They didn’t duck out of this one.

The Vancouver Canucks got a measure of revenge against the Anaheim Ducks, topping them by a 3-2 scoreline. They played a solid game overall, not letting a goal going against the flow of the game halt the good things that they were doing, and managed to break through in the second period. Would it have been nice to win by more? Definitely. But this Canucks group hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to pulling games like these out as of late, so a win is a win regardless.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

From the opening period, it looked like one of those games where the Canucks would get off to a solid start, see a goal come against them despite their good work, and then completely fold after that. But instead, they built off of that 51.67 xGF% that they generated in the first period to turn into a 74.18 xGF% advantage in the second, getting four high-danger chances at 5v5 without giving up a single high-danger chance against. That was enough for them to ride to a win, playing solid in the third period despite giving up a goal that made things more interesting than it had to be.

The heat map isn’t the most exciting thing in the world because it really wasn’t that exciting of a game. Overall, the Canucks held a 24-13 scoring chance lead against the Ducks. However, the high-danger chance margin only stood at 9-3 for Vancouver at even strength, which shows that those grade-A looks were few and far between over the course of the game. That being said, Vancouver did do relatively well against Anaheim, not allowing much of anything to develop against them. One day, hopefully the Canucks can consistently crack 10 high-danger chances at even strength.

Corsi Champ: Wouldn’t you guess it, but the most engaged Canuck last night also led the team in CF%. Conor Garland’s 81.82 CF% paced the roster, with Vancouver outshooting Anaheim 11-2 while he was on the ice. Garland managed an 81.40 xGF% thanks to a third-best 0.22 xGA and team-leading 0.95 xGF due in large part to the 14-1 scoring chance advantage and 5-0 high-danger chance lead. All in a day’s work, including a scrap against Trevor Zegras.

Corsi Chump: Brock Boeser did not do too much to add to his trade value last night. Coming in bottom of the team with a 22.22 CF%, Boeser also recorded the second-worst xGF% with a 34.12 and was the only Canuck to finish with a deficit in high-danger chances at 2-1. It might’ve been the last game that he played in a Canuck uniform depending on what happens at the trade deadline.

xGF: Leading the way in xGF% was Elias Pettersson, the forward. Finally topping one of these categories, the Swede managed to post a team-best 0.08 xGA and second-best 0.91 xGF. Pettersson was on ice for a massive 13-0 lead in scoring chances and a 5-0 edge in high-danger chances. Of course, he didn’t find the score sheet in this one, but at the very least, he’s doing the right things. Hopefully, those right things will start becoming actual points.

GSAx: Kevin Lankinen did his part last night, even if he didn’t do much to steal the game for the Canucks. With Anaheim only managing a 1.91 xGF, that meant that Lankinen finished ever so slightly in the negatives with a -0.09 GSAx. That wasn’t the end of the world, and it really just came down to a shot or two against. Both goals came off of high-danger chances, too, so it wasn’t as if he was bleeding bad goals all night, either.

A solid combination: Placing Pettersson between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland seems to have done the trick, at least according to the advanced stats. They led all Canuck forward lines with an 87.50 CF% and an absurd 90.96 xGF%, on ice for an astouding 12-0 scoring chance differential and 5-0 high-danger chance edge. It was a seriously impressive performance from the trio, with the only negative being the fact that they couldn’t find the score sheet together. Besides that, if they keep posting these kinds of numbers, the production dam has to break.

On the flip side…: DeBrusk-Suter-Boeser did not have a good night. They were stone cold rock bottom with 18.18 CF% and 39.31 xGF% on the roster, not doing much of anything at 5v5. This unit was also the only one that didn’t record a positive scoring chance differential, sitting at 3-6 on the night, and split a 1-1 high-danger chances. It figured that they were on ice for a goal against, and they really didn’t do anything to contribute positively to things.

The Canucks played well for the most part. The Ducks aren’t really competitive opposition, but relative to them, they were dictating most of the game. Sure, the scoreline didn’t reflect it, but the Canucks did well to stay with their gameplan and continue to put pucks towards the net even after a flukey opening goal against. It was nice to see Pettersson play well statistically for once, too, with hopefully his production to follow.

Vancouver hosts the Minnesota Wild tomorrow night.