That’s a real solid result.
The
Vancouver Canucks shut out the Colorado Avalanche by a 3-0 scoreline, looking pretty darn convincing throughout the contest. There wasn’t a moment where they took their foot off the gas, taking the blows from the Avs where they could and rolling with them. The Canucks did a great job getting into the lead and closing it out, with some very nice performances throughout the lineup. Now, if Elias Pettersson could get it going…
Here’s the win, by the numbers.
Game Flow
It couldn’t be called domination by any means, but the Canucks did well to ride out an early Colorado surge. The Avs rolled out of the gate with a 71.43 CF% and 80.86 xGF% in the first, racking up a total of 1.31 xGF during the frame. They were unable to capitalize, however, which left the door open for the Canucks to take over the momentum of the game. Vancouver would hold the Avalanche to just 2 high-danger chances combined in the second and third period, turning in a comprehensive effort both offensively and defensively to see out their opposition. They didn’t drop below 55 CF% and managed to close out the game with a 73.98 xGF% in the third.
Heat Map
Unlike the previous outing, the Canucks didn’t get their chances in bundles. But still, they did better relative to their opposition, which is really all that matters. The Avalanche had a slight 24-21 lead in scoring chances at 5v5, but it was the Canucks who took home a 9-6 edge in high-danger chances. That translated into the slight orange patch in tight around the crease, where the Canucks got the only even strength goal on the night. Again, the raw numbers might not have been there for the team, but they definitely outplayed the Avs over the course of the contest.
Individual Advanced Stats
Corsi Champ: Linus Karlsson made the most of his limited minutes on ice last night. Playing primarily against Casey Middlestadt’s line, the Swede racked up a team-best 73.68 CF%, managing to only be on ice for one shot against as well. It wasn’t a spectacular performance points-wise, but the energy and momentum that he brought as a depth piece definitely didn’t go underappreciated in the Canucks victory. Plus, Karlsson even got involved in some chippy things.
Corsi Chump: Derek Forbort brought up the rear of the Corsi department with a 33.33 CF%. It wasn’t the best of nights for the depth defenceman, who posted the second-worst xGF% of 30.30 while riding alongside Filip Hronek for the majority of his minutes. Granted, the former Bulldog also saw the majority of his minutes come against Cale Makar, which probably didn’t do him much favours either. At the very least, Forbort wasn’t on ice for a goal against, and that was all the Canucks could really ask of him. The slight positive to come from this was that Forbort only saw 1 high-danger chance against, which is not too bad either.
xGF: Wouldn’t you guess it, Linus Karlsson found himself leading the team with an 83.22 xGF%. A team-best 0.14 xGA resulted from being on ice for just 3 scoring chances against and 0 high-danger chances, while also posting a 5th-best 0.7 xGF off of 3 high-danger chances. It was an efficient outing from Karlsson, who didn’t see more than 10:00 minutes of ice time in this one as well. In raw xGF, stepping up with Quinn Hughes out again, was Tyler Myers’ 1.18 while playing heavy minutes against Colorado’s top line and alongside defenceman Marcus Pettersson. A very tidy outing, one we’ll get to in a bit.
GSAx: Thank, Mr. Demko. A long-awaited
vintage Thatcher Demko performance was capped off appropriately with a shutout. The netminder stymied all 2.57 xGF that Colorado managed, meaning that his GSAx was a perfect 2.57 on the night. Demko looked a lot better than previous outings just from the eye-test, and one can hope that this is the first signs of a true run of form, the Vezina candidate finding his groove once more.
Statistical Musings
Top pair Pettersson: Marcus Pettersson showed off why he was so coveted by management for such a period of time. The defenceman put in quite a show on the defacto top pair with Tyler Myers, not looking out of place as the duo racked up the two-highest xGFs on the team. Their xGF% suffered as a result of playing against Colorado’s top guns, but as a pairing they evened it out to 4-4 in terms of high-danger chances. That’s really not bad, considering the firepower that the Avalanche have at their disposal, and they didn’t concede a goal against, which is even better. Who would’ve thought that possible?
So about D-Petey: The other Elias Pettersson was balling out alongside Filip Hronek (who was the Canucks’ statistically best defenceman). For a rookie, his numbers were more than solid, coming in as the second-best defenceman that Vancouver had to offer, posting a 56.25 xGF% and 53.85 CF% while managing to be on ice for 0 high-danger chances against. He was smart, physical, and didn’t look out of place at all, which is quite an accomplishment. All of a sudden, the Canucks’ back end doesn’t look all that bad.
Where the first line was rough. Again.: Rick Tocchet did not have a long leash for the Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Brock Boeser line last night. Lasting only 4:05 together before being tossed into a blender, that forward combination was probably Vancouver’s worst all night aside from Drew O’Connor – Pius Suter – Kiefer Sherwood getting caved in with some heavy defensive shifts. DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser recorded 18.18 CF%, 0.15 xGF, 0.37 xGA, 29.08 xGF%, while not managing to create a single high-danger chance for. Simply put, that’s unacceptable for the most talented players on the team and thankfully, they were able to produce a bit more when paired with other players.
As a team
CF% – 50.85% HDCF% – 66.67% xGF% – 58.55%
The Vancouver Canucks did well in this one. They managed to tough out some early roughness and helped the Colorado Avalanche come unglued. They took advantage of the game getting chippy and fiesty and put up a good scoreline that they managed to hold onto until the final buzzer. Closing a game out like that was impressive, and something the Canucks haven’t done often enough. This team is looking pretty darn nice, and once Quinn Hughes slots back in, and perhaps EP40 figures out how to get back to prime form – well, suddenly things don’t look as bad.
Vancouver heads down into San Jose to square off against the Sharks tomorrow night.
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