The Vancouver Canucks dropped a 5-3 decision to the New York Rangers this afternoon. The team didn’t play poorly at all – in fact, it was probably one of their best performances at both ends of the ice all season. And in typical Canucks fashion, instead of being rewarded for their efforts, they were punished and lost this game. Could they have done better in capitalizing when they were dominating the game flow? Sure. But at the same time… New York never really was the best team in this game, convincingly.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

There was nothing in this game that suggested the Rangers ever got a lick of momentum. The first period set the tone for the Canucks, who posted a 73.53 CF% and 84.63 xGF%. It was absurd, with Vancouver tallying 1.86 xGF in the opening frame alone. Should they have capitalized on that more? Probably, but at the same time, it wasn’t as if they gave New York a path back into this game from the stats side – they just didn’t build more. The Rangers only posted a single period at 0.5 xGF, with the Canucks holding a handy edge in expected goals and Corsi shares that shouldn’t have resulted in 5 goals against.

The heat map adds further support for the fact that Vancouver absolutely deserved to win this one. At 5v5, the scoring chances were 28-13 in favour of the Canucks, while the high-danger chances were 12-3. That much is apparent, where the Rangers had no hot spot of note in any significant area, and the Canucks got a really good patch right in front of Igor Shesterkin. The biggest thing here which will make most people pull their hair out is seeing that the Rangers were able to pot four 5v5 goals against the Canucks, despite lacking a lot in the chance generation department.

Corsi Champ: It is hard to quantify the impact that Quinn Hughes has on this Canucks team. Leading the way with a 74.29 CF% and playing against the best the Rangers had to offer, the defenceman put in a shift and a half. At 5v5, Hughes was on ice for a 13-4 shot differential, allowing him to rack up a team-high 1.9 xGF and second-best 85.65 xGF%. The former Wolverine helped the Canucks get a 16-3 scoring chance differential, with a further 8-0 high-danger chance edge. Simply put, Hughes was dominant, putting on a clinic whenever he was on the ice and ensuring that New York didn’t have a sniff of offensive pressure.

Corsi Chump: Dakota Joshua brought up the rear in the Corsi department at 50.00 CF%. That’s a really good number to be at as the “worst” player on the team, as even that meant that he was splitting possession approximately evenly against the opposition. And it wasn’t as if Joshua wasn’t putting up good metrics elsewhere, managing to record the fourth-best xGF of 1.17 and a 70.47 xGF% for the game.

xGF: Jake DeBrusk found himself leading the Canucks with an 87.97 xGF%, thanks to his third-best 0.1 xGA and seventh-best 0.76 xGF. The winger was on ice for three HDCF and zero HDCA, all the while playing against New York’s top line all game. DeBrusk did manage to record an assist, so it wasn’t as if he was putting up empty stats, either. It was some solid results against solid competition in relation to the opposing team.

GSAx: Not Kevin Lankinen‘s finest moment. New York only managed 12 shots all game and accumulated 1.14 xGF in total. The Finn, letting four goals get past him, would record a -2.86 GSAx in a game where Vancouver had the ice tilted in their favour. Only one of the goals came from a high-danger chance, with two middle-danger goals against and one low-danger goal against. Lankinen just didn’t have a good game, and unfortunately, the results reflect that.

General misery: The stats from this game really aren’t bad at all. Were there some underperformers? Of course, but that’s the case with any game. Vancouver, the team posted some really good metrics and looked like a team that deserved to win this contest. Unfortunately, things didn’t go their way, and despite no player finishing below 50.00 CF% or 54.31 xGF% (Derek Forbort posted that last number, by the way!), the Canucks are now scoreboard watching and seeing their postseason hopes slip away.

The Canucks played really good hockey here. They lept out of the gates in the first period, generating an amazing amount of chances and getting into the lead. After that, though, despite holding good enough share metrics, they didn’t do enough to bury the Rangers firmly, and in the end, that cost the Canucks. The implications of this result could be huge, and with each point so valuable, to come up completely empty-handed stings, especially given how well they played at both ends of the ice.

Vancouver stays on the East Coast, hopping over on Monday to play the New Jersey Devils.