It is hard to watch this team sometimes.

The Vancouver Canucks got shut out at home, losing 4-0 to the Detroit Red Wings. There weren’t many redeeming qualities to this game, from content to scoreline. Ugly hockey coupled with a complete lack of offensive production made this a hard, hard watch, and it’s difficult to see a pathway to success with this team as it is right now. And it sucks – Vancouver never truly was good at any point during this “retool,” and now, before they even reach contending status, they might just sink right into the basement once more.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

Much of this game hung in the balance, and that was all Detroit needed to jump out to a 3-0 lead. It wasn’t as if the Canucks were particularly bad – if anything, they were holding a slight advantage for the entire time. But that wasn’t exactly something they were able to take advantage of, despite holding a 56.67 CF% in the first and a 58.62 CF% in the second. The Canucks went from a 56.02 xGF% share in the first to just a 49.45 xGF% in the second, which isn’t too much of an actual decrease, but was also enough to see the Red Wings score twice in quick succession. With a third of the third left, Detroit was content to just turtle up and protect their 3-0 lead, resulting in the Canucks posting a 77.27 CF% and 78.68 xGF% in the frame off a 10-3 high-danger chance advantage. Again, great numbers, but nothing came of it whatsoever.

A big chunk of this heat map was built by the Canucks’ third period. Through two, the scoring chances were a mere 12-11 for Vancouver with a 7-5 edge in high-danger chances. The third period alone saw the Canucks build that gap up with a 19-4 scoring chance lead and 10-3 high-danger chance edge as well. Thus, we get that massive hot spot right in the crease area, which is good, but in the context of the game, it was not so good. As well, the Red Wings showed off some clinical finishing ability, getting all 3 of their 5v5 goals from right in tight, against some very poor defensive lapses by the Canucks.

Corsi Champ: Elias Pettersson the defenceman was rocking it pretty good this game. Leading the team with an 84.85 CF%, the young Swede was paired up with Tyler Myers to be thrown out against a good chunk of Detroit’s top 6. He kept it pretty darn tidy, on ice for a 13-5 shot advantage and making sure that the Red Wings couldn’t get much done against him. That’s all you can really ask for out of a defenceman, and certainly represents a turn from Pettersson’s form in the past couple of outings.

Corsi Chump: On the flip side, Marcus Pettersson finished bottom of the Corsi charts with his 39.13 CF%. Primarily playing the other half of the minutes against Detroit’s best players, he was on ice for 2 goals against off a 31.01 xGF%, which was a -47.62 xGF% rel to team average. Pettersson was on ice for the second-worst xGA on the team at 1.06, giving up a 4-4 split in high-danger chances with some pretty bad lapses. It’s been a taxing year for him as the primary defensive defenceman on this ramshackle team, and the signs of it are definitely showing at this point.

xGF: Leading the way in xGF% was D-Petey again, who racked up a massive 91.77 on the night. His 2.18 raw xGF was just shy of Myers’ team-leading 2.23, but it was the Swede who posted the 4th-best xGA of 0.2 which made the difference in the share metrics. Pettersson split a massive 16-1 scoring chance differential, with an equally big 9-1 high-danger chance margin. Finding the scoresheet would’ve been nice, but at the very least the numbers were big fans of Pettersson’s play last night.

GSAx: It was a rough night for the starter Kevin Lankinen. Against 1.39 xGF, he gave up 3 high-danger chance goals to finish at -1.61 GSAx on the night. Not the prettiest of numbers, but consider that the three goals he gave up were absolutely horrific by the team in front of him. There was no chance in heaven and hell that Lankinen would’ve been able to bail out the team with how badly they blew it when it came to their coverage, and the goals were hardly his fault.

As for Nikita Tolopilo who came in for relief in the third, the netminder turned away all 0.91 xGF for a 0.91 GSAx, facing just 2 high-danger chances against.

A complete lack of offensive production: One recurring theme throughout the Canucks’ season is the fact that their top 6 has been very, very muted when it comes to their point production. Granted, EP40 being hurt and out doesn’t help matters, but it’s frustrating to see how ice cold the likes of Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, Evander Kane, and Jake DeBrusk have been. It’s not as if they’ve been particularly bad – but that isn’t why you ice them in your top 6. For the 4 aformentioned forwards, only Kane finished above 1.00 xGF on the night, with Garland being the next closest at 0.75. Not horrible raw numbers, but considering that the Canucks as a whole had the lion’s share of expected goals, it’s a little unideal. They’ve done well in terms of xGF% share, but share metrics are just relative to the other team. They need to be breaking onto the scoresheet for the Canucks to actually get some wins – and unfortunately, that just hasn’t been the case.

In the “should’ve won” books, the Canucks should’ve won based on the numbers. That being said, the numbers aren’t where the game is won or lost – it’s the product on the ice, and the performances that they have been putting up have been uninspiring. The lack of game-breaking talent, of clinical finishing, of high-end players performing like high-end players, is showing, and it is ugly. It’s rapidly moving away from frustration and anger to sheer apathy, especially as this fanbase watches other teams that have sucked in recent memory start rising back up on the backs of high-end draft picks. That would be pretty darn nice, wouldn’t it.

Vancouver hosts their expansion brothers, the Buffalo Sabres, on Thursday night.