The Stats Behind The Game: Canucks 3, Avalanche 4 (OT)
A look at some of the analytics from the Canucks 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Photo by Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports - The Stats Behind The Game: Canucks 3, Avalanche 4 (OT)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 most recent 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
The analytics for this game show that Vancouver was dominated for most of the game. At even strength, they lost the scoring chances battle 30-12, with the final high-danger chances tally being 18-7 in favour of the Avalanche. It was also the third time this season that they finished with an xGF% below 30.00, further illustrating that this was one of the worst games from an analytics perspective all season.
As for the heatmap, it shows that the Canucks were unable to protect the high-danger areas on the ice, as the average goal distance for Colorado was 13.75 feet. Overall, Casey DeSmith also faced 14 high-danger shots, where Alexandar Georgiev finished the night with seven against. While the heatmap wasn't outrageous, it was problematic and indicated that Vancouver was heavily outplayed in their own zone.
To wrap things up, let's look at Ilya Mikheyev, who snapped his 34-game goalless drought. He finished second on the team with an even-strength xGF% of 66.01, while the Canucks had a 3-2 even-strength high-danger scoring chances advantage with him on the ice. Mikheyev also finished with two shot blocks and was one of seven players to record multiple shots in the game. While most of the headlines will be around his goal, it is a positive to see that he played well defensively, which is impressive considering he was line-matched against Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin for most of the game.
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