<p><em class="text-lg italic">Be sure to check out <a class="text-accent" href="https://betway.com/en/sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Betway</a> for all the latest Canucks game day odds!</em></p>
<p>That was 7 minutes of must-watch hockey.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> celebration party inside bridgestone arena after last nights OT win <a href="https://t.co/tEGI1N8jou">pic.twitter.com/tEGI1N8jou</a></p>
<p>&mdash; kwïn hüz /blm/ (@riotsurvivor) <a href="https://twitter.com/riotsurvivor/status/1784910782435602808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The Vancouver Canucks stormed back late in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime against the Nashville Predators, taking a stranglehold 3-1 lead in the series. For how the majority of the game went, this result didn&#8217;t even seem to be plausible. Once the Preds got into the 3-1 lead, they looked comfortable to sit back and defend while the Canucks couldn&#8217;t quite string together enough shifts to build momentum. But in the blink of an eye, the game was turned on its head, and the series now returns to Vancouver with the Canucks up 3-1 instead of it being tied 2-2.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the win, by the numbers</p>
<p>As always, you can find <a class="text-accent" href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/official-glossary-guide-canucksarmy-analytics-post-game-statsies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our glossary guide of advanced stats here</a>.</p>
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Game Flow</strong></em></span></h1>
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/graphs/20232024-30174-xgdiff-5v5.png" /></p>
<p>With how dead the game felt at times, it makes sense that the game flow is filled with flat slopes. There wasn&#8217;t a single period of regulation hockey that the Predators didn&#8217;t lead in CF%, while only the second period saw Nashville give up a 51.89 xGF% to Vancouver with the first and third&#8217;s xGF% in their control. However, it wasn&#8217;t as if they were heavily out-chancing the Canucks either &#8211; the trendlines stayed close to the middle and for good reason, because the raw volume of Corsi and expected goals weren&#8217;t that far out of line for either team.</p>
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Heat Map</strong></em></span></h1>
<p><img decoding="async" src="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/heatmaps/games/20232024/20232024-30174-all.png" /></p>
<p>There is the running joke of &#8220;why shoot more when less shot do trick?&#8221; But funnily enough, that&#8217;s exactly what the numbers suggested that Vancouver did. Despite being out-shot 30-20 over all situations, the Canucks actually narrowly led in raw scoring chances by a 21-20 margin. That gap widened when looking at high-danger chances, with Vancouver topping Nashville with a 9-5 lead. That much is reflected in the heat map, where Nashville&#8217;s hot spot in the slot area is smaller and less dense than the Canucks&#8217; in front of Juuse Saros. It might be unintentional, but Vancouver was taking quality over quantity when it came to their shot selection. It almost didn&#8217;t work out &#8211; but the final couple minutes of regulation turned everything on its head.</p>
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Individual Advanced Stats</strong></em></span></h1>
<p><strong>Corsi Champ: </strong>Sam Lafferty was the surprising name that led the Canucks in CF% last night, tallying a 64.29 mostly coming against Nashville&#8217;s middle 6. He did a pretty good job in his limited minutes, producing the team&#8217;s best xGA with a 0.1 while being on ice for a 4-0 scoring chance differential. Not bad considering that Lafferty and his line aren&#8217;t exactly expected to be offensive contributors. For a good chunk of the game, they were the only ones doing much of anything at even strength outside of the Miller line.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">canucks best scoring chance of the period comes from sam lafferty. great for sam. not so great for the canucks</p>
<p>&mdash; Mr Booth (@MrBooth07) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrBooth07/status/1784731713458864270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>Corsi Chump: </strong>Carson Soucy posted the team&#8217;s worst CF% with 25.93, which came with the team&#8217;s fourth-worst xGF% of 26.72 while being on ice for 3 high-danger chances against. Thing is, he didn&#8217;t even have a bad game. Soucy was the matchup target for Forsberg-O&#8217;Reilly-Nyquist, trying to find a defensive pairing that they wouldn&#8217;t get swallowed up by. He didn&#8217;t budge though, not letting Nashville&#8217;s top line get a single goal against at 5v5 play, which is all that you can ask for. Soucy gave up plenty puck possession but made sure that the Preds&#8217; top line couldn&#8217;t do anything with it.</p>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold"><strong class="text-lg font-bold">THE STATSIES PRESENTED BY BETWAY</strong><img decoding="async" class="w-full" src="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Betway-Article-Image.jpeg" alt="" /></h2>
<p><strong>xGF: </strong>Filip Hronek hasn&#8217;t exactly looked fully right, but still finds himself as the team&#8217;s best xGF% man with 76.50. He led the team with a 0.62 xGF at 5v5, posting a 0.19 xGA to come in 5th for that category. It is a bit rough that Hronek was the team&#8217;s leader in xGF this game, showing where the Canucks were at for the first 55 minutes of the matchup. For the time he was on ice, it was good numbers, but Hronek clearly isn&#8217;t top pairing material with his current play &#8211; which may also be as a result of a slightly hobbled Quinn Hughes. Hopefully, the pair of them were just banged up for the game and can recover slightly in time for Game 5 at home.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Both Hronek and Hughes look like they’re playing on broken legs</p>
<p>&mdash; Cody Severtson (@CodySevertson) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodySevertson/status/1784728246313255354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>GSAx: </strong>Arturs Silovs was pressed into action with Casey DeSmith out for Game 4, and the Latvian battled hard. He was a big reason why the Canucks even had the opportunity to come back and win this game in overtime. The Predators recorded a 2.25 xGF against Silovs last night, which put him into the negatives with a -0.75 GSAx. Of the goals that went by him, two were high-danger chances and one was middle danger. Obviously, being in the negatives isn&#8217;t the greatest, but Silovs stayed in the game and gave the Canucks key saves whenever they needed them. More importantly was the fact that he outdueled Juuse Saros, who posted a -1.89 GSAx. A third-string goalie posting these kinds of numbers in the playoffs? You take that and run.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Arturs Silovs makes a great glove save! A clutch stop that keeps this a one goal lead for Nashville <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Preds?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Preds</a><br />📽️: Sportsnet | NHL <a href="https://t.co/B4RqJTyJ9N">pic.twitter.com/B4RqJTyJ9N</a></p>
<p>&mdash; CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) <a href="https://twitter.com/CanucksArmy/status/1784718562130878716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Statistical Musings</strong></em></span></h1>
<p><strong>Nashville&#8217;s answer: </strong>For the first time this series, the Suter-Miller-Boeser line wasn&#8217;t the best forward unit by the numbers at 5v5. Actually, they were the worst trio in CF%, xGA, xGF%, and didn&#8217;t manage to generate a single high-danger chance while facing 3 against. What&#8217;s interesting is that Nashville used two lines to go up against Suter-Miller-Boeser, with the Forsberg-O&#8217;Reilly-Nyquist and Sherwood-Smith-McCarron lines splitting duties pretty evenly. Vancouver&#8217;s line actually recorded slightly better numbers against Forsberg-O&#8217;Reilly-Nyquist, but generally speaking both these lines made sure that Suter-Miller-Boeser wouldn&#8217;t have their way with them offensively like in the previous 3 games. Of course, once the 6-on-5 happened, all that went out the window with Boeser&#8217;s two goals for the hat trick. It&#8217;ll be interesting to see if Nashville tries to stick with this strategy in Game 5 when they don&#8217;t have the last change.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Miller chirping is a beautiful thing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#canucks</a> <a href="https://t.co/PcMIYi7jyM">pic.twitter.com/PcMIYi7jyM</a></p>
<p>&mdash; 44 (@canuckinsanity) <a href="https://twitter.com/canuckinsanity/status/1784962680530379173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>Please give us EP40 back: </strong>Seriously, this isn&#8217;t funny anymore. Elias Pettersson had maybe one average game in Game 3, but Game 4 saw him go absolutely off the rails. Pettersson had the 5th worst CF% of any Canucks and the second-lowest xGF with 0.16. This is not the effort of a superstar, and the Swede looks completely out of answers at 5v5. He was stumbling, falling, unable to come up with the puck in battles, and just generally didn&#8217;t look good. It&#8217;s telling when even Ilya Mikheyev was posting better numbers and looking more effective.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">JT Miller has showed up consistently in this series but can&#39;t say the same for the rest of the stars.</p>
<p>Boeser has at least scored a couple goals but Canucks need so much more from Pettersson and even Hughes</p>
<p>&mdash; Satiar Shah (@SatiarShah) <a href="https://twitter.com/SatiarShah/status/1784731058099134612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>As a team</strong></em></span></h1>
<p><strong class="text-lg font-bold">CF% – 45.45% HDCF% – 64.29% xGF% – 41.84%</strong></p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t the prettiest win of all time, but there&#8217;s no denying how important and satisfying that Canucks result was. To come back in the fashion that they did, to stop playing Preds hockey and play Canucks hockey to demoralize their opponents in a pivotal Game 4, it could have major consequences going into Game 5. This team has battled every step of the way, overcoming injuries to their goaltenders, to making up for stars not showing up, and now, they take a 3-1 lead home to try and book their spot into the next round. That&#8217;s a gutsy win to pull off, with some help from a post.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Colton Sissons</p>
<p>North Vancouver, British Columbia </p>
<p>We are all Canucks <a href="https://t.co/b3qrHUnQsK">pic.twitter.com/b3qrHUnQsK</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Pete Edwards (@pete_gas) <a href="https://twitter.com/pete_gas/status/1784992438836453464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Vancouver returns to action at Rogers Arena on Tuesday with the opportunity to close this series out.</p>
<p><em class="text-lg italic">Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com</em></p>


NHL Betting Preview for Game 5 of Nashville Predators vs. Vancouver Canucks on April 30th

<em class="text-lg italic">Be sure to check out <a class="text-accent" href="https://betway.com/en/sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Betway</a> for all the latest Canucks game day odds!</em>

That was 7 minutes of must-watch hockey.

https://twitter.com/riotsurvivor/status/1784910782435602808

The Vancouver Canucks stormed back late in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime against the Nashville Predators, taking a stranglehold 3-1 lead in the series. For how the majority of the game went, this result didn't even seem to be plausible. Once the Preds got into the 3-1 lead, they looked comfortable to sit back and defend while the Canucks couldn't quite string together enough shifts to build momentum. But in the blink of an eye, the game was turned on its head, and the series now returns to Vancouver with the Canucks up 3-1 instead of it being tied 2-2.

Here's the win, by the numbers

As always, you can find <a class="text-accent" href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/official-glossary-guide-canucksarmy-analytics-post-game-statsies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our glossary guide of advanced stats here</a>.
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Game Flow</strong></em></span></h1>
<img src="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/graphs/20232024-30174-xgdiff-5v5.png" />

With how dead the game felt at times, it makes sense that the game flow is filled with flat slopes. There wasn't a single period of regulation hockey that the Predators didn't lead in CF%, while only the second period saw Nashville give up a 51.89 xGF% to Vancouver with the first and third's xGF% in their control. However, it wasn't as if they were heavily out-chancing the Canucks either - the trendlines stayed close to the middle and for good reason, because the raw volume of Corsi and expected goals weren't that far out of line for either team.
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Heat Map</strong></em></span></h1>
<img src="https://www.naturalstattrick.com/heatmaps/games/20232024/20232024-30174-all.png" />

There is the running joke of "why shoot more when less shot do trick?" But funnily enough, that's exactly what the numbers suggested that Vancouver did. Despite being out-shot 30-20 over all situations, the Canucks actually narrowly led in raw scoring chances by a 21-20 margin. That gap widened when looking at high-danger chances, with Vancouver topping Nashville with a 9-5 lead. That much is reflected in the heat map, where Nashville's hot spot in the slot area is smaller and less dense than the Canucks' in front of Juuse Saros. It might be unintentional, but Vancouver was taking quality over quantity when it came to their shot selection. It almost didn't work out - but the final couple minutes of regulation turned everything on its head.
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Individual Advanced Stats</strong></em></span></h1>
<strong>Corsi Champ: </strong>Sam Lafferty was the surprising name that led the Canucks in CF% last night, tallying a 64.29 mostly coming against Nashville's middle 6. He did a pretty good job in his limited minutes, producing the team's best xGA with a 0.1 while being on ice for a 4-0 scoring chance differential. Not bad considering that Lafferty and his line aren't exactly expected to be offensive contributors. For a good chunk of the game, they were the only ones doing much of anything at even strength outside of the Miller line.

https://twitter.com/MrBooth07/status/1784731713458864270

<strong>Corsi Chump: </strong>Carson Soucy posted the team's worst CF% with 25.93, which came with the team's fourth-worst xGF% of 26.72 while being on ice for 3 high-danger chances against. Thing is, he didn't even have a bad game. Soucy was the matchup target for Forsberg-O'Reilly-Nyquist, trying to find a defensive pairing that they wouldn't get swallowed up by. He didn't budge though, not letting Nashville's top line get a single goal against at 5v5 play, which is all that you can ask for. Soucy gave up plenty puck possession but made sure that the Preds' top line couldn't do anything with it.
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold"><strong class="text-lg font-bold">THE STATSIES PRESENTED BY BETWAY</strong><img class="w-full" src="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Betway-Article-Image.jpeg" alt="" /></h2>
<strong>xGF: </strong>Filip Hronek hasn't exactly looked fully right, but still finds himself as the team's best xGF% man with 76.50. He led the team with a 0.62 xGF at 5v5, posting a 0.19 xGA to come in 5th for that category. It is a bit rough that Hronek was the team's leader in xGF this game, showing where the Canucks were at for the first 55 minutes of the matchup. For the time he was on ice, it was good numbers, but Hronek clearly isn't top pairing material with his current play - which may also be as a result of a slightly hobbled Quinn Hughes. Hopefully, the pair of them were just banged up for the game and can recover slightly in time for Game 5 at home.

https://twitter.com/CodySevertson/status/1784728246313255354

<strong>GSAx: </strong>Arturs Silovs was pressed into action with Casey DeSmith out for Game 4, and the Latvian battled hard. He was a big reason why the Canucks even had the opportunity to come back and win this game in overtime. The Predators recorded a 2.25 xGF against Silovs last night, which put him into the negatives with a -0.75 GSAx. Of the goals that went by him, two were high-danger chances and one was middle danger. Obviously, being in the negatives isn't the greatest, but Silovs stayed in the game and gave the Canucks key saves whenever they needed them. More importantly was the fact that he outdueled Juuse Saros, who posted a -1.89 GSAx. A third-string goalie posting these kinds of numbers in the playoffs? You take that and run.

https://twitter.com/CanucksArmy/status/1784718562130878716
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Statistical Musings</strong></em></span></h1>
<strong>Nashville's answer: </strong>For the first time this series, the Suter-Miller-Boeser line wasn't the best forward unit by the numbers at 5v5. Actually, they were the worst trio in CF%, xGA, xGF%, and didn't manage to generate a single high-danger chance while facing 3 against. What's interesting is that Nashville used two lines to go up against Suter-Miller-Boeser, with the Forsberg-O'Reilly-Nyquist and Sherwood-Smith-McCarron lines splitting duties pretty evenly. Vancouver's line actually recorded slightly better numbers against Forsberg-O'Reilly-Nyquist, but generally speaking both these lines made sure that Suter-Miller-Boeser wouldn't have their way with them offensively like in the previous 3 games. Of course, once the 6-on-5 happened, all that went out the window with Boeser's two goals for the hat trick. It'll be interesting to see if Nashville tries to stick with this strategy in Game 5 when they don't have the last change.

https://twitter.com/canuckinsanity/status/1784962680530379173

<strong>Please give us EP40 back: </strong>Seriously, this isn't funny anymore. Elias Pettersson had maybe one average game in Game 3, but Game 4 saw him go absolutely off the rails. Pettersson had the 5th worst CF% of any Canucks and the second-lowest xGF with 0.16. This is not the effort of a superstar, and the Swede looks completely out of answers at 5v5. He was stumbling, falling, unable to come up with the puck in battles, and just generally didn't look good. It's telling when even Ilya Mikheyev was posting better numbers and looking more effective.

https://twitter.com/SatiarShah/status/1784731058099134612
<h1><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>As a team</strong></em></span></h1>
<strong class="text-lg font-bold">CF% – 45.45% HDCF% – 64.29% xGF% – 41.84%</strong>

It wasn't the prettiest win of all time, but there's no denying how important and satisfying that Canucks result was. To come back in the fashion that they did, to stop playing Preds hockey and play Canucks hockey to demoralize their opponents in a pivotal Game 4, it could have major consequences going into Game 5. This team has battled every step of the way, overcoming injuries to their goaltenders, to making up for stars not showing up, and now, they take a 3-1 lead home to try and book their spot into the next round. That's a gutsy win to pull off, with some help from a post.

https://twitter.com/pete_gas/status/1784992438836453464

Vancouver returns to action at Rogers Arena on Tuesday with the opportunity to close this series out.

<em class="text-lg italic">Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com</em>

The Statsies: The numbers behind Arturs Silovs’ first playoff win and a Brock Boeser-spurred comeback

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