So nice, they had to do it twice.

The Vancouver Canucks came back from 2-0 down again, securing a 3-2 shootout win against the Chicago Blackhawks. Seriously, this team made it a lot more difficult than it had to be, and it wasn’t as if Chicago was in the same stratosphere as a team like Dallas. But, they were able to get the job done on the back half of a back-to-back on the road, which is never an easy task. That much about this win should be commended, as the Canucks have spurred themselves back above .500.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

There wasn’t a single period where the Canucks were convincingly the better team. Across the board, Chicago held the majority of the puck, never dropping below 53.oo CF% in any period. That also translated into the expected goals trendline, where their lowest period was the first at 54.88 xGF%. The second and third saw the Blackhawks over 60.00 xGF%, meaning that the Canucks very much scored their goals against the flow of the game. It isn’t the worst thing in the world, but at the same time, you’d expect Vancouver to be a little more convincing against a team like Chicago.

For how the possession and expected goals numbers went, the heat map makes a good amount of sense. The Blackhawks tallied up a 20-17 edge in scoring chances at 5v5, with a further 14-10 high-danger chance lead. That is reflected in their larger and darker hot spot right in the crease area, definitely more significant than the Canucks’ own mark. At the very least, Vancouver was able to get the high-danger chances to trend downwards as the game went on, giving up less and less with each period. Hopefully though, they’ll be on the right side of this probability battle in the future.

Corsi Champ: The Abby line continues to impress, as last night Linus Karlsson led the Canucks with a 62.50 CF%. Yes, they saw limited deployment, coming in with the least ice time seen by any forward line, but the player that went up against Karlsson the most last night was none other than Connor Bedard – not bad competition, to say the least. During his TOI, Karlsson saw even 1-1 splits in scoring chances and high-danger chances, managing to pick up an assist on Max Sasson’s goal.

Corsi Chump: It’s rare for someone like Kiefer Sherwood to have two bad games in a row, yet that was exactly what happened last night. Against the Blackhawks, the winger posted a team-worst 11.76 CF%, enough to put him at -40.62 CF% rel. The misery didn’t stop there for Sherwood as he produced the team’s lowest xGF (0.01) and xGF% (1.15), on ice for the third-most xGA (1.02) despite only playing 11:03. His line bled chances, put into an 0-11 scoring chance hole with 7 of those being high-danger.

xGF: Jake DeBrusk was all over the ice last night, making his presence felt on and off the scoresheet. He was threatening offensively, managing to post a team-best 77.98 xGF%, on ice for a 6-2 scoring chance difference and 5-1 high-danger chance advantage. That led DeBrusk to record the second-best xGF on the team with 0.86, topped only by Marcus Pettersson’s (!!) 0.90. The forward was also on ice for the least xGA on the team with 0.24, getting it done at both ends of the ice.

GSAx: Kevin Lankinen had a much better outing against the Blackhawks than his first start of the season. With Chicago accumulating a 2.76 xGF last night, the Finnish netminder tallied a 0.76 GSAx, only allowing 2 high-danger goals against. Other than those two blemishes (which are understandable given the quality), he was rock solid to help the Canucks stay in this game and secure the shootout victory.

Figuring out the bottom 6: Teddy Blueger drew back into the lineup last night after being injured to start the year. Coming in for Aatu Raty, the Latvian didn’t look quite himself, as the line of him, Drew O’Connor, and Kiefer Sherwood struggled mightily all of last night. The former Minnesota State Maverick centered a line that posted the team’s worst CF% (16.67) and xGF% (1.89), barely managing 0.01 xGF while giving up a team-worst 0.62 xGA. It wasn’t as if they were playing particularly tough opponents, but it is worth noting that they were thrown out there for pretty much all defensive zone starts. It’s not an advantageous position, but they should be a lot better than what those numbers suggest.

Where Hughes-Hronek looked replacement level: Something that might’ve flown a little under the radar was how poorly Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek played with each other last night. They would only spend 6:06 TOI together, with Hughes splitting to play with Victor Mancini for 8:58, but the top defensive pairing for the Canucks had some awful analytics. Hughes-Hronek recorded 15:38 CF% and 0.50 xGF% – yes, that’s half a percent of the expected goals share – with a 0-6 deficit in scoring chances and 0-5 high-danger chances given up. Those are numbers that these two simply don’t post together, and continue to highlight the rocky start that Hughes has had this season.

Split up, the defencemen had slightly better numbers. Hughes-Mancini had a 45.45 CF% and 46.36 xGF%, while Hronek, with Elias Pettersson, posted 45.45 CF% as well with 43.40 xGF%. Still, it’s far cry from the usual standard that these two produce and could be something to keep an eye on for the next couple of games.

Should this game have been as close as it was? Probably not, but the Canucks were able to find a way to dig themselves out of the 2-0 hole they found themselves in early. Factoring in the travel and the back-to-back nature of this game, it’s not a bad result by any means. The Canucks won this game and were able to turn it on when it mattered. Hopefully, they can avoid putting themselves into that situation going forward.

Vancouver heads into Washington, DC for a Sunday matinee matchup against the Capitals next.