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The Statsies: Conor Garland’s big numbers can’t stop Canucks’ 6-2 loss to Mammoth
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Photo credit: © Rob Gray-Imagn Images
Michael Liu
Feb 3, 2026, 11:45 EST
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There are certainly better hockey teams out there.
The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 6-2 decision to the Utah Mammoth, in a game that just straight up was worse than watching paint dry. There were little to no redeeming qualities to this contest, with neither team really seizing their moments. If anything, this game proved how bad this Vancouver Canucks group is, how difficult it is to watch them play, and drove further concerns and loss of trust in Adam Foote at the helm.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

After the Canucks couldn’t score on the power play, and the Mammoth scored right after, it felt like a symbolic indication of how this game was going to go. Sure, at 2-1 it looked relatively competitive, but the momentum swung into Utah’s favour right after a power play of their own. The Mammoth would never dip below 55.00 CF% or 58.00 xGF% through the first and second periods, managing to rack up plenty of goals against Vancouver despite not actually managing to get that many high-danger chances against. Thanks to score effects, the Canucks pieced together a solid 60.71 CF% and 60.51 xGF% in the third, but only managed a slim 8-7 overall scoring chance lead and 1-1 high-danger chance split in the frame.

Heat Map

While the heat map might look pretty solid, it’s important to look at the scale on the bottom of the chart to show the dearth in chances that both teams had last night. Vancouver had the edge in overall chances at 21-18, but Utah had the 7-4 lead in high-danger chances. The raw numbers were not the best, suffice it to say, and that’s reflected on the relatively small scales that both teams managed to post. Utah did manage to capitalize more on the little that they managed, and took advantage of a reeling Canucks team for much of the game.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Conor Garland led the Canucks in CF% with his 75.00 last night, sitting at 31.25 CF% rel to team average. He was one of the only skaters to do anything of note for Vancouver, on a line with Liam Ohgren and Teddy Blueger that actually managed to generate offence and do good things in the attacking end. It was nice to see it, especially after a stretch of unproductive hockey for Garland, and while it didn’t tilt the ice in Vancouver’s favour, it at least moved the needle slightly.
Corsi Chump: Jonathan Lekkerimäki brought up the rear in the Corsi department, sitting at a 15.38 CF% to give him a -41.33 CF% rel to team average. The rest of his numbers weren’t too pretty as well, with a team-worst 0.03 xGF and second-worst xGF% of 7.00. That’ll happen when you’re on ice for a 5-0 hole in scoring chances and 2-0 deficit in high-danger chances. It wasn’t a banner night, but granted it wasn’t as if Lekkerimäki was being put into a position to succeed here.
xGF: Garland found himself leading the Canucks in this category as well, posting an 85.79 xGF% to lead the roster by a big margin. That came with a team-best 0.12 xGA, and the third-best xGF of 0.70 behind Jake DeBrusk’s 0.82 xGF. Garland was on ice for an 8-1 lead in scoring chances with a further 2-0 advantage in high-danger chances, earning the two assists in a big way. Hopefully, it’s a sign of further production for the winger after a run of dry games.
GSAx: Not the best night for Kevin Lankinen, to say the least. Facing only a 2.19 xGF from the Mammoth, the Finn conceded 1 high-danger goal, 3 middle-danger goals, and 2 low-danger goals to finish with a -3.81 GSAx. That’s a pretty sizeable chunk to be in the hole for, and especially considering that, in all technicality, the Canucks delivered the expected offensive production off of their own 2.00 xGF. It’s been a rough go of things for him as of late, and perhaps it is worth starting Tolopilo a little more frequently to see what they have in the Belarusian.

Statistical Musings

Maybe a little overcooked: Remember how Tom Willander and Marcus Pettersson were paired up and deployed as a shutdown pairing last time out? Foote tried to do this again, and perhaps didn’t think about some of the repercussions that would follow if they struggled. The numbers and results weren’t kind to them last night, as the Pettersson-Willander pairing racked up a 38.46 CF% and 24.06 xGF%, giving up a really rough goal for Utah to open the scoring. Willander has been showing plenty of improvement, but sometimes it would make more sense for him to be set up for success.
Where the top 6 goes missing… again: It’s great that the bottom 6 are contributing what they are. The Ohgren-Blueger-Garland line was doing amazing things against Utah, posting a team-best 0.45 xGF with very solid 75.00 CF% and 90.13 xGF% shares. That being said, the fact that they were the best line last night is concerning for the top end of the roster. There should be no reason why Elias Pettersson’s line was buried at 5v5, posting very average to below-average stats, especially relative to other players on the roster. And sure, one could argue that Pettersson had to play against the top line of the Mammoth, but the Blueger line wasn’t deployed against chumps, primarily stacking up against Utah’s second line.

As a team

CF% – 49.45% HDCF% – 41.67% xGF% – 47.74%
This game was a tough watch. There weren’t many things the Canucks did well, and the contents of the contest weren’t exactly enthralling either. Vancouver simply just didn’t look like a good hockey team, and a dreary loss like this one only further adds to the misery of the season. It’s one thing to lose in a competitive defeat, but to just be brain-lapsing and not playing the young players in positions where they’ll develop (or even playing them at all!) is frustrating to all hell and back.
Vancouver hops into Vegas to play the Golden Knights tomorrow before the Olympic break.
Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com

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