The undefeated 2025 lasted only three days.

The Vancouver Canucks got shutout 3-0 on home ice by the Nashville Predators. However, despite the scoreline, it was much more of a 1-0 game, competitive until the two empty net goals. Vancouver wasn’t bad, they managed to get some decently high-danger looks and played physical all night. That much should be taken as a positive. That being said though, it’s concerning that they couldn’t really separate themselves from the Preds and were unable to take advantage of opportunities to win this hockey game. It’s clear this team is missing its stars and not just the ones that are out with injury.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

The game flow shows that for the majority of the night, things hung in the balance with the Canucks every so slightly favoured by the stats. Only in the first did the Canucks post a CF% below 50, recording a 44.74, with the team managing to generate a 58.06 CF% in the second and 58.33 CF% in the third. However, that possession advantage didn’t exactly translate over to expected goals – Vancouver managed only one period where they had control of the xGF% share, generating 62.95 xGF% in the middle frame while posting a 47.97 xGF% in the first and 41.24 xGF% in the third. Again, not terrible, but it wasn’t exactly the quality of possession they might’ve been looking for.

This heat map is actually pretty interesting. The total scoring chances gave the Preds a 25-17 edge, but the Canucks actually had a narrow 10-9 lead in high-danger chances. However, looking at this graphic, it seems that it should be the other way around, with the Predators able to create much more of a hot spot all around the crease than the Canucks did. But, if examining it a little bit closer, the hot spot is denser towards each of the faceoff circles – which technically are not “high-danger,” especially when modifying for defenders and quality of shots. Vancouver did relatively better on the power play than their opposition, but that’s setting a low bar – in their 4:55 of power play time, they only managed 2 high-danger chances and 3 scoring chances, while Nashville had 0 high-danger chances and 1 scoring chance during 2:55 of PP time.

Corsi Champ: Bet not many were expecting this one. Vincent Desharnais put in quite a performance to lead the Canucks with a 79.41 CF% last night. This was coming while facing the first line of the Preds too, primarily playing against the likes of Jonathan Marchessault, Filip Forsberg, and Steven Stamkos. Desharnais was on ice for a 13-2 shot advantage for the Canucks, leading to the third-best xGF% of 73.12 and a 4-2 edge in high-danger chances. That’s really, really solid for a third pairing defenceman, especially when asked to play against that quality of opposition. Good work Vinny.

Corsi Chump: On the other hand, Tyler Myers didn’t have a great night, mostly because he was trying to drag along Guillaume Brisebois alongside him. Myers recorded a team-worst 28.57 CF% with the third-worst xGF% of 35.62. On ice for a 4-10 hole in scoring chances, at least the high-danger chances stood at 2-4 in favour of the Preds. Myers wasn’t on ice for a goal against, but suffice it to say that things were dicey whenever he played, and that should be a concern for this team especially when he’s one of the top RHD options in this group. Myers played the third-most minutes last night behind Desharnais and Derek Forbort – who could’ve thunk?

xGF: Pius Suter was handed some matchup duties last night and came out looking pretty competent. He posted a team-best xGF% of 75.46, including a team-low 0.13 xGA while playing against that Nashville first line. Suter was on ice for a 3-0 high-danger chance advantage, which is pretty darn good considering the opposition that he was up against. In terms of raw xGF, the Canucks were led by noted offensive defenceman Derek Forbort, who put up 0.95 xGF to lead the team at 5v5 play. Seriously, what a game from the Forbort-Desharnais pairing.

GSAx: It was a darn solid performance by Kevin Lankinen again. He looked like he was ready to steal the Canucks a win if they managed to get him any sort of run support in this one. The Finn only let a single middle-danger chance get past him last night to record a 0.91 GSAx against a 1.91 xGF by the Preds. That’s a darn good performance to nearly steal an entire goal from the opposition. Vancouver is definitely not getting let down by their netminders, suffice it to say.

Where the first line disappoints again: Given that the DeBrusk-Miller-Boeser line avoided playing against Nashville’s best forward line while drawing Roman Josi as the defenceman they played the most against, it would make sense to expect better numbers than the ones they put up last night. The trio finished with the second-most xGF of any unit, but also had the worst xGA (0.43) while only playing a minute more than the Hoglander-Sasson-Joshua line (0.32). DeBrusk-Miller-Boeser were on ice for a 4-7 scoring chance deficit, with the high-danger chances standing a 2-3. It made sense why Miller was benched for the third, taken off this top line, with both DeBrusk and Boeser posting better numbers without him. Boeser saw his xGF% jump from 44.80 to 58.07 without Miller, and DeBrusk saw his own xGF% increase from 48.23 to 70.59 without Miller. Again, they continued to struggle to produce at 5v5, and it’s clear that the Canucks could desperately use their production with both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes out of the lineup.

Now, score effects clearly play a role in the numbers, but this wasn’t a one-off or any sort of coincidence. Miller struggled to the point of Tocchet limiting his minutes against Seattle as well. That it happened two nights in a row, and that Boeser and DeBrusk’s xGF% got a decent boost the second Suter replaced Miller against Nashville, is at least something to keep an eye on. Not to mention the head coach’s thoughts on the goal that was ultimately the difference-maker in this one.

“I thought that line was just okay in Seattle, they needed some pizazz, so I wanted to switch it up,” Tocchet said post game when asked about moving Suter up and Miller down. “The other couple lines weren’t that bad. It’s one of those games where we had our chances, [but] you need a pass here, you need a shot here, you need somebody to do something in that moment. Like I said, we kind of gave them that 3-on-2, and that’s really the game.”

The 3-on-2 Tocchet is talking about is the lone Nashville non-empty-net goal.

“When the top line is on the ice, I would like to see a couple guys reload on a 50/50 puck,” Tocchet added. “I said to the coaches, it should have been a 0-0 game going into overtime.”

The defence needs help: It’s funny looking at the stats from the defencemen last night, as there is a clear gulf between the three top performers and the three worst performers. Myers, Brisebois, and Noah Juulsen were the three worst Canucks in terms of Corsi across the entire roster, which was also reflected in their xGF% as well. Carson Soucy didn’t do too bad for himself, and while he did finish with the third-worst xGF% amongst defencemen with a 43.25, consider that he was dragging along Juulsen’s 34.63 xGF%, which was the second-worst on the entire team. Soucy was actually plenty great when playing away from Juulsen, seeing his CF% jump to 75.00 and xGF% up to 86.09.

The Canucks didn’t play too poorly in this. They competed, played physical, and generally had a slight edge to the stats that probably meant they deserved a little better than they finished last night. That being said, there were plenty of chances to win this game, and the Canucks couldn’t seize them. That’s an issue largely because the Canucks’ best players aren’t playing like their best – and this team needs them to start performing.

Vancouver heads out east on a road trip, starting off Monday as they head into the Centre Bell to take on the Montreal Canadiens.