Probably went better than a lot of us thought it was going to go.

The Vancouver Canucks couldn’t hang onto the lead that they built early, dropping a 4-3 result to the Montreal Canadiens. It sucked, because for a while, it looked like Vancouver could get something out of this game, even if they were wholly unconvincing. But thanks to two power play goals given up, the momentum swung in Montreal’s favour, and the Canucks simply couldn’t get their legs back into the game. A late push didn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of the game.

Here’s the loss, by the numbers.

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

The first period was all kinds of promising. The Canucks jumped out of the gate with a 66.67 CF% and 79.41 xGF%, controlling the balance of scoring chances to the tune of 11-4, with a further 9-0 high-danger chance advantage. The only blemish on all of that is the fact that the Canucks were only able to capitalize once despite all of the good things that they did, but it just seemed as if they were rolling pretty darn well.

That all changed in the second period. After going up 2-0, Vancouver just let off the pedal. While that didn’t cost them initially, the lack of killer instinct allowed Montreal to get right back into the thick of things, recording a power play goal themselves and turning the flow into their direction. By the end of the middle frame, the Habs had 61.22 CF% and 65.59 xGF%, which they were able to carry into the third. Four unanswered goals isn’t a margin any team can afford to give up, and by the time the Canucks were able to respond with anything, it was far too late.

At the very least, this is the first heat map that definitely favoured Vancouver this season. While the overall scoring chances were just 28-16 at 5v5 action, the Canucks dominated in terms of high-danger opportunities. A 15-3 margin is great no matter how you look at it, and the only downside here is that the Canucks weren’t able to capitalize on it. It’s nice to see this at the end of a game, especially given that Vancouver hasn’t done this all season thus far.

Corsi Champ: Leading the way in the Corsi department was Drew O’Connor, who racked up 72.00 CF% while playing on a very solid bottom 6 line. DOC helped eat up plenty of minutes without being a liability at 5v5, managing to hold a 9-4 shot advantage and 4-1 high-danger chance lead as well. His 52.38 xGF% was a bit on the lower side compared to the team’s average, but breaking that 50.00 share is always a good thing especially in a depth role.

Corsi Chump: Max Sasson might’ve brought up the rear in CF% last night at 36.36, but the rest of his numbers were incredible. Playing just 6:46 thanks to the myriad of special team action, the forward still managed to tack on an 82.74 xGF% while being on ice for 0 high-danger chances again, and 3 high-danger chances for. It’s efficient, good minutes for him, as that Abbotsford line continues to play well in their relatively limited deployment.

xGF: Elias Pettersson the defenceman posted the Canucks’ best xGF%, recording an 85.47 xGF% while playing alongside Tyler Myers last night. It was tidy work all around for the young Swedish defenceman, who posted the team’s second-lowest xGA of 0.17 while also chipping in the 6th-highest raw xGF at 0.97. He didn’t give up a single high-danger chance against and was on ice for 4 high-danger chances going the other way.

Leading the way in raw xGF was none other than Elias Pettersson the forward, who generated a massive 1.68 xGF at 5v5 play to lead the team. It was a vintage performance from EP40, making plays all night from all different situations. While he was on the ice, Vancouver held a 14-4 scoring chance edge, with a further 8-0 high-danger chance lead as well. A three-point night was something that we had all been dying to see from Pettersson for a long while now, and it sucks that the Canucks couldn’t capitalize on their star playing like one.

GSAx: It was a rough night for Kevin Lankinen. Montreal only managed to generate 2.80 xGF all of last night across all situations, so with 4 goals getting past him, the Finn finished with -1.20 GSAx. It was costly, considering that the Canucks were able to give him 3 goals worth of run support when all was said and done with. Lankinen would probably like to have the 2 low-danger goals he gave up back, with the remaining two goals split from high and middle danger chances. It wasn’t his finest, and is the second consecutive performance where he has looked shaky.

Reichel’s debut: The newest member of the Vancouver Canucks made his debut last night, as Lukas Reichel centered a line between Evander Kane and Brock Boeser. It would be tough to ask him to be a game changer, especially given the circumstances surrounding his arrival and situation that he found himself thrust right into. The numbers for that trio were a little meh – A 43.48 CF% was the second-worst amongst all forward lines, while being on ice for 2 5v5 goals against and a team-worst 17.40 xGF%. Suffice it to say that they didn’t set the world on fire, but not all of that can or should be pinned on the shoulders of the German. It’ll be interesting to see where Reichel ends up in the lineup, and how he progresses and meshes into this team.

The Canucks had great stretches through this game. They started out of the gates strong and pushed hard at the end of the contest – but that lapse in the second and early into the third cost them dearly. The PK was rough and probably one of the biggest reasons why they lost, handing the momentum over to the Habs with the visitors capitalizing when they could. That, combined with the Canucks not being able to take advantage of their own good vibes, simply meant that good individual performances went wasted.

Vancouver is right back in action tonight, as the Edmonton Oilers roll into town.