Three takeaways from Canucks tough 3-1 loss to St. Louis Blues

#1: The Canucks had a hard time solving Ville Husso

The Canucks have had Demko steal them games for them many times this season but they got a taste of what it was like in reverse.

Despite missing their goalies, J.T. Miller, Conor Garland and Bo Horvat, the Canucks once again put up a solid effort against a good team but ended up with the loss. Vancouver was getting lots of zone time and scoring chances and they outshot St. Louis 39-17. The Canucks had a Corsi For percentage of 68.5% at five-on-five in the game according to NaturalStatTrick. The Blues had 31.82% CF. The Canucks also did better in terms of high danger chances (15-7.) and expected goals. (3.16-1.59 in favour of the Canucks.) but it wasn’t enough.

Ville Husso had other ideas.

Husso was making his second straight start for the Blues. On Friday, he made 27 saves for the shutout in a 5-0 win over the Seattle Kraken. He looked dialled in against Vancouver.

Husso made 38 saves against the Canucks. In his last five starts. is 5-0-0 with a 1.20 GAA and a .963 SV%. It is safe to say, he is one of, if not the hottest goaltender in the league right now.

The only Canucks chance that beat him was a shot from Tanner Pearson as the two-man advantage ended. That was Pearson’s first goal at home this season.

Other than that, Husso was a wall in the net. Vancouver was throwing everything at him. Whether it was in the slot or at the point, Husso managed to make a save. The 26-year-old was seeing everything as he stopped Canucks shot with his glove, blocker and pads.

“You have to make hay when the sun shines when you get those chances,” said Boudreau per Ben Kuzma of The Province. ” I thought we were fine until we didn’t get the 2-1 lead. This is an experienced team that knows how to shut you down. They’re that good. ”

The Canucks were good but Husso was great.

#2: Michael DiPietro didn’t look bad, but he’s not yet ready for the NHL

Of course, we have to talk about the goaltender on the other end. DiPietro was playing his third NHL game and only his second NHL start. Of course, his first one was the 7-2 beat down at the hands of the San Jose Sharks on February 11, 2019. Thankfully, there wasn’t a repeat of that against the Blues.

DiPietro didn’t look bad. In fact, he looked fine. You can’t blame him for the first two Blues goals. The first was deflected by Justin Faulk and the second was tipped by Brayden Schenn.

However, DiPietro might want to have the third goal back as Jordan Kyrou’s shot from far out with off the knob of his stick.

The Blues only had 17 shots but apparently, they scored on three straight.

DiPietro wasn’t as shaky as he was in his first NHL start but he wasn’t as busy as Husso. He ended up making 14 saves in the game.

“The last couple of days have been a whirlwind,” said DiPietro per Farhan Lalji of TSN. “I’ve just tried to stay in the moment. I felt more comfortable this time. Obviously, I was outplayed by the other guy.”

However, it is clear that DiPietro isn’t ready for the NHL just yet. The 22-year-old needs more time in Abbotsford to develop his game. Putting him on the taxi squad last season and not having him play a hockey game in over a calendar looks to have hurt his development.

#3: Special teams were the difference yet again

The Canucks special teams weren’t special again.

After some improvement since Boudreau took over, the Canucks PK has crashed back to reality since the start of the five-game road trip.

The penalty kill is still last in the league and the numbers still aren’t great.

The Blues capitalized on the power play with Schenn’s second period goal. The Canucks penalty kill giving up a goal is as inevitable as a character wearing a red shirt dying in the original Star Trek TV series. The PK once again was giving the Blues easy chances and they were hurt by it.

As for the power play? It wasn’t good either.

However, they did get lots of shots on the two man advantage particularly on the first period five-on-three. Brock Boeser got some good looks and he ended up leading the Canucks in shots-on-goal with six.

“I’d like to see us score on the power play, but besides that, I thought we were good,” said Quinn Hughes.

It was nice to see the Canucks power play take some shots but those have to go in. Unfortunately, Husso was just too good.

There is no doubt that the special teams have to be better especially if the Canucks want a chance to make the postseason. Unfortunately, the special teams have let them down.

Other notes

• On Pearson’s goal, Elias Pettersson got his 100th career assist.  He did put a good effort but the bad luck seems to be still there. For instance, he got his stick stuck between the boards.

• Jason Dickinson isn’t known for scoring but he had to better with the two breakaway chances. On the second one, he went too deep and was foiled by Husso’s pad

• Boudreau expects Martin and Demko to be back on Tuesday.

Speaking of Tuesday, that’s when the Canucks play next as the Edmonton Oilers come to town. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM.