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The Statsies: Quinn Hughes tries to carry Canucks in loss to Sharks
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Photo credit: © Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
Michael Liu
Nov 29, 2025, 12:00 EST
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And once more, the inconsistency strikes again (with a little bit of help from the refs).
The Vancouver Canucks fell 3-2 in regulation against the San Jose Sharks. It wasn’t the prettiest game by any means, and while the Canucks weren’t exactly outplayed, they didn’t do themselves any favours in trying to win this contest. Going 0-7 on the man-advantage is not a good look and didn’t help their case, even if the officiating was horrid. They let the chances pass them up, and unfortunately they did so one too many times.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

This game was just a tire fire, especially in the second and third. There isn’t much 5v5 play to speak of, but during that limited amount of even-strength play, the Canucks didn’t look too bad. For the second and third periods, they were comfortably over 63.00 CF%, while also posting a 79.28 xGF% in the second and 69.44 xGF% in the third. Vancouver was getting some pretty nice raw numbers too, with a 1.21 xGF at 5v5 action in the second alone.
It was the power play that was disheartening to see though. With a total of 11:10 on the man-advantage, one would hope that the Canucks would be able to build momentum, at the very minimum. Unfortunately, Vancouver only managed to produce 12 scoring chances and 7 high-danger chances, unable to truly impose their will on the Sharks. That ended up costing them in the end, and big time.

Heat Map

The heat map ever so slightly favours the Canucks from last afternoon. With a total of 19-15 scoring chances for the visiting team, Vancouver also had a slight 8-5 edge in high-danger chances, reflected by that slight shade of blue in the slot/crease area. That doesn’t sound like a lot, which realistically it isn’t, but consider that this was for 35:16 of 5v5 play. That’s just over half of a game, which is not a lot of time spent at even-strength play.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Evander Kane led the Canucks in Corsi, putting up 75.00 CF% in very limited even-strength playing time. The winger saw plenty of action on the power play, managing be on ice for a goal to boot. Kane also managed to record a 73.22 xGF%, which was the 5th-best mark on the team and 3rd-best amongst players with more than 5:00 TOI. With a 5-1 scoring chance lead and 3-0 high-danger chance edge, it’s hard to dislike the contribution that Kane put forth last afternoon.
Corsi Chump: Arshdeep Bains found himself bottom of the team with a 20.00 CF% against the Sharks. It was quite the drastic change in fortunes compared to that Ducks outing, as the depth forward was buried in the brief amounts of ice time that he actually saw. Bains did not post any xGF to end up with a 0.00 xGF%, on ice for a 1-2 scoring chance deficit and 0-1 high-danger chance battle. That line did not have Foote’s trust whatsoever, so it wasn’t like Bains was allowed to play himself out of this statistical hole.
xGF: Quinn Hughes did his very darn best. The captain of the Canucks led the team with an 81.34 xGF% share, dancing around the Sharks that were thrown his way to help drive plenty of offence for his team. Hughes was on ice for a 13-6 scoring chance differential, with a 5-1 high-danger chance lead as well. His raw 1.25 xGF was second-best on the team, just behind Conor Garland’s 1.48 xGF. It was a damn good effort from Hughes, and another reminder of just what sort of impact he makes on this entire roster.
GSAx: Nikita Tolopilo battled hard in this one. While he wasn’t stealing the game for the Canucks, he most certainly was serviceable enough, and especially so given the mess of a game in front of him. San Jose generated a total of 2.30 xGF last night, with the goals evenly distributed from all three danger zones against Tolopilo for a -0.70 GSAx. Again, not the best result, but certainly not the end-all-be-all here. The netminder wasn’t the problem; it was a lack of capitalization in front of him. With Kevin Lankinen expected to rejoin the Canucks on this road trip, Tolopilo probably will be moved back into the backup role after some solid emergency performances.

Statistical Musings

Messing with something that worked: One of the biggest things that stood out prior to puck drop was the announcement that Lukas Reichel would draw back into the lineup. In a vacuum, it made sense, as Aatu Raty had made a pretty costly error defensively to give up a goal against the Ducks. However, by inserting Reichel onto that fourth line, it basically just nullified any of the good vibes that they managed to generate against Anaheim. The trio didn’t see much of the ice at all, to the point where NaturalStatTrick didn’t even list them as a line that existed. It just seems odd to mess with a line that had been so good in just the previous contest, and sandbag them into being the worst forwards on the ice against San Jose.
A line that’s clicking: It’s yet another game where the Garland – Kampf – Boeser line put a strong performance forward. They were by far Vancouver’s best forward unit offensively, generating a team-best 0.97 xGF and 79.81 xGF%. The next highest raw xGF number was 0.25, for full context. They managed to pot a goal together as well, which saw Boeser finally end a goalless streak. Hopefully, the numbers can continue to look this good as this line starts rolling on the scoresheet as well.

As a team

CF% – 60.19% HDCF% – 69.57% xGF% – 66.49%
The Canucks probably deserved better in this one than a regulation loss. They played solid, had their chances, and didn’t really see themselves on the back foot for any extended period amount of time in this game. Unfortunately, going completely empty on the power play did not do the Canucks any favours, and given how many opportunities they had, it was frustrating to see. Couple that with the atricious ref game… you get the point. Not a fun loss after beating the Ducks.
Vancouver is right back in action tonight, heading back down into SoCal to take on the Los Angeles Kings.
Stats provided by naturalstattrick.com
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