3 takeaways from the Canucks’ 4-0 shutout win against Winnipeg
Be honest, Vancouver Canucks fans: if I had asked you before last night’s game to pick one team to be shutout, who would you have picked?
Well, I would’ve chosen the Jets, of course! I always have faith in my favourite team, especially in their elite defensive abilities.
Jokes aside, I don’t think many people will dispute that the Canucks played their best defensive game of the season yesterday, resulting in a 4-0 win against Winnipeg. After a month in which they only racked up two victories, Vancouver has gotten off to a strong start in March and will hopefully build off of their impressive performance.
Here are three takeaways from last night’s 4-0 win against the Jets.
Schmidt breaks through
After being acquired from the Golden Knights in the offseason, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the arrival of Nate Schmidt in Vancouver.
In my opinion, he has lived up to the billing as Schmidt has arguably been the most consistent all-around Canucks defender this season, but many fans have been underwhelmed by his offensive totals so far. However, he’s had many unlucky breaks go against him, so it seemed like Schmidt was in for a bounceback soon.
Well, it seems like the Hockey Gods thought the same thing, as Schmidt potted his third goal of the season last night to open the scoring.
Nate Schmidt's shot from the point deflects off a Jet and beats Hellebuyck to give the #Canucks the lead pic.twitter.com/7X6vm9k0p6
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) March 2, 2021
Before I could even finish tweeting out his goal, he assisted on the Canucks’ second of the game, which came off a nice tip from J.T. Miller just 18 seconds after.
18 seconds after the opening goal, it's rinse and repeat for the #Canucks as this time JT Miller deflects Schmidt's shot past Hellebuyck pic.twitter.com/wJTElTUB6k
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) March 2, 2021
Schmidt now has three goals and four assists on the season after last night’s game. Those numbers aren’t eye-popping by any means, but his skating and puck-moving ability have given the Canucks an extra gear from the backend that doesn’t show up on the scoresheet.
Let’s hope this is a sign of better things to come for him.
The Hog train keeps chugging
Last night, Travis Green elected to put Jake Virtanen on Bo Horvat’s right-wing to shake things up, which resulted in Nils Hoglander playing on the third line beside Brandon Sutter and Adam Gaudette.
That might be a bad sign for most players, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Hoglander, it’s that his impact will be felt no matter where he plays in the lineup.
The rookie continued to turn heads by scoring his fourth of the year to give Vancouver a three-goal lead, which also marked the second power-play goal from the team’s second unit all season long.
#Canucks PP and the 2nd unit cashes in as Nils Hoglander deflects Myers's point shot past Hellebuyck for a 3-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/Jp1kJEb6AE
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) March 2, 2021
What attracted even more buzz was his attempt at the lacrosse move, which is something he’s been successful at in the past.
Nils Hoglander feeling spicy, thought about the lacrosse but had the puck bobble on him pic.twitter.com/dU8G4qTVc2
— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) March 2, 2021
If he manages to score such a goal this season, Hoglander should automatically win the rookie of the year and be crowned as the greatest Canuck of all time.
Most complete defensive effort of the season
Thatcher Demko will get a lot of praise for his play last night, and rightfully so. However, we shouldn’t discount the impressive defensive showing that the team displayed in front of him.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Vancouver only allowed five high danger scoring chances against (HDCA) at five on five in the entire game while conceding 1.9 expected goals against (xGA). To put that in perspective, the Canucks had given up the highest xGA total and most HDSC against before last night in the entire league — albeit with the most games played as well — since they averaged over two xGA while giving up almost 10 HDCA per game at five on five.
Interestingly, the offence suffered as a result of their defensive prowess. Don’t be fooled by the score; all three first-period goals came off of tip-ins and deflections, while the last one was an empty netter from Elias Pettersson. The numbers back up Vancouver’s offensive struggles too, since the Canucks actually ended the game with fewer expected goals (1.15) than the Jets at five on five.
It’s nice to see the Canucks play such sound defence, but they’ll need to figure out how to balance that with a decent offensive attack as well.
Other notes
- I would be remiss not to mention that last night’s victory marked the first shutout of the season for the Canucks and also the first of Demko’s career. It took a while for Vancouver to get to this point but it’s better late than never, right? Also, it’s safe to say that the net is now Demko’s to lose, who has made three consecutive starts now.
- Gaudette had two assists on the night, his first multi-point game of the season. After breaking out offensively last year, he’s largely struggled to produce so far in 2020-21. Fortunately, many advanced metrics show that he’s been snakebitten and has played better than his numbers show, so let’s hope this is the start of a turnaround for Gaudette.
- Virtanen had another strong game last night. Trade rumours have swirled around him all season long, but his play has strangely improved in midst of the increasing trade talk surrounding him. Perhaps fans should keep proposing deals involving Virtanen to keep him motivated. I kid, of course. Or am I?
dark. Next. The Canucks are better off trading Jake Virtanen in the offseason
The Canucks will face off against Winnipeg once against tomorrow at 5 PM Pacific Time to finish off this mini-series. Let’s hope they keep up the momentum and make it two wins in a row!