Canucks lose to Sharks despite turning in solid effort

The Vancouver Canucks lost to the San Jose Sharks last night in the first leg of their back-to-back against Pacific Division opponents. The final score was 4-2.

Last night’s game was a game in which the Vancouver Canucks played a much better all-around game in front of goaltender Jacob Markstrom than they did on Thursday night in their 1-0 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s another case of the Canucks running into a hot goaltender and losing a game that they probably deserved a better outcome from. But hey, that’s just the way she goes sometimes.

Quinn Hughes: Human highlight reel

Quinn Hughes is a specimen to marvel at. Similar to a painter performing fine, deliberate brush strokes, Hughes looks as though he’s never phased by what’s going on around him — and not in the Erik Gudbranson way.

Hughes is calm, cool, and collected even when three of his opponents’ are hounding him for the puck. Hughes picked up his 23rd assist and 25th point — which means he sits just three points behind Cale Makar and four behind Victor Olofsson in the rookie scoring race.

Hughes’ play last night was so eye-catching that the Canucks put together a short highlight package showcasing some of the plays he pulled off through the first two periods of play:

Hughes has been worth the price of admission so far this season, and last night was no exception. Hughes led all Canucks skaters in ice time with 27 total minutes logged. It will be interesting to see how much Hughes plays tonight in Vegas.