That certainly was a game of all time.

The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 4-0 decision to the Los Angeles Kings at home. It didn’t start out looking this way, as the teams actually looked decently neck and neck at 5v5. However, a rough second period put the Canucks behind the eight-ball, and there was no real way they were going to be able to get themselves out of that one with the talent pool on the roster. At the very least, there was bite and passion from the younger players, and hopefully bodes well for the building yet to come.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

As mentioned before, the first period was actually pretty neck-and-neck aside from the power play goal the Kings got. At 5v5, the shares stood at 55.56 CF% and 56.80 xGF% for the Canucks, which isn’t a non-existent advantage by any means. However, that pretty much got wiped off the board entirely thanks to the second frame they put together. The stats in the middle frame were absurdly bad, with the Canucks only managing a measly 19.05 CF% and 16.26 xGF%, giving up a 4-15 hole in scoring chances and 0.2-1.01 xGF tilt. Things just weren’t good enough in the third to offset that hole Vancouver dug themselves in, and the loss was the most flattering outcome out of all of this.

For a game where the Canucks were dummied in the second, the heat map still shows a relatively low-event affair. In total, while Los Angeles had a 27-16 edge in overall chances, the Kings only managed a 10-9 lead in high-danger chances. That margin can be seen in the slightly forward-facing hot spots, with similar-looking concentrations, but the Kings post a slightly larger hot spot. It could’ve been worse, certainly, but it still wasn’t the best showing from either team – and even with that, the Canucks still came out on a heavy losing end.

Corsi Champ: Elias Pettersson, the defenceman, took full advantage of being deployed against weaker opposition on the Kings, posting a team-best 66.67 CF%. He was paired up with Pierre-Olivier Joseph for the majority of his ice time, with a pretty even split in terms of deployment between all zones. Pettersson actually managed to be on ice for a 4-3 shot advantage at 5v5, keeping it pretty low-key for the most part. That’s all you could really ask for out of a younger defenceman, as he continues to make strides in improving his game with the additional deployment he’s receiving.

Corsi Chump: Tom Willander finished bottom of the team with a 25.64 CF%, but given the context, it wasn’t a bad overall game. Sure, he gave up a 2-13 hole in shots, on ice for a 5-13 scoring chance hole and 2-6 deficit in high-danger chances, good enough for a second-worst xGF% of 20.43, but consider this – Willander was proverbially and physically tossed into the deep end with Marcus Pettersson again, matched up all night against Los Angeles’ top six. That should factor largely into the numbers that the young Swede racked up, and it was admirable that he battled through all of this.

xGF: D-Petey finds himself leading the team in xGF% at 71.20, primarily thanks to the team-low 0.16 xGA that he was on ice for. Pettersson split an even 3-3 scoring chance tilt and actually managed to hold a 3-1 high-danger chance advantage during his TOI. It was good to see him take advantage of his lighter opposition to make the most of his minutes. Hopefully, it is something he can build on as Pettersson continues to develop and improve, perhaps playing against better opposition. Leading the way in raw xGF was Zeev Buium, who was making plays all of last night to lead the Canucks with a 0.77 xGF. It was pretty impressive, as he posted a 9-9 scoring chance split but managed a hefty 4-1 high-danger chance lead during his TOI.

xGF: For what this game was, Kevin Lankinen did more than his fair share to try and keep the Canucks in it. Facing off against 3.24 xGF on the night, the netminder allowed only two high-danger goals and one middle-danger goal for a 0.24 GSAx. While those certainly aren’t game-stealing numbers, it wasn’t a liability by any stretch of the imagination. And certainly, Lankinen wasn’t the reason why the Canucks couldn’t score goals in front of him to get any run support.

The Canucks absolutely did not deserve a happier ending than the one they got. If anything, the margin of defeat probably should’ve been even larger than the one they had. Still though, if there is a positive to be had, the first and third weren’t bad at all, and there was definitely jump and bite through the lineup. The draft position continues to improve as well, as the Canucks continue to lock up 32nd place in the NHL.

Vancouver hops on a short flight over to Calgary to take on the Flames tomorrow night.