3 positive takeaways from the Canucks’ two most recent games

The Vancouver Canucks are currently in the midst of a six-game losing streak, and the fanbase is rightfully worried.

This season hasn’t gone according to plan for the team, who many predicted to be among the top clubs in Canada. Instead, Vancouver has played like one of the worst teams in the entire league, which is reflected in the standings; the Canucks are currently 29th in the NHL in points percentage.

Even though they’ve gone winless in February, there have recently been some positive signs that indicate the team is trending in the right direction, so let’s take a look at three encouraging takeaways from their last two games.

Lotto Line showing signs of life

One of the biggest concerns about the Canucks at the beginning of the season was the struggles of their vaunted Lotto Line, and especially centreman Elias Pettersson. Lately, that worry has shifted on to the shoulders of J.T. Miller, who hasn’t been able to replicate his career season from 2019-20. That has left Brock Boeser as the only consistent player out of the three so far this year.

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Fortunately, the trio has shown signs of life lately. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve controlled shot attempts a whopping 77% of the time when on the ice at five on five together over the past two games and have sported an absurd expected goals percentage of 94%.

Such dominant play-driving numbers aren’t sustainable over a longer period of time, but it does show that the pendulum is swinging in the right direction after they struggled mightily to begin the season. If the Lotto Line has truly refound their groove, the Canucks can once again start leaning on their top players again instead of hoping their bottom-six continues to produce at an unrealistic pace.

Positive corsi and expected goals percentage

During the first four games of Vancouver’s current losing streak, they were outchanced at five on five 142-185 (43% corsi) and had an expected goals percentage of 36%.

Over the past two games, they’ve had a corsi of just under 51% and their expected goals percentage has risen to 55%.

Moreover, the team has been expected to outscore Toronto and Calgary 3.81-3.12 at five on five but the opposite has taken place, as Vancouver’s conceded six goals while only potting one. Such a large discrepancy between actual and expected goals won’t last for long, and it’s easy to see why since the Canucks have been subject to unlucky bounces like this one against Nate Schmidt.

If Vancouver continues to win the shot and expected goals battle, it won’t be long before the team eventually gets rewarded.

The steadiness of Olli Juolevi

After being a healthy scratch for a long stretch of Vancouver road trip, Olli Juolevi has returned to the Canucks’ lineup and brought a calming presence to their backend.

The rookie is still being heavily sheltered on the bottom pair, but he has been very steady and consistent when on the ice. In Monday’s game against the Leafs, he was fourth on the team among defencemen in expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) at five on five, and was second in the same category during Thursday’s matchup with Calgary.

On the season, Juolevi is second behind only Zack MacEwen among all Canucks skaters who’ve played at least 500 minutes at five on five in xGA/60, as the team only concedes 2.29 xGA/60 with him on the ice. Not only is this a lower number than Jalen Chatfield, who’s been lauded for his defensive game, but it’s also the lowest mark on the entire team amongst defencemen.

Again, Juolevi plays extremely sheltered minutes, but it’s still encouraging to see him perform well when given the opportunity.

If these three components of the team can be sustained to some degree, then Vancouver will be primed to break their losing streak soon. Let’s hope it happens tonight against the Flames. Go Canucks go!