Spoiling the tank a bit, are we?

The Vancouver Canucks managed to blank the New York Rangers 3-0 last night, despite being outshot 32-14. It wasn’t the prettiest win by any means, but at the same time, it wasn’t as ugly as one might’ve thought. In fact, the Canucks did a pretty darn good job limiting the damage that the Rangers could’ve done, given the disparity in shots. Getting a stellar performance from Thatcher Demko didn’t hurt either.

Here’s the win, by the numbers.

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

Again, given how the shot totals finished, one might be forgiven for thinking that the game flow would be well in New York’s favour. However, much of this contest remained in the balance. While the Rangers never finished a period below 55.00 CF%, they only had the second period where they posted a clear advantage in xGF% at 62.12. Vancouver actually held a 75.92 xGF% in the first and 56.72 xGF% in the third, doing pretty darn well to keep the share in their favour even if the raw numbers weren’t there to back up their offence.

This was another interesting chart to see the distribution of chances from last night. At 5v5, while the Rangers held a 20-12 scoring chance lead, it was a dead-even split of high-danger chances at 8-8 for each team. That’s shown in the similar-looking hot spots in the low slot area, and another testament to some good underlying defensive play. Yes, New York heavily outshot Vancouver and had more chances, but the Canucks did a good job of limiting just how dangerous those opportunities were, relatively speaking. As well, being efficient with their own opportunities was a big part of their own pathway to victory.

Corsi Champ: Liam Ohgren saw limited deployment as part of the Canucks fourth line, but managed to put together some really solid stats against the Rangers’ bottom 6. His 57.14 CF% was a team best, managing to piece together good quality minutes in the limited 5v5 action that he saw. Ohgren also found the back of the net for his first goal as a Canuck, which was pretty darn nice considering that he hadn’t put up a single one for the Wild prior to the trade.

Corsi Chump: Tom Willander finished bottom of the Corsi charts with his 23.53 CF%. Splitting time evenly between Elias Pettersson and Zeev Buium, Willander wasn’t particularly impressive against a big chunk of the Rangers’ middle 6. The young Swede would finish with the second-worst xGF% on the team at 17.09, on ice for a 1-9 hole in scoring chances and 0-2 deficit in high-danger chances. Given the changes in personnel on the back end, it does stand to reason that things might take a bit of time to settle down in terms of deployment.

xGF: Ohgren also led the Canucks in this category with a team-best 86.81 xGF%. Now granted, it was due in large part to his limited TOI as he only faced 0.02 xGA, but credit should also be due for managing to piece together that kind of share metric as Ohgren saw no offensive zone shift starts against New York. It’s hopefully signs of growth, that he can put together the type of hockey that had scouts rating him as first-round potential. Evander Kane led the Canucks in raw xGF, putting up 1.07 last night while featuring on a pretty darn good second line.

GSAx: The headliner last night was none other than Thatcher Demko. Facing down 2.97 xGF in total against the Rangers, the netminder turned away everything for a maximum 2.97 GSAx. It was a sparkling performance with good help in front of him, as of the 8 high-danger chances, only 5 of them registered as high-danger shots, all of which were turned away by Demko. There were 6 middle-danger chances and 11 low-danger chances that he had to be sharp on, and Demko was more than dialed to get the job done in Madison Square Garden.

Just what the DOC ordered: Drew O’Connor as a centerman hadn’t worked until last night against the Rangers. It isn’t exactly proof of concept yet, especially considering that it was just a one-game sample size for him, but that unit of Sherwood – DOC – Kane was absolutely buzzing against New York. They had a 55.56 CF% share, good enough for the second-best amongst all forward lines, but they posted a massive 0.74 xGF, which was head and shoulders the team’s high mark. The next best xGF was the Hogalnder – Kampf – Garland line’s 0.12. Hopefully, it’s something that these three can build on, as it would provide for another solid contributing unit going forth.

Rougher night from the top line: There were some definite growing pains when it came to the first line’s night against the Rangers. Jake DeBrusk – Marco Rossi – Brock Boeser were not at their best and the numbers showed that in spades. Together, the three played the most minutes of any forward line last night, totalling the second-worst CF% of 38.46, worst xGF of 0.06, and worst xGF% of 14.62. Suffice it to say, that’s not very good – but at the same time, it’s also literally the second game that these three have played together. Things like this are going to happen, especially when they’re all the “high-end” talent that this roster is currently sporting.

It wasn’t a pretty win by the Canucks when all was said and done. They kept it close, fought for every inch, and clawed out that 3-0 victory with some solid play in their own zone. Yes, it doesn’t really help with the tank – but there’s plenty more hockey still to come this year, and it’s never a bad thing to see some process-oriented games along the way. Hopefully, they can build the right habits, play the right way, and get themselves a high draft pick along the way.

Continuing the East Coast trip (or the “what could’ve been” tour), Vancouver heads into Long Island on Friday to take on Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders.