Three-way tie for team lead in six exhibition games
The cold, hard facts are that the Vancouver Canucks were outscored 20-11 in their six National Hockey League preseason games. But remove the 10-0 loss in Calgary on opening night and you'll see the Canucks actually outscored their opponents 11-10 in five games in which they dressed primarily NHL players and used their two main goaltenders.
In fact, outside of the disaster in Calgary, the Canucks allowed more than two goals in a preseason game only one other time -- a 3-1 loss in Seattle on September 28th. So there were some positive signs defensively particularly on the team's revamped penalty kill.
Offensively, the Canucks had their struggles through the preseason with five of the team's 11 goals coming in a 5-2 win over Edmonton a week ago. As the chart below shows, the Canucks had three players tie for the team lead in pre-season scoring and a handful of others who will need to find ways to increase their contributions with the regular season now just days away.
Interestingly, the Canucks special teams were mirror images in the preseason with the power play going 3 for 23 (13%) while the penalty kill was 20 of 23 (87%).
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