A look at some of the analytics from the Vancouver Canucks 4-3, Game 4 overtime win over the Nashville Predators.
Welcome to this edition of "The Stats Behind The Game." This recurring deep dive breaks down the analytics behind each Vancouver Canucks game as recorded by Natural Stat Trick. In this article, we look back on the Canucks 4-3 Game 4 overtime win over Nashville Predators.
While Vancouver may not have played their best game, they walked away with not just the win but better analytics. At even strength, the two teams were tied with 19 scoring chances each, while the Canucks won the high-danger chances battle 7-5. Even though it felt at times that Nashville was generating chances, Vancouver did a great job in the defensive zone, preventing high-danger chances and protecting their goaltender.
The heatmap does a great job of showing how strong the Canucks defence was in front of Artūrs Šilovs. The "guts of the ice," as Rick Tocchet likes to call them, were virtually empty, while Vancouver forced the Predators from getting chances in tight. While it wasn't their strongest effort of the series, the final heatmap shows that the Canucks were able to keep their defensive structure throughout the game.
Heatmap by Natural Stat Trick, VAN vs NSH, April 28, 2024When looking at the lines, one trio that stood out was Phil Di Giuseppe, Teddy Blueger and Sam Lafferty. During their 7:27 of ice time, Vancouver had a 3-0 scoring chances advantage while the line finished with an xGF% of 56.48. Even though they did not score, they continually won their matchup and rarely were caught for long periods in their own zone.
Lastly, it was another strong night for Nikita Zadorov on the back end. The big defender played over 21 minutes, while his even strength xGF% of 53.66 was the highest among Canucks defenders. Leading the way with five hits on the evening, "Big Z" continues to leave his mark on this series.
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