Welcome to this edition of the Vancouver Canucks post-game analytics report. This recurring deep dive breaks down the analytics behind each Canucks game as recorded by Natural Stat Trick. In this article, we look back on Vancouver’s most recent 5–2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite a strong first period, Vancouver was unable to keep up to Vegas’ skill throughout the rest of the game. They outchanced the Golden Knights in the first period only, but suffered a brutal collapse in the third period that saw them put up only two scoring chances-for and four shots on net. Throughout the entire game, Vancouver only registered six high-danger scoring chances.
If there were any doubts about Vancouver’s lack of chances, the heat map from last night’s game confirms it. The Canucks were unable to find good areas to take chances from, with their warmest spot on the map being at the faceoff dots. Defensively, they were unable to keep Vegas from scoring from in-tight, as three of the Golden Knights’ five goals came from directly near Kevin Lankinen.
While it wasn’t a great night for most, one trio made their mark in their second-straight game. Vancouver’s line of Liam Öhgren, Teddy Blueger, and Conor Garland continued to show up for the Canucks offensively-speaking, factoring into both of the team’s goals last night while also playing the most minutes together with 14:16. They also registered the highest CF% with 62.07% while also generating the most scoring-chances for (7).
Though he didn’t factor into scoring, Tom Willander had himself a strong night for Vancouver. The defenceman played the fourth-highest minutes on the team with 20:10, also registering the fourth-highest CF% with 51.43%. Willander also generated the most scoring chances-for on the Canucks (9) while allowing the second-least (4).
Vancouver will now be on break for the next couple of weeks as the 2026 Winter Olympics take place. Seven members of the Canucks organization will represent their countries in Italy, while the rest will have some time off before resuming practice in mid-February. Vancouver’s next game will take place on February 25 at 7:00 pm PT when the Winnipeg Jets roll into town.
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