It was a good effort.

The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 4-2 decision to the Dallas Stars at home. All things considered, it was probably one of their best all-around outings all season. They battled hard, gave one of the best teams in the league a good run for their money, and fought neck and neck all the way to the final horn. Was the result the one that they wanted, probably not – but it’s hard to get upset at the process that they turned in for this one.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

This game remained in the balance throughout. Vancouver did pretty well for themselves statistically, managing to hold the lion’s share of CF% through the first and second periods. Now, that didn’t result in a lead, but playing against a team like the Stars, it’s a pretty tidy accomplishment. It was solid, defensively astute hockey from both sides, as neither team really managed to generate too many high-danger scoring chances. The first saw a 1-1 split, the second was a 2-3 edge for Dallas, and a 4-3 lead in the third for the visitors as well. But, in the grand context of the game, it wasn’t as if that was particularly costly for the Canucks. It was a well-fought-out effort, and it is unfortunate that they came up short.

The heat map also reflects how deadlocked this game was from a scoring chance perspective. Overall, the Canucks had a slight 23-21 edge in scoring chances, while the Stars posted an 8-6 lead in high-danger chances at 5v5. The similarities in their hot spots show just how close these metrics were, and the biggest reason Dallas was able to take this contest was that they capitalized on four even-strength chances. Not to say Vancouver played poorly – they just didn’t bury like their opposition.

Corsi Champ: Quinn Hughes has been buzzing as of late. Leading the Canucks with a 64.86 CF% last night, the defenceman tilted the ice in favour of his team while playing heavy minutes against Dallas’ top six. In total, across all situations, Hughes’ TOI was sitting at 28:31, as he was responsible for plenty of chance generation with a 9-8 edge in total scoring chances at 5v5 play. However, it is worth pointing out that he was on ice for two goals against. That does tend to happen when you’re playing about half the game.

Corsi Chump: It was a tougher game for Tom Willander, who found himself at the bottom of the Corsi pile with a 35.71 CF%. The young defenceman was out there for a 1-6 hole in shots, as well as a 3-4 scoring chance battle and a 0-2 HDCF deficit. Willander recorded the team’s worst xGF% as well, sitting at 6.06 on the night, thanks to a measly 0.03 xGF to his name. It’s a little bit of growing pains for the Swede, and shouldn’t take away from his solid run of form lately as he gets his feet under him as an everyday NHLer.

xGF: Jake DeBrusk’s month is definitely November. The winger tallied up Vancouver’s top xGF% at 91.68, only on ice for a team-best 0.05 xGA. That comes with a 5-1 scoring chance advantage and 2-0 high-danger chance lead as well, with little to nothing going the other way against DeBrusk while he was on the ice. It’s nice to see him start to find the scoresheet more, as Vancouver desperately needs skill to bury on the opportunities that they create. Leading the way in raw xGF was Tyler Myers, who had a 1.01 xGF to his name.

GSAx: It was a rougher outing for Kevin Lankinen. Given how well the team in front of him played defensively, Dallas only totalled 2.30 xGF on the night. That meant the Finn, who let up one high-danger and three middle-danger goals, would finish with a -1.70 GSAx after everything was all said and done. Again, he didn’t have a particular stinker, but considering how tight the game was in front of him, Lankinen could’ve helped out his team just a little bit more between the pipes.

EP40!: This is the confidence that you love to see from Elias Pettersson. Handling minutes against the Mikko Rantanen line, the Swede was tallying up a 62.07 CF% while just breaking even at team-average with a 44.31 xGF%. With a lot of the pressure of defensive zone starts taken off from him by the likes of David Kämpf, it meant that Pettersson recieved 60.00% of his shift starts in the offensive zone, and 71.43% of his faceoff begins there as well. Considering that he was winning his faceoffs to the tune of 76.19% on the night, it’s not an insignificant amount of 50/50 pucks going Vancouver’s way in the offensive end. It’s been great to see, and Pettersson tallying up a goal put a nice little bow on his individual performance from last night.

What would you say you do around here: While Pettersson and his linemate Kiefer Sherwood had some pretty tidy stats, the remaining linemate, Evander Kane, did not fare so well. A 58.06 CF% aligns him with both of the other forwards, but his xGF% was a putrid 19.44, which was the fourth-worst tally on the team. That shouldn’t be happening, and can’t be happening from a top six forward, and Kane isn’t contributing much on the defensive end either. Adam Foote seems insistent on icing him in his systems, which is a little odd considering that he hasn’t done much to deserve the deployment he’s been getting.

The Canucks probably deserved to win this contest. Off effort alone, it was one of their best performances of the season at both ends of the ice, not giving up a whole ton while getting plenty of chances especially on special teams. But that’s how hockey is, and it isn’t like the Canucks haven’t had their fair share of games where they escaped with a result that they didn’t earn. Sometimes, the scoresheet just doesn’t go your way, but they can’t be faulted on the process at all. Hopefully, the Canucks find some skill that can bury on these opportunities going forward.

Vancouver hosts the Calgary Flames on Sunday, up next.