was the second-best on the team as well. Impressively, deployed against the Wild’s top 6 pretty heavily, Juulsen wasn’t on ice for a single high-danger chance against, and instead helped the Canucks record 6 high-danger chances for. Pretty good for a depth defenceman.
Corsi Chump: On the other end of the spectrum, Vincent Desharnais brings up the rear in the Corsi department with a 20.00 CF%, a -20.68 CF% rel on the night. It was simply unideal for him and his partner, with Desharnais recording a team-low 0.03 xGF and 5.22 xGF%, on ice for a 1-8 disparity in scoring chances. The only silver lining is that only 2 of those scoring chances against were considered high-danger, but with how thin the Canucks’ defence is right now, the hope is that Desharnais won’t be elevated any more than he currently is.
xGF: Dakota Joshua led the Canucks with a 75.65 xGF%, mainly due to some excellent work in his own end as he recorded the team’s best xGA of 0.05. There wasn’t anything to note with his game besides playing some low-event, heavy minutes against the Wild’s top 6. One of the bigger stories is that Carson Soucy led the Canucks with a 1.06 raw xGF – something that we’ll be talking about in just a moment.
GSAx: Again, probably not Kevin Lankinen’s finest night. With the Wild only posting a 1.84 xGF against him, the Finn netminder finished comfortably in the negatives with a -1.16 GSAx, though that low expected goals against should be chalked up to some great team defence in front of him. All three goals came from middle-danger chances, which probably contributed to the extent of the negative stats against Lankinen. Still, he made some pretty damn good saves as well.

Statistical Musings

Soucy??: Considering the struggles that Carson Soucy has had this season, seeing his name up at the top of these stat charts is awesome. He and Juulsen had a great game by the numbers, leading all Canuck defencemen in CF%, xGF, and xGF%. Together, the pairing had a 70.88 xGF% while not being on ice for a single high-danger chance against, with 6 high-danger chances for. It was nice to see this kind of form from them, especially Soucy, who the Canucks are really hoping to help cement their 3/4 slot on the back end.
Where the bottom 6 had a rough go at things: Given the quality of their opposition, Vancouver’s forward depth was challenged to try and keep their good run of form going. The numbers weren’t the prettiest: Danton Heinen – Aatu Raty – Max Sasson tallied up the worst CF% amongst forward lines (14.29) and tied the Nils Hoglander – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood line for least xGF (0.04), with the latter line also tallying the worst xGF% amongst forward lines with a 10.87. Unideal, but they weren’t exactly playing against chumps either.
Quinn Hughes needs help: Hughes didn’t have a bad game per se, but it was a definite clear drop from his usual high standard. His 27.59 CF% was the second-worst on the team amongst defencemen, a 0.64 xGa the second worst amongst the d corps, while his 23.04 xGF% was the third-lowest on the team just behind the bottom pairing. That isn’t territory that he’s usually in, having to play alongside Tyler Myers who, coincidentally, was just ahead of Hughes as the worst xGA defenceman with a 0.69. Given how thin the Canucks’ blue line is when it comes to the talent, Hughes is being leaned on to do a lot. The team is lucky that he usually can – but it would be wise to shore up the defence to help rest the captain.

As a team

CF% – 44.14% HDCF% – 63.64% xGF% – 62.66%
The Canucks played well. Honestly, they probably deserved to with the game on the quality of play they demonstrated. They managed to tide over some rough patches when the Wild were surging, and for once, their chance generation didn’t let them down. Vancouver limited high-danger looks and got ones of their own, and that’s pretty darn good considering the personnel missing in their lineup. At the end of a long road trip, there’s not much to complain about in getting a point, especially given the cruel manner they lost in overtime.
Vancouver returns home and gets some time off before hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
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