First win of 2025.

The Vancouver Canucks managed to get a little bit of revenge on the Seattle Kraken, downing them 4-3 in a shootout at the Climate Pledge Arena. With how they played though, they probably did deserve to win in regulation. This team played some good shutdown hockey, limiting what the Kraken could get going at even strength, and actually managed to outchance them as well for a change from the usual. They could do with getting some more high-danger looks from time to time, but the Canucks managed to get themselves on the right side of the result for this one.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

This is the first game flow in a while that has favoured the Canucks this much. There wasn’t a single period of hockey where Vancouver didn’t have over 50.00 CF%, while their lowest period of xGF% was the first with 56.58. They would up that margin to 61.94 xGF% in the second while generating 1.28 xGF, finishing the third with an 88.1 xGF% while limiting the Kraken to 0.06 xGA. That 3-1 lead was definitely earned and probably should’ve been how the Canucks saw this game out. Unfortunately, it seemed they wanted to make it interesting, and the late collapses should be something that this team avoids down the road. At least they got the win.

There weren’t a lot of high-danger chances to speak of at 5v5 last night. Vancouver finally managed to handily outchance a team for the first time in a long while, putting up a 26-15 margin against Seattle. That being said though, their high-danger chance lead only stood at 7-5. It’s somewhat reflected in the hot spot that the Canucks managed to create offensively, while avoiding the same in their own end. However, one thing that should stand out is that the Canucks were unable to create a single high-danger chance during their own powerplays, while the Kraken were able to get 4 high-danger chances in the same amount of special team looks.

Corsi Champ: Teddy Blueger was able to respond to a rough outing in Calgary with a darn decent performance against the Kraken. Leading the team with 83.33 CF%, the Latvian also recorded the team’s second-best xGF% of 81.83 while being on ice for a 12-3 scoring chance lead. All of this was coming in a direct head-to-head matchup against Shane Wright’s line, effectively nullifying any effect that they had at even strength. Definitely a good performance from Blueger with Kiefer Sherwood and Dakota Joshua flanking him.

Corsi Chump: On the other end of the spectrum, Danton Heinen finished bottom of the team with a 33.33 CF% on the night. However, even with that, the Langley native managed to be decently impactful in a positive way. His 46.91 xGF% was the third-worst on the team which is honestly better than expected given the Corsi deficit he found himself in, only being on ice for 2 high-danger chances against. Heinen also managed to pot an assist on the Max Sasson goal, so given those contributions, it’s not the worst game for the winger.

xGF: Conor Garland finds his way back to the top in the xGF% category, leading the Canucks with an 86.32 xGF% last night. His team-best 0.11 xGA was due in large part to some excellent work, holding an 11-1 scoring chance edge during his TOI. However, out of those 11 scoring chances for, only 2 of them were registered as high-danger which is not the best ratio. That being said, Garland did more than his fair share while finding himself on a line with PDG and Pius Suter. Leading the way in raw xGF was… Noah Juulsen’s 1.16. Bet not many saw that one coming.

GSAx: Thank goodness it was only back spasms. Both Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen featured in this one after Demko left the game early in the second period, much to the stomach drops of many Vancouver fans. Starting with Demko, he would post a 0.10 GSAx after facing 1.10 xGF from the Kraken only to concede one low-danger goal. Lankinen would be in the negatives, recording -0.60 GSAx off a 1.40 xGF where the goals were split between high-danger and low-danger. But in all honesty, coming in ice cold as an injury replacement is tough, and Lankinen more than made up for that with his backstopping in the shootout.

How did this work out: The defence corps going into this game looked BRUTAL. Guillaume Brisebois drew into the lineup for Erik Brannstrom, lining up with Tyler Myers, while Carson Soucy and Noah Juulsen were kept together despite their recent (and very prominent) struggles. Yet somehow, of the regulars in the lineup, they didn’t do that bad. Yes, Juulsen clipped Demko and gave Canuck Nation a heart attack, but Soucy-Juulsen’s on ice xGF% stood at 66.15 with the two of them leading the Canucks in raw xGF. That’s seriously not bad especially considering the time they spent playing against Seattle’s top line. Myers was solid as the top RHD option (again, who could’ve thought?) and managed to not be on ice for a single high-danger chance against. All of this is highly likely unsustainable, but the Canucks need every break they can get at this point.

Where the first line was… the fourth line?: An interesting note about the TOI from last night was how Brock Boeser, JT Miller, and Jake DeBrusk saw the least 5v5 ice time of any Canuck. Normally when this happens, it’s due to a ton of special teams play. But in a game where both teams totaled 7:57 PIM, it seems odd to have arguably the most talented players on the team play so little. Looking at the numbers does help make sense of this a little more – of all line combinations, this unit was by far the one that generated the least amount of offence with 0.08 xGF. And fine, the other lines in this case played over a minute and nearly two minutes more than them. But a 1:18 TOI difference explain why the Hoglander-Sasson-Heinen line was able to post 0.41 xGF, and the Boeser-Miller-DeBrusk line (against the Kraken fourth line at that!) couldn’t even break 0.10 xGF?

It was a better showing from the Canucks than their recent trends. That being said, it’s a darn low bar that they had to clear. For what this lineup was going into the game, the Canucks played well, managing to figure out how to put more scoring chances on the opposition than they were giving up themselves. It would be nice if they could get more high-danger looks, as well as stop giving up leads in the third period. But considering everything, the first win of 2025 is a very welcome one for everyone involved.

Vancouver is right back in action today, taking on the Nashville Predators at home.