Two in a row?

The Vancouver Canucks topped the Anaheim Ducks by a 4-3 scoreline in overtime, managing to collect back-to-back wins for the first time since December. It’s another welcome surprise, one that didn’t seem like it would be in the cards with how the Canucks played the second and third periods. However, they’re doing some damage to the Sharks and Ducks’ playoff hopes, and it’s always fun to be playing spoiler. Was this a complete game? By no means, but hey, that was a lot better than most contests the Canucks have played.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

The game flow is a pretty good picture of why this overtime win was a little surprising. The first period was a 50/50 toss-up in pretty much every statistical category, and it’s a credit to the Canucks for being opportunistic and capitalizing on their chances to come out with a 2-1 lead. However, the momentum completely shifted after the first intermission, as from this point on, the Ducks were in firm control of this contest. It wasn’t even close. Anaheim had a 73.17 xGF% in the second and 80.06 xGF% in the third, racking up a 2.03-0.61 xGF lead in the two frames combined. The Canucks were out-high-danger-chanced 8-1 in that span, resulting in the Ducks evening this game up. Fortunately for Vancouver, the overtime brought them a power play that they took full advantage of to secure the extra point on the road.

The heat map further backs up how the game flow went, with the Ducks all over the Canucks offensively. In terms of overall scoring chances, Anaheim held a 25-12 edge there, with a further 12-6 lead in high-danger chances as well. The distribution wasn’t the best from a Canucks’ perspective at 5v5 play, with five of the six high-danger chances coming in the first, and none coming in the third. That makes sense given how the Ducks dominated possession through the second and third, and probably should’ve seen the home team prevail in regulation. But, again, credit to the Canucks for staying in this and managing to pounce when given the chance.

Corsi Champ: Curtis Douglas had himself a game against the Ducks, picking up his first NHL goal to boot. He led the Canucks with a 66.67 CF% on the night, eating up his minutes against Anaheim’s bottom six and doing a great job translating his impact on the stat sheet to on the ice. Given how the Canucks were generally outchanced in this one, it’s pretty darn impressive that Douglas held a 4-1 lead in scoring chances – and on top of that, a 3-0 advantage in high-danger chances. That’s half of Vancouver’s HDCF at 5v5 play, if anyone is keeping track.

Corsi Chump: Filip Hronek finds himself at the bottom of the Corsi charts last night, posting a 31.43 CF% with some rough numbers across the board. On ice for a 6-15 deficit in shots, Hronek gave up two 5v5 goals against, a team-high 1.79 xGA, a team-worst 15.97 xGF%, all the while facing a 3-14 hole in overall scoring chances and a 1-8 margin in high-danger chances. Suffice it to say, these numbers don’t lend themselves kindly to his performance last night – but somehow, even despite one of their best defenceman turning in this kind of statistical outing, the Canucks found a way to win.

xGF: It’s fitting that Douglas also ends up leading the Canucks in this category, as he posted the team’s best xGF% with a 78.24 to his name. That’ll happen when you’re on ice for the aforementioned scoring chance margins, taking full advantage of his weaker opposition to record a team-best 0.16 xGA. In terms of raw xGF, it was the young Kirill Kudryavtsev who racked up a team-best 0.71 xGF. Pretty tidy work from the Russian, who picked up his first NHL point on that Douglas goal as well.

GSAx: Nikita Tolopilo did everything that was asked of him to help the Canucks secure this victory. Facing down a 3.19 xGF, the Belarusian gave up three goals to record a marginal 0.19 GSAx. A big reason for that number being relatively on the lower side was the two low-danger goals he gave up, the remaining one coming from a high-danger chance. Other than that, though, Tolopilo was holding down the fort throughout regulation and overtime, and had to be sharp as the Ducks were all over the Canucks for the latter two periods of the game.

The Canucks had to battle for this one, as they were statistically overwhelmed in the second and third periods at even strength. It was incredibly important for them to come out of the first period with the lead and stick with things even as the flow of the game went against them. Getting production from not only the bottom six but the top six was just as important in getting this win, and seeing Brock Boeser and Marco Rossi find the scoresheet was nice to see. Plus, denying the Ducks their playoff spot for at least one game is definitely a cherry on top of this result.

Vancouver returns home to host the LA Kings tomorrow night in the penultimate contest of the year.