For the Vancouver Canucks, it’s not about how you start; it’s about how you finish, apparently.
The Canucks bounced back from a very rough first period, taking down the Columbus Blue Jackets by a 5-2 scoreline. The team stats weren’t the prettiest due in large part to that slow start, but they managed to figure it out and limit the damage that Columbus could do while they had momentum. That was all this team really needed to start pushing their way back into the game, scoring five unanswered for a big win at home – a rarity this year.
Here’s the win, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

The Canucks were on the back foot possession-wise the entire night. That comes when you’re as heavily as outshot as they were in the first period, seeing only a 25.64 Corsi For percentage (CF%) share to open up the game. Vancouver also posted a 25.43% expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) while giving up 1.11 expected goals against (xGA), so it was a deserved lead that the Blue Jackets took with them into the second period. However, while the Canucks would never break the 50.00 CF% mark, they started playing smarter hockey. They were able to limit Columbus a lot more in the second and third periods, capitalizing on the opportunities they got along the way. The xGF% in the second period sat at 50.88%, while the Canucks would close the game out with a 60.26 xGF% in the third period.

Heat Map

For a game where the Canucks were out-chanced heavily, the heat map doesn’t actually look that bad. Yes, Columbus is all over the place in the offensive zone, but they weren’t able to establish a clear hot spot from a truly dangerous area. At 5v5, the scoring chances stood at 25-13 for the Blue Jackets, while the high-danger chances were 9-7 for them as well. Across all situations, those numbers jumped to 35-20 and 11-11, but it was Vancouver that created the slightly better hot spot from right in tight against Elvis Merzlikins. It’s not a bad outcome for a rough start.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Elias Pettersson continues his good run of form, leading the team with a 51.85% CF% on the night. With how badly Vancouver did in the Corsi department, that 51.85% was 23.06 CF% rel above team average, showing just what a difference Pettersson was making for the Canucks when it came to retaining the puck. He was able to keep the point streak alive, too, with an assist, though he’ll be looking to find the back of the net soon enough as well.
Corsi Chump: Not really a tremendous surprise, but Max Sasson finished with the worst CF% on the team with a 16.67%. That also came with a team-low 0.04 xGF and 13.13 xGF%, playing primarily against Columbus’ fourth line as well. It wasn’t a horrifically bad game for Sasson and the fourth line, who weren’t bleeding chances. However, it wasn’t as if they were driving play against the opposition’s depth pieces either.
xGF: This is also why Elias Pettersson should be finding the back of the net more because, against the Blue Jackets, he was the Canucks’ leader in xGF% with 59.67%. Posting the third-best xGF of 0.66, Pettersson managed to hold a high-danger chance split of 4-3, which is pretty solid considering that he was out-chanced 6-8 at 5v5 over the course of the game. There were some slick plays that went unfulfilled, and Pettersson will be looking to convert on those chances sooner rather than later. Leading the way in raw xGF was none other than Quinn Hughes, who racked up a 0.85 to lead Vancouver in that category. The defenceman was key to the Canucks fighting back in this one, so his contributions shouldn’t be overlooked.
GSAx: Kevin Lankinen held the Canucks in this game until they were able to shake off their road legs. With the Blue Jackets posting a 2.59 xGF, the Finn held out all but two shots, finishing the night with a 0.59 goals saved above expected (GSAx). That doesn’t sound like a lot, but he was stemming the tide against the visitors until the Canucks could play some hockey in front of him, giving this group a chance to win the game last night. Both goals came off middle-danger chances, which probably shows up in a lower xGF – but Lankinen played darn well, and that’s all you could ask for from him.

Statistical Musings

A second line by collective: Looking through the Vancouver forward corps, it is hard to picture that any playoff team would be sporting the second and third lines that they iced last night against Columbus. However, for what it was worth, Dakota Joshua – Pius Suter – Conor Garland did plenty fine as the second-highest time on ice (TOI) unit, managing to put together a 40.07 xGF% while handling some tough matchups. They were trusted to close out the game, which should speak volumes about what Tocchet thinks of that combination.
The line that might’ve been a surprise was the third line of Nils Hoglander – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood, who put together the second-best xGF of 0.31 amongst Canuck forward lines, and the second-best xGF% of 45.04%. It wasn’t a bad stopgap effort at all, and one that these lines could be proud of.
Soucy finding the sauce: Maybe the secret all along was to take Tyler Myers away from Carson Soucy. The defenceman is finally showing the signs of confidence that made him a key figure in Vancouver’s top four back in 2023-24. Against the Blue Jackets, Soucy was calm and confident, racking up the second-best CF% amongst defencemen behind Hughes and posting the second-best xGF% on the team with a 54.64%. That was coming in with a 0.84 xGF, just ever so slightly behind Hughes for the team lead in that category. Again, it’s only been a couple of games, but just seeing Soucy find this form again has been really encouraging to see.

As a team

CF% – 37.50% HDCF% – 50.00% xGF% – 48.69%
Again, considering how this game started, the Canucks did well to fight back and make the stats as close as they were in the grand scheme of things. They did even better when it came to actually winning this game, responding to being down 2-0 and playing terrible hockey in a big way here. The signs of this roster slowly getting back to full strength could be seen, with Thatcher Demko backing up Lankinen tonight and JT Miller skating. However, the team without them has clawed for points in all but two of the eight contests, and that effort cannot be understated, especially in the stretch run at the end of the season.
Vancouver hosts the Tampa Bay Lighting tomorrow afternoon for their next matchup.
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