Definitely not the ending in Vegas that anyone was hoping for.
The Vancouver Canucks lost 3-1 last night against the Vegas Golden Knights. While the scoreline might not be too bad, the manner in which the Canucks lost this contest was frustrating. They got off to a great start, where they probably should’ve been up by more than 1 goal after the first period. The problem? After that, it just looked like they didn’t have any juice. Vancouver’s depth pieces held up their end of the bargain, eating up their minutes and looking effective through the entire contest. However, the Canucks’ game-breakers, besides Quinn Hughes, were decidedly not game-breakers. That is not a good recipe when a team is trying to win hockey games.
Here’s the loss, by the numbers.
As always, you can find our glossary guide of advanced stats here.

Game Flow

Again, that first period was one of the better frames of hockey that the Canucks have played recently. Vancouver probably should’ve capitalized on more than one opportunity after totaling 72.41 CF% and 79.72 xGF% with a 1.26 xGF and 6-2 edge in high-danger chances in the first. Still, if they kept going, there would be a good chance that they could add to that lead, right? Unfortunately, the intermission seemed to sap any of the positive momentum that the team had built up. Vegas would rack up 78.79 CF% and 64.24 xGF%, effectively nullifying anything that the Canucks could get going. Unfortunately, it would only be the Golden Knights that built upon that period of success, managing to tally a huge 77.63 xGF% share in the third to close out the game. Interestingly enough, Vegas only combined for 1.63 xGF in the second and third – showing the unfulfilled promise that the Canucks could’ve built on.

Heat Map

It was another game where the teams didn’t have too many high-danger chances. In what’s become a pattern, Vegas out-chanced the Canucks 22-20 and out-high-danger chanced them 9-7. That gap narrowed ever so slightly in all situations, 24-23 and 10-9 respectively for Vegas as well. The frustrating part is that Vancouver had the opportunity to keep this game under their control – the fact that they amassed most of their high-danger chances in the first should suggest that fact. Plus, an added frustration is that the Canucks didn’t manage to record a single high-danger chance in the third, and when you’re trying to push back into a game, it’s unacceptable.

Individual Advanced Stats

Corsi Champ: Danton Heinen turned in a darn good game last night, buzzing on the forecheck and posting a 64.00 CF% to lead the team. Coming with that was the team’s second-best xGF of 1.01 and xGA of 0.32, to give him (believe it or not) the team’s second-best xGF% of 76.17. Heinen definitely did well in his minutes, matching up effectively against Vegas’ bottom 6 and doing his job. For a player like him to produce about 1 expected goal is definitely no easy feat.
Corsi Chump: As a proxy effect of JT Miller going head-to-head with Jack Eichel, Brock Boeser ended up finishing bottom of the team with 30.00 CF%. That came with a third-worst 0.08 xGF for a third-worst 11.64 xGF%, on ice for a 2-8 scoring chance deficit and a 0-2 high-danger chance hole as well. The only redeeming quality here was that Boeser wasn’t on ice for a goal against at 5v5, but for one of your top players on a top line to be recording these stats… it doesn’t promise well for a good team performance.
xGF: Figures that the goal scorer from last night would end up with the best xGF% on the team. Teddy Blueger’s 77.31 paced the way for the team, coming in fourth in raw xGF with his 0.99 while having the team’s best xGA of 0.29. He did his job well last night to dominate his minutes against Vegas’ bottom 6, a role that he filled when he was on the Golden Knights. He was persistent and generated a good number of chances for the Canucks, on ice for a 5-1 high-danger chance edge. If you’re keeping track, that means 5/7 high-danger chances came when Blueger was playing. While that’s a good thing for the Latvian, it probably doesn’t indicate good things about the rest of the team. Raw xGF saw Quinn Hughes once more lead this team with a 1.18, trying to throw this group on his back the best that he can.
GSAx: Coming off of the sickness, Kevin Lankinen did his part to help give Vancouver a chance to win this game. He didn’t steal the game by any means, but against Vegas’ 2.01 xGF, he would finish near dead even with a 0.01 GSAx. The two goals against him were split between high-danger and low-danger, the Finn doing pretty much all that was asked of him last night. Unfortunately, the game will likely be remembered because of a miscue when it came to pulling Lankinen for the extra attacker.

Statistical Musings

Top 6 MIA: The top-end talent being missing in this contest probably cost the Canucks the most. While the DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson and PDG-Miller-Boeser lines had approximately team-average Corsi shares, their expected goals numbers were AWFUL. Starting with DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson, the trio recorded the worst xGF on the team with 0.01, not getting a single scoring chance of any kind while they were on ice at 5v5. That led to a team-worst 2.78 xGF%, which isn’t a surprise when a line literally doesn’t have a scoring chance to their name. As for PDG-Miller-Boeser, they were marginally better at 0.03 xGF, still the second-worst on the team, and a second-worst 8.20 xGF%. They at least had two scoring chances, though none of them were high-danger chances. But when your best talent is producing that kind of performance, with those numbers showing as a result, this team isn’t going to be winning many hockey games.
Soucy-Juulsen pushed to their limits: Remember how this pairing had a couple of solid games? Tocchet decided to give them one of their biggest tests yet and have them essentially matching against Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. The results were about what one would expect. While their CF% of 38.10 together is a little understandable, their xGF% got pummeled right to the ground. Carson Soucy – Noah Juulsen only had 0.02 xGF and gave up 0.58 xGA for a 4.02 xGF%. That tends to happen when a pairing is on ice for 5 high-danger chances against. Again, this pairing has been solid, but there’s solid and putting them in way over their heads. The Canucks were fortunate that they didn’t give up a 5v5 goal against, but their heavy minutes likely had an impact in the empty net miscue.

As a team

CF% – 50.49% HDCF% – 47.37% xGF% – 46.13%
The Canucks couldn’t play a full 60 minutes yet again, as similar flaws in the roster continue to be their undoing. There’s not enough defensive depth to help buoy this team outside of Hughes’ minutes, and when a team’s top 6 goes as missing as the Canucks’ have been for the last four games, it doesn’t bode well. The majority of hockey games are played at 5v5, and if the high-end talent can’t make a difference at even strength, that’s a lot of the contest that’s going right down the drain. Depth forwards are not the answer to sustainable winning.
Vancouver returns home to Rogers Arena as they host the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night.
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