Canucks: 3 takeaways from 1-0 shutout loss to Chicago

Bad puck luck strikes again

The best part about moral victory season is that there’s usually something positive to focus on to temporarily numb the pain of being a Canucks fan, and that was definitely the case on Sunday.

Like previously mentioned, the Canucks were without a doubt the better team through 40 minutes of play, but they were once again cruelly struck down by the hockey gods.

The team was able to draw four separate powerplay opportunities throughout the contest, in large parts to their quickness with the puck and their ability to hem the Blackhawks in their own zone for extended periods of time. During those man advantage chances, Vancouver was able generate 13 shots on goal, a number that should essentially result in at least one tally.

Not for the Canucks, of course.

Vancouver’s bad puck luck also sprinkled over into their even strength play in the form of clanging metal. The Canucks hit iron on four separate occasions, including two posts in the span of 30 seconds from Pettersson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Pearson and Brock Boeser supplied the other two misfortunes.

However, in the end, you can’t blame all your difficulties on untimely misfortune.

Outside of his post, Boeser was only able to generate one other shot on goal in just under 20 minutes of ice time.  It was fortunately more encouraging for Pettersson, who was second on the team in shots on goal with five, while also creating turnovers and winning battles without the puck.

Unfortunately, however, the duo still continue to be snake-bitten in their points production, having only amassed a combined one assist in their past six outings.

Bad puck luck or not, those statistics simply aren’t good enough, especially coming from your two highest-paid forwards.

At least they’re consistent with providing moral victories for us to talk about?

Other notes:

• Travis Hamonic struggled mightily in his return to the line-up. According to Natural StatTrick, the Canucks were outshot 7-2 at even strength with Hamonic on the ice, which was a direct result of Hamonic’s turnover rate and inability to clear the puck out of his own zone. This also impacted Quinn Hughes, who was paired with Hamonic for most of the night but had to constantly back-track in order to fix his defensive partner’s mistakes. Given his current vaccination status, Hamonic won’t be able to join the team for the beginning of their road trip, but that doesn’t rule out an appearance at some point.

• After the Canucks were awarded a powerplay late in the game, Green decided to roll with Alex Chiasson instead of Pettersson, a decision that raised a plethora of eyebrows. Despite his strong performance overall, Green also didn’t go with the young Swede when netminder Thatcher Demko was pulled, instead opting for the services of Boeser. Pettersson was eventually deployed by his head coach for the last 1:18 of the game, but there’s no doubt that fans will eat apart Green for yet another poorly-executed coaching call.

The Canucks will be off for the next two days before kicking off their five-game road trip in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Puck drop is set for 4:00pm PST.

What are your thoughts from Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Chicago? Make sure to drop a comment below!