Woohoo.

The Vancouver Canucks ran out of juice and lost 6-3 against the Montreal Canadiens. The fact that they were in the game through 40 minutes was a miracle in and of itself, in all honesty. There was no reason for the Canucks to have made it that close, but in the end, the quality difference between the two teams shone through. The rough losing skid continues for the Canucks, as they continue their freefall to the bottom of the NHL standings.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

The game flow was heavily skewed towards the Habs, and for good reason. There wasn’t a single frame where they finished below 62.00 xGF%, and they never had a disadvantage in Corsi either. Simply put, they were consistently generating chances, consistently retaining the puck, and dictating the pace of the game. Vancouver didn’t have an answer, though they managed to capitalize on the handful of opportunities that they got to keep the game knotted up at three. Unfortunately, Montreal just took it to a different level in the third, and the Canucks couldn’t manage to keep up.

Overall scoring chances saw the Canadiens take a 36-23 lead at 5v5, though the high-danger chances were relatively more in reach with just a 10-8 edge for the Habs. The Canucks actually did a relatively good job of capitalizing on the high-danger chances that they managed to generate, with all three of their goals coming at 5v5 and from right in the low slot area. However, the sheer number of chances that the Habs had proved to be overwhelming, and in the end, was too much for the Canucks to overcome.

Corsi Champ: Max Sasson led the Canucks in CF% last night, a 57.69, pacing the team in a sign of the times for this group. He played a bottom-six role and was mostly competent, as despite posting a 37.08 xGF% (which was slightly above team average), he only split a 1-1 high-danger chance battle. Sasson was also on ice for a goal that he scored and zero goals against at 5v5, which is pretty nice considering how many goals the Canucks gave up. Ideally though, Sasson isn’t one of the team’s leaders in this category or offensively.

Corsi Chump: Elias Pettersson finished last on the team in CF%, a 25.81 to his name after playing matchup minutes against Montreal’s top line. Overall though, the Swede’s game wasn’t that bad when considering that context, posting a 35.45 xGF% that was 3.07 xGF% rel to team average. Again, not ideal numbers, but the fact that Pettersson was still around team average in expected goals despite his deficit in puck possession is pretty decent. Plus, he managed to find the back of the net, which is definitely better than the alternative.

xGF: In his return to the big club, Victor Mancini posted the team’s best xGF%, sitting at 52.47 on the night. It was a team-best by a good margin, too, as the next highest xGF% was Marcus Pettersson’s 39.10. Mancini’s 0.76 xGA was the fourth-best on the team, which is a bit of a concern when thinking about what the numbers could look like for the rest of the team. On top of that, his 0.84 xGF was the team’s raw leader as well, which is not ideal. Mancini was one of four Canucks to finish with a positive difference in high-danger chances as well, tallying up a 3-2 on the night.

GSAx: Nikita Tolopilo was thrust into game action with Thatcher Demko out injured. It wasn’t the greatest performance of all time from the Belarusian, who faced down 3.96 xGF and gave up six goals to finish with a -2.04 GSAx on the night. The big drag on his numbers was that four of the goals came from middle-danger chances, with the other two split between high- and low-danger chances. Again, Montreal is a darn good team, and it’s a tough ask for anyone to play well behind this Canucks group, so some grace should be given for Tolopilo.

What’s the thought process behind…: I really struggle to understand some of the decisions that Adam Foote makes. Last night, Tom Willander paired up with Filip Hronek, with the young right-handed defenceman playing on his off side. Again, he’s a good player and has been showing plenty of promise as a young defenceman, with the expected growing pains as anyone would expect. But playing Willander on the left side just set him and Hronek up for failure, as the two of them were on ice for three goals against with a 26.77 xGF%. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to be playing him on the left side, especially for his long-term development.

The Canucks are not a good hockey team. On the road, on a skid, it’s just not great hockey – but again, it could be proving to management that a rebuild is actually needed. There’s not much more to be extracted from the roster as it’s currently constructed, and the tank continues to roll whether we like it or not. There’s not much winning to be had in the near future, but ideally, it sets up this franchise to build for a better future.

Vancouver is right back in action tonight, facing off against the Ottawa Senators in their penultimate game of the road trip.