With a 4–1 loss against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks now remain out of a playoff spot. Derek Forbort posted the lone tally for the Canucks, while Thomas Harley, Mikael Granlund, Jason Robertson, and Mikko Rantanen scored for Dallas. Kevin Lankinen started for the team, making 15 saves on 18 shots. In the crease across from him, former Canuck Casey DeSmith stopped 22 of 23 shots against.   

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Canucks captain Quinn Hughes missed his third game in a row, and his 13th of the season. Victor Mancini slotted in for the absent Hughes, dressing in his third game for Vancouver since being traded at the end of January. Paired with Forbort, Mancini had an assist and two blocked shots in 14:35 minutes played. 

Elias Pettersson had two strong performances against the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild. It appeared he would be building off of these performances to start the night as he sent a quick shot off the rush less than two minutes into the first period, though it didn’t appear on the scoresheet. He finished the game with a 56.3% win rate in the faceoff dot, two blocked shots, and two hits in 16:05 minutes. Pettersson has noticeably been shooting more, the lack of which was a big cause for concern early in the season. He put up three shots in each of his last two games, but registered only one shot tonight against the Stars. 

About halfway through the game, Pettersson and Blueger switched linemates, putting the latter with Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland. This move ended up paying off, as the line that had been so dominant last season factored into Vancouver’s first tally of the night, scored by Forbort. This line ended up playing 3:52 together on 5-on-5 by the end of the game, putting up a corsi-for percentage of 78.75% and a team-high xGF of 0.87. 

Speaking of Forbort, the defender, who could have been traded on Friday as his current deal expires after this season, played another solid game. One of the Canucks’ most relied-on penalty killers, registering 3:52 minutes on the penalty kill today, Forbort had two blocked shots and one hit along with his first goal of the season. 

Vancouver’s penalty kill was clicking tonight. They had their first test five minutes into the first period, but efficiently cut off Dallas’ crisp passes and sent them outside of their zone. Marcus Pettersson, their highest penalty-killer of the game, played 5:54 minutes while shorthanded. They killed all four of the penalties they took. Even outside of the penalty kill, one spot where Vancouver shined was in breaking up Dallas’ passes. 

Another notable positive from the game was Vancouver’s forecheck. A couple of good shifts led to the team getting a power play around halfway into the first period. As well, they generated some good chances while down two goals with less than five minutes left in the game. However, this ultimately was not enough to bring them a win.

"Yeah, frustrating. Obviously we need every point we can get, but yeah, frustrating," Pettersson said of the team's result after the game. 

"We're in the thick of the race, we need some desperation," Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said postgame. "I liked a lot of guys' efforts today." 

While the Stars played the night before, making them understandably tired, the Canucks had a good start to their game against a top Stanley Cup-contending team that improved their roster on Trade Deadline day. As the season grows shorter and shorter, good starts need to translate to the rest of the game. 

Stats and Facts

• Vancouver loses their fourth straight game against the Stars 
• Canucks pass the 30-hit mark for the 19th time this season 
• Canucks surrender the opening goal of a game for the 31st time this season 
• Conor Garland extends his personal point streak against Dallas to four games 

Scoring Summary: 

1st Period: 

No goals.

2nd Period: 

5:17 - DAL: Thomas Harley (12) from Evgenii Dadonov and Mason Marchment 

11:35 - VAN: Derek Forbort (1) from Conor Garland and Victor Mancini 

19:34 - DAL: Mikael Granlund (16) from Cody Ceci and Matt Duchene 

3rd Period: 

8:26 - DAL: Jason Robertson (28) from Matt Duchene 

18:52 - DAL: Mikko Rantanen (29) from Cody Ceci (ENG)

Up Next: 

On Tuesday, Vancouver embarks on their first of a back-to-back all-Canadian matchup. In the first game of this stretch, they will host the Montréal Canadiens at Rogers Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. 

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