Ending the year on a whimper of sorts.

The Vancouver Canucks got beaten 6-3 at the hands of Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers. It wasn’t as if this team was played off the ice, but they also showed just how a lack of high-end talent can affect a team. The Canucks couldn’t get a hold of this game, couldn’t manage to seize the initiative, and couldn’t capitalize on what their opposition was giving them. There was no game-breaking from Vancouver’s part, and in a game where they were so close with their opposition for a large majority of the night, it cost them.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

This game had its ebbs and flows, and it wasn’t like Vancouver had fully let the game slip out of reach at any point. They started out very strongly in the first, holding a 59.38 CF% and 71.71 xGF%, but obviously weren’t able to deliver on the promising share metrics. Unfortunately for this team, that proved costly, as a weaker second period allowed Philly to seize significant leads in both Corsi and expected goals metrics. Doubly so, as the Flyers actually made good on those advantages to get in front by two goals. That made it hard for the Canucks to fully get back into the game; although they played a competitive third, they needed to be much better to tie it up.

Again, this heat map wasn’t the worst thing in the world, especially given some of the ones we’ve seen out of the team as of late. While the Flyers held a 27-22 scoring-chance lead at 5v5, high-danger chances were evenly split at 11-11. Their hot spots look the same because, well, they pretty much were the same. The distribution through the game could be improved, though, as the Canucks had five of their 11 HDCF in the opening frame, while the Flyers had six in the second and four in the third.

Corsi Champ: Drew O’Connor led the Canucks in CF% last night with a 64.29, one of the few forwards to be a consistent offensive threat. This time, it wasn’t just his skating mixed with board hands; he showed a solid nose for the net and went to the dirty areas with a finish. He’s been doing this consistently all year, and in his depth role, the occasional finish from O’Connor is always appreciated.

Corsi Chump: On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Conor Garland brought up the rear with a 24.00 CF%. It wasn’t a good night at all for the diminutive winger, on ice for a 4-11 shot differential, 4-11 hole in scoring chances, and 3-7 in high-danger chances. It was no wonder that Garland also recorded a 22.70 xGF%, the second-worst mark on the roster, while being on ice for the second-most xGA at 1.15. It was an off night for him and one the Canucks would rather not have out of anyone, much less one of their more important wingers.

xGF: O’Connor led the Canucks in xGF% as well, racking up 76.38 off of an 11-4 advantage in scoring chances and a 4-1 high-danger chance lead. His 0.96 xGF was the third-most on the team, while a 0.3 xGA was also the third-best mark in that category as well. It should come as no surprise that O’Connor was on ice for three goals for; his line was responsible for all the offence the Canucks got last night (we’ll get to that in a bit). Leading the way in raw xGF was Marcus Pettersson at 1.33, which also saw the defenceman thrust into a wide variety of deployment as the team’s 2D.

GSAx: This was Thatcher Demko’s worst game since returning from injury. The Flyers managed only 2.40 expected goals across all situations, which meant that with four goals against, the netminder recorded a -1.60 GSAx. The only slight redeeming quality was that Demko didn’t give up a single low-danger goal against, with the goals coming from an even 2-2 split between high- and middle-danger. Still, it wasn’t up to his usual standard, but again, it’s not like this entire team has been up to standard in a good while.

An unlikely first line: As the title of this suggests, the O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood line had a crazy game on the scoresheet and the statsheet last night. Their numbers together were very eye-catching as the trio recorded the second-best CF% of any forward line with over four minutes TOI together, on ice for three goals for and zero goals against, as well as a team-high in xGF at 0.95 and xGF% with 76.22. It wasn’t even funny how far ahead of everyone else they were in terms of raw numbers, as the next best mark in xGF was a 0.22. Scoring chance-wise, O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood stood at 11-4 in overall chances and 4-1 in high-danger chances. The next best marks were 3-2 and 1-0, respectively. Again, it was a great night from these three, but when O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood is your best forward line, chances are your team is in some deep trouble.

Why are we changing something that wasn’t broke?: Remember how Zeev Buium and Tom Willander played well last time out against the Kraken? Well, Adam Foote proceeded to not play them together against the Flyers. Buium was paired with Filip Hronek, which meant he was thrown to the wolves against tougher competition. The pairing wasn’t the most impressive together on the stat sheet, posting a 33.33 CF% and 30.08 xGF% while being on ice for a goal against together. While Buium-Hronek were on ice together, the scoring chances were 1-9 in favour of Philly, with a 1-5 margin in high-danger chances. Willander was paired up with PO Joseph, but managed to tread water, keeping a 47.06 CF% and 57.19 xGF% together. However, it was certainly not the same heights as the performance Buium and Willander put together against Seattle.

The Canucks aren’t good enough as a team. It wasn’t a good enough performance to win, especially when your best players don’t play like your best players. The wingers have been ice cold, and there’s not a game-breaking talent anywhere in the roster that’s been stepping up. This game was within reach, and the Canucks even got off to such a promising start in the first. But once more, it ended in frustration – but hey, at least the tank is rolling onwards.

Vancouver gets to enjoy their New Year before hosting the Seattle Kraken on January 2nd.