So somehow they can put together a performance like that.
The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a massive 6-2 margin, playing some of their best hockey of the season. Was it a perfect game? No, but they played really well. They scored 6 goals against one of the best teams in the league, managing to take advantage of their chances and capitalize while also buckling down to see the game through. Overall dominance throughout the game would probably have been too much to ask for, but it went better than anyone could’ve expected.
Here’s the win, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

There wasn’t a full period where the Canucks were truly the dominant team. They would finish the first period with a 45.95 CF% and 36.71 xGF%, the Jets grabbing a total of 1.09 xGF in the frame alone. It got better during the second for Vancouver with 56.25 CF% and 50.93 xGF% shares at 5v5, but even then, the xGF was only 1.41-1.36 for the Canucks. Then, in the third, when Winnipeg was pushing to get back into the game, Vancouver was hanging on by the share metrics to sit at 22.58 CF% and 25.90 xGF%. But, impressively enough, the Canucks would only give up a total of 4 high-danger chances against the third.

Heat Map

The heat map is a pretty good indicator of how the game went on the scoring chance front. While the Canucks hit double-digits in high-danger chances at 11, the Jets totalled 17 at 5v5. That much is reflected through the hot spots each team generated, with Winnipeg’s being far more extensive and for good reason. That being said though, Vancouver managed to decrease the number of high-danger chances given up each period, going from 7 in the first to 6 in the second, then 4 in the third. Again, ideally there wouldn’t be that many HDCA given up at all, but against a team like the Jets, it’s not the worst in the world.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Filip Hronek led the Canucks with a 59.26 CF%, which is a pretty good tally considering the possession advantage that the Jets had. That CF% meant that Hronek sat at 23.64 CF% rel to team average, posting a 3rd-best xGF% of 56.42 and 5th-best xGF of 1.03. Considering the overall advantage that Winnipeg had, and that Hronek started only 25% of his shifts in the offensive zone, these numbers are really darn solid.
Corsi Chump: D-Petey was on the other end of the spectrum when it came to the numbers game. A 14.29 CF% was followed by an 0.87 xGF%. That’s right, with Elias Pettersson on the ice, the Jets had a 99.13 xGF%. The results were not great, with the young Swede posting a team-low 0.01 xGF giving up 4 high-danger chances. He did play most of his minutes against the likes of Cole Perfetti and Nikolaj Ehlers, which can explain some of the issues he was having last night.
xGF: Who else but Quinn Hughes to lead the way in xGF%? The Canucks captain racked up a 61.86 to lead the team, putting up the third-most raw xGF at 1.11 while also the 5th-best xGA at 0.68. Hughes was one of the only Canucks to have a positive high-danger chance split, a narrow 5-4 edge at 5v5 play. This was all coming with Tyler Myers as his partner last night, which allowed the Canucks to have two good pairings to toss out at every given opportunity. As well, it allowed Vancouver to hide the Forbort-Pettersson pairing just that little bit more. It was Myers that led the Canucks in raw xGF, sitting at 1.36 last night.
GSAx: Kevin Lankinen was balling last night against one of the best teams in the league. Facing down 4.14 from Winnipeg, the Finn only let 1 high-danger chance and 1 middle-danger chance get past him for a 2.14 GSAx. Considering the barrage that was unleashed on him especially at the start of the game, Lankinen played more than well enough to help Vancouver secure a massive win against a real good Jets team.

Statistical Musings

Where the power play actually looked dangerous: It was a small sample size, but the power play the Canucks had in the opening period was the first one that they looked threatening on in a long while. The unit was dynamic and the numbers backed it up, with 2 high-danger chances coming in just 1:17 of man-advantage time. It wasn’t a surprise that they capitalized, and one should think that this PP1 unit might get a longer look even when Conor Garland returns.
A better fit: Drew O’Connor was pretty much a non-factor in the last couple of games, and a reason for that might have been due to the fact that he was deployed in the top 6. This game, he found himself alongside Teddy Blueger and Linus Karlsson in the bottom 6, and their numbers were much better. Playing the third-most ice time, the trio racked up 59.09 CF% and 50.31 xGF%, a 0.70 xGF putting the cherry on top of team highs across the board. Again, the deployment did impact and affect what they were able to produce, but these forwards were finally in a position to succeed and did so to great effect.
EP40 finding a way: It seems that opposing teams are cueing back into playing their best defensive players against the Caucks’ top guys. Specifically, Adam Lowry was essentially stapled to Elias Pettersson whenever they were on ice together. The Winnipeg centerman did his job admirably well, depressing a lot of the share metrics and limiting what EP40 could do. But in spite of that, EP40 still managed to get an assist to keep his point streak going, a beautiful play on a 5v5 goal. Again, it might not be the magnitude that one might expect in a 6-2 game, but against opposition specifically iced to stop him, it’s encouraging to see.

As a team

CF% – 43.10% HDCF% – 38.24% xGF% – 44.69%
The Canucks did well for themselves against the Jets. Against quality competition that they might be facing in the playoffs if they make it, Vancouver made the most of their chances, striking where they could and when they could. The defence at the start was shaky, but it improved as the game went on, with the depth stepping up in big ways. Perhaps a blueprint to the backend also has been opened up with Hughes and Hronek split. Whichever is the case, this was a big win to grab at home.
Vancouver heads back on the road, playing the St. Louis Blues tomorrow for their next contest.
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