Hey, another win on the board!

The Vancouver Canucks blanked the Anaheim Ducks 2-0 at home, for just their second win of 2026 thus far. While they weren’t convincing by any means, with pretty much every stat favouring the Ducks, the Canucks were still able to pull this one out, hanging on until they were able to score late in the third and steer this one home for the win. It’s a nice gutsy once-in-a-while win, and definitely something nice for the fans at home to watch as well. Haven’t seen many home wins in the last little while.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

The game flow is pretty interesting to take a look at. There wasn’t a single period where the Canucks were favoured when it came to CF% or xGF% – in fact, Anaheim was all over them for the most part through the entire game. The closest Vancouver got was in the second, where their CF% finished at 45.00, and xGF% was 48.51. What stood out the most, however, was the spike in CF% in the third, which corresponded exactly to the goal that the Canucks were able to get to break the ice when it came to scoring in this one. After that, it was all Anaheim, with score effects completely taking hold until the very end.

Given how the Ducks had a hefty upper hand statistically, one might expect this heat map to look worse. That should be a credit to the Canucks for limiting the damage that Anaheim was able to do, keeping their high-danger chances relatively limited when all things were considered. Overall, the Ducks had a 25-16 lead in scoring chances at 5v5, but only an 11-6 HDCF advantage. They did have the darker spot in relation to the Canucks, but considering the advantage that Anaheim had for the majority of the night, it should’ve been a lot worse.

Corsi Champ: See what happens when you provide some consistency? Aatu Räty led the Canucks in CF% again last night, racking up 57.89 CF% while being on ice for the Canucks’ only 5v5 goal. The Finn received zero starts in the offensive zone, which affected his xGF% to the tune of 33.09 on the night. Still, that was just barely under team average as Räty’s xGF% rel was a -4.64. With the context of his deployment and being counted upon for some important faceoff wins, it was a pretty good night for the young forward.

Corsi Chump: Teddy Blueger is the Canucks’ ultimate shutdown centre, which means that his advanced stats were not the greatest last night. The Latvian was thrown out mostly in defensive situations and finished with a team-low 21.74 CF%, on ice for a team-worst 1.57 xGA and 5.90 xGF%. Blueger had to hold the fort down when facing a 1-13 hole in scoring chances, with a 0-7 deficit in high-danger chances. But again, it shows the trust he has to be put into these situations, in high-risk defensive situations and tasked with shutting down the very best that opponents have to offer.

xGF: Tyler Myers actually led the Canucks in xGF%, posting a 63.69 while pairing up alongside PO Joseph for a pretty tidy night. There wasn’t much wrong with how his night went, with a 7-3 scoring chance lead and a 1-1 split in high-danger chances. It is worth mentioning that this pairing saw 100% of their shift starts in the offensive zone, and 88.89% of their faceoff starts in the same end, which probably contributed to the nice numbers they were able to finish with last night. Leading the way in raw xGF was Filip Hronek, who recorded a 0.74 to once more lead the Canucks from the back end.

GSAx: Barring a brief scare with a concussion spotter, Nikita Tolopilo was able to play all but 2:10 of this contest. Facing down 3.65 xGF, the Belarusian remained perfect and sparkling, recording a full 3.65 GSAx. That was with a very sizeable 11 high-danger chances saved and 11 middle-danger chances saved, which shouldn’t be overlooked at all. Unfortunately, because Tolopilo didn’t play the full 60 minutes and Kevin Lankinen came in for a couple of minutes and made one save, the shutout will go to the team rather than the starting netminder.

It was an overall good effort from the Canucks, to give their home fans something to cheer about. It’s been a bleak season, and even with the result, this team is likely still going to be mired in the basement. That’s a good thing, though, and keeps their draft position in a good spot as well. Seeing these performances from players like Tolopilo is encouraging and hopefully signals positive development for the prospects on the roster.

Vancouver welcomes the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs to town tomorrow night.