What a way to bounce back.

The Vancouver Canucks topped the Buffalo Sabres by a 4-3 score line in overtime. Considering that they almost let a 3-1 lead slip away from them, it could’ve had a completely different ending and flavour had the Canucks not managed to take both points. But, thanks to some excellent efforts by Quinn Hughes, Conor Garland and Kevin Lankinen, Vancouver walked away with the victory – something that can’t be understated given the circumstances surrounding this team right now. Hopefully, things will stabilize and Vancouver’s luck off the ice will turn around.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

Quite frankly, this game was very much up for grabs through the first two periods. Things slightly favoured Buffalo over the course of the opening two periods, but the ebbs and flows saw the CF% and xGF% balance each other out. That changed after the Canucks managed to pull ahead 3-1 though – the Sabres found the gear that they needed to even up the game, putting together a 76.92 CF% and 88.42 xGF%, all the while holding Vancouver to just 0.09 xGF. It could’ve been disastrous if they kept that pace up, but luckily, overtime happened, and the Canucks managed to secure a winner after yet more brilliance from Lankinen.

Did the Vancouver Canucks play a hockey game and again struggle to generate chances? Colour me surprised. Across all situations, the scoring chances stood at 28-17 for Buffalo while the high-danger chances favoured the Sabres by a 13-8 margin. The home team got most of that in the first and third periods, with 5 high-danger chances apiece. It’s reflected in the heat map too, where the Sabres definitely had a bigger and thicker spot than the Canucks did over the course of the game. The only consolation for Vancouver here besides the win is that they actually managed to get scoring chances on the power play – 4/8 of their high-danger chances came on the man advantage.

Corsi Champ: Mr. puck on a string does it again. Quinn Hughes led the Canucks with a 59.46 CF% to be a staggering 33.88 CF% rel above team average, making plays look easy and natural against the Sabres. He disrupted Buffalo’s attacks and drove the Canucks from the back end, holding an impressive even 3-3 split in high-danger chances during his TOI. Vancouver would be so much less dynamic if they didn’t have his presence on the back end, and this is with Hughes dragging Tyler Myers alongside him.

Corsi Chump: Max Sasson finds himself as the worst Canuck in the Corsi department, a team-worst 22.22 CF% as the fourth line was severely limited in terms of their deployment. It made sense too, as Sasson’s numbers with that unit weren’t the greatest. On ice for a 1-5 deficit in scoring chances, with 0 high-danger chances for and 3 high-danger chances against, Sasson recorded an 18.81 xGF%, which surprisingly wasn’t the worst of the team – it was just the 6th worst tally. It wasn’t as bad as the advanced stats said though, Sasson making some good plays where he could.

xGF: Brock Boeser is getting back into the swing of things after his injury. This game, the winger tallied two assists, deservedly so as he led Vancouver with a 69.68 xGF%. Boeser recorded the 4th best xGA of 0.28 to go with a 4th best xGF of 0.65, managing to make an impact both with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk as well as Nils Höglander and Aatu Räty. Not bad versatility on his part. Leading the way in raw xGF was none other that Hughes with a 0.93 against the Sabres.

GSAx: Where would the Canucks be without Kevin Lankinen? For a signing that happened so late in the summer, the Finn netminder has been making a huge difference in solidifying the pipes in place of the injured Thatcher Demko and the struggling Arturs Silovs. With Buffalo racking up 3.47 xGF, Lankinen broke even and finished with a 0.47 GSAx, doing more than his fair share in making sure the Canucks had a chance to win this one. Two goals were surrendered off of high-danger chances, while the other goal was off a middle-danger chance. Nothing wrong with this performance at all, which included a highlight reel, game-saving stop in OT.

Conor Garland’s big day: Dad-strength has found Conor Garland, as the winger continues to chug along as Vancouver’s consistent engine in the face of everything. His numbers at 5v5 were quite pedestrian – but it makes sense when considering that Garland got about 8 minutes of special teams deployment, of which he made the most of. Factoring in all situations, Garland jumped from middle of the pack statistically to the Canucks’ fourth-best Corsi man and xGF% man. That included a huge two goals, the overtime winner for one of them, as well as a massive block-assist for Pius Suter’s tally. He’s been unreal for the Canucks throughout this opening stretch of the season, and it doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down any time soon.

Stress testing Brännström: Finding Erik Brännström in a cap-dump trade has been a boon for the Canucks. That should not be questioned. However, with just how depleted the Canucks’ back end is, with depth already being an issue and now with Filip Hronek out, Brännström was put into tougher minutes. The numbers that he produced against Buffalo were comically bad alongside Vincent Desharnais. Brännström did not record a single xGF while facing down 0.58 xGA, to give him a team worst 0.79 xGF%. Yes, while Brännström was on the ice, the Sabres were putting up a 99.21 xGF% share. The Swede got absolutely buried playing against the younger talent that Buffalo had to offer, primarily being put out there against their middle 6 with the occasional run-in against Rasmus Dahlin. He’s not meant for that top-4 role, but Brännström still remains a good, puck-moving, third-pairing defenceman.

The Canucks almost let this slip away from them, but overall, they managed to play some good hockey in a game bogged down by a bunch of special team situations. Chance generation continues to be the beating drum that the Canucks need to figure out, but with their lack of personnel and playing with sheer grit, it’s not a bad result to be rolling on with. Getting 3 wins in 4 games on the road isn’t an easy feat, and Vancouver’s definitely doing enough to be putting themselves in the right position once they get healthier.

The Canucks continue on the road, arriving in Detroit for a Sunday matchup against the Red Wings.