3 Standouts From Game #12: Red Wings 5, Canucks 2

Welcome to this edition of the Vancouver Canucks “3 Standouts From The Game.” In this recurring series, The Hockey News’ Canucks team will do a deep dive into three standouts from Vancouver’s last game. This article will focus on the Canucks’ most recent 5–2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. 

Jonathan Lekkerimäki 

In a game that saw Vancouver suffer deep offensive slumps, Jonathan Lekkerimäki was the lone player that didn’t fare terribly at piling on the points. The winger continued his stretch of solid offensive play by putting together a two-point night against Detroit, assisting on Elias Pettersson’s goal and scoring one of his own. He also logged his current season-high of ice time with 17:44 minutes played. 

Where things weren’t great for Lekkerimäki in last night’s game was on the defensive side of things. The winger managed only three scoring chances-for, but surrendered a total of 13 — tying him with defenceman Elias Pettersson for the second-most on the team. 

Forward Elias Pettersson 

Pettersson stood out for a couple of reasons in last night’s effort — both good and bad. On the positive side, the forward continued his run of point-production by firing a vintage Pettersson one-timer on the power play, nabbing two franchise milestones in the process. This was his 66th-career power-play goal and 178th-career power-play point, which put him in sole-possession of 10th in power-play goals in franchise history and eighth in power-play points respectively. 

Onto the negative side. Pettersson saw his fair-share of defensive lapses, logging two giveaways, and took a penalty at a bad time to negate a power play for his team. In his 20:48 minutes played tonight, he allowed 11 scoring chances-against. 

Filip Chytil 

As was the case with most Canucks last night, this wasn’t Filip Chytil’s strongest game. He was, however, noticeable. The forward produced a couple of good bursts of speed, with one such burst resulting in him drawing a penalty on Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat during the third period. On that particular instance, Chytil tried carrying the puck in but was pressured by two Detroit players and instead ended up getting his team a power play. 

Chytil was also the lone natural Canucks centre to register a faceoff winning rate of higher than 50% last night, taking seven of 11. He also recorded his season-high in TOI with 20:32 minutes played — two of which he spent on the penalty-kill. 

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