That was a fun loss!

The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 6-4 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes. It seemed like a repeat of the Dallas game after the Canes scored four unanswered, but credit to the Canucks as they were able to somehow settle in and make this thing somewhat competitive. Sure, there wasn’t much that suggested that they would actually be able to pull a result out of this one, but Vancouver had some very entertaining moments while scoring four goals to boot. That’s definitely something to celebrate in the ethical tank.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

Despite the scoreline in the first, the 5v5 share stats had the Canucks getting absolutely pummeled by the Canes. Vancouver only held a 30.56 CF% and 12.11 xGF% in the opening frame, giving up a 0-7 hole in high-danger chances. It seemed that carried through into the second, where Carolina continued to maintain that statistical advantage and get themselves into a commanding lead. That being said, though, Vancouver managed to narrow it down to a 1-3 hole in high-danger chances, a slight improvement all things considered. The third was neck and neck, with the Canucks actually recording a 59.53 xGF% in the period.

The heat map isn’t too horrific, especially when looking at where and when things happened throughout the contest. Carolina held a commanding 29-11 scoring chance lead with a 12-3 advantage in high-danger chances. However, 7 of those high-danger chances were in the first, with 11 overall scoring chances in the same span. If taking that into account, things actually weren’t the worst when thinking about how the second and third played out as well.

Corsi Champ: Max Sasson led the Canucks with a 52.63 CF%, playing on the wing of Teddy Blueger and Linus Karlsson and playing some shutdown bottom 6 minutes. On ice for a single goal against, Sasson held a 30.55 xGF%, which was just a -1.89 xGF% relative to the team average. He split a 1-1 high-danger chance battle too, which was pretty solid given the utility minutes that he was thrown out for. A 0.46 xGA was also the second-best mark on the team as well.

Corsi Chump: On the flip side, Victor Mancini did not have a good night in his return to the Canucks’ lineup. A 12.00 CF% was just the tip of the iceberg, as he was also on the ice for 3 goals against and a 2-9 hole in shots while partnering with Zeev Buium. Mancini’s 3.26 xGF% was by far a team-worst, with a team-low 0.03 xGF and team-worst 0.91 xGA to go along with it. The scoring chances were eye-popping in all of the wrong ways too, as Mancini was out there for a 0-16 hole in overall chances and a 0-6 high-danger chance deficit on top of that. Simply put, it was a night to forget for the defenceman.

xGF: Tom Willander bounced back from a pretty rough outing against the Stars, pacing all Canuck skaters with a 58.00 xGF%. Tasked with going up against the Nikolaj Ehlers line, he actually was only on ice for one goal against with a team-low 0.40 xGA, which is pretty tidy work, all things considered. A 0.55 raw xGF was second only to his partner Marcus Pettersson, who racked up a 0.58 xGF. Willander gave up a 4-8 scoring chance hole, but was only on ice for a 1-2 deficit in high-danger chances. Again, given the opposition and how the overall numbers looked, this was a really solid performance from the young Swede.

GSAx: Kevin Lankinen had a very rough game, though his defencemen didn’t help him out too much. Carolina generated 2.23 xGF, with 3 high-danger chances getting past him and a middle-danger goal to complete the scoring against the Finn. Lankinen finished with a -1.77 GSAx off of that, which again, isn’t too great, but it wasn’t as if he was giving up terrible goals against. Coming in for relief, Nikita Tolopilo gave up a single low-danger goal off a 0.59 xGF, meaning that his GSAx was a -0.41 on the night.

Four line contribution: It was interesting to see the stats for each of the four lines at 5v5 play. The top 6 obviously got hammered in a little bit more than the others, with scoring chances stacked up against them thanks to just how dominant the Hurricanes’ top 6 was in their 5v5 minutes. That being said though, all of the lines were over 0.13 xGF with their offensive dealings, showing that there wasn’t one unit that was dominating the chances for, or not pulling their weight offensively. The only line that really was below average in xGF% rel was the Drew O’Connor – David Kampf – Jake DeBrusk line, coming in at a -19.23 with no other forward unit below -10.00 xGF% rel.

Eating minutes: Filip Hronek has been as sturdy as can be on the back end for the Canucks. Coming in with the second-best CF% on the team with a 50.00, the Czech held a 33.41 xGF% to hover above the expected goals average, on ice for 2 goals for and 0 goals against. He’s been leaned upon for some heavy contributions in spite of the tirefire that the Canucks have put out night in and night out, and Hronek has been answering the bell in big ways throughout this season.

The Canucks looked like they were going to get played out of Rogers Arena again for a moment – so credit to them for not doing so, for managing to hang on and battle back through it all. Did they ever look like winning the game, probably not, but it was an entertaining push that they made, especially in the third. There’s not much more to ask for at this point in the season, and the best thing that can happen is these entertaining losses that help build draft position all that much more.

Vancouver heads on the road, going to Chicago to face the Blackhawks tomorrow night.