VANCOUVER — Nearly everything went perfectly for the Vancouver Canucks last season.
This season’s start was never going to be as easy as the dreamlike October last year when everything went the Canucks’ way. There were always going to be more challenges and bumps in the road.
But two losses to the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers, a pair of rebuilding clubs that aren’t expected to contend for the playoffs, certainly isn’t what anybody expected, either. Making matters worse is that Tyler Myers left Friday night’s game early in the first period with an injury and didn’t return. The Canucks lost to the Flyers 3-2.
Nobody should be hitting the panic button. It’s only two games, they still picked up points, and even if this skid continues, there are countless examples of contender-quality teams that stumbled out of the gate early but cruised into the playoffs easily. The Canucks have a very strong team on paper and will almost certainly be fine big picture. However, they need to go back to the drawing board in a couple of areas, and some of their top-six forwards need to perform better to right the ship.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Elias Pettersson and Canucks stars struggle
The biggest difference between the Canucks and Flyers is that one team has elite players at the top of the lineup and the other doesn’t.
Philadelphia lacks dynamic offensive talent besides rookie Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny. The Canucks, meanwhile, have major star power with the likes of Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. These teams aren’t in the same weight class when Vancouver’s best players come to play. But Friday night, the Canucks’ best players didn’t move the needle for most of the game, allowing the Flyers to keep it close.
Vancouver didn’t generate a single five-on-five shot attempt with Miller or Pettersson on the ice in the first period. Miller’s line started creating more zone time in the second period and had good underlying numbers by the end of the game, but it couldn’t create true Grade-A chances from the inner slot.
Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk and Daniel Sprong were the Canucks’ three lowest-ranking forwards for five-on-five ice time, which says all you need to know about that line’s performance. It wasn’t close to good enough.
Even Hughes, despite having sparkling possession numbers, made errant passes and struggled to get his shots through traffic.
The Canucks’ power play scuffled all night, going 0-for-5. It made poor passes that resulted in easy clears, consistently got shots blocked and had too many turnovers on entry attempts.
It isn’t all on the top players either; the complementary top-six wingers need to up their game. Sprong hasn’t fit on the Pettersson line. He was demoted from the bottom six in favour of Garland in the third period. He played just two shifts in the final frame, logging just 8:11 for the game.
Danton Heinen hasn’t added enough to the top line either. He needs to be more disruptive on the forecheck and show better hands around the net.
Don’t be surprised if the Canucks experiment with some new top-six-line combinations because what we’ve seen so far hasn’t worked.
Nils Höglander, Teddy Blueger lead strong Canucks bottom-six performance
Nils Höglander has looked electric in Dakota Joshua’s spot on the Canucks’ third line from day one of training camp in Penticton.
He and Garland are so fast, disruptive and tenacious hounding the puck and winning battles. They’re both so elusive, adept at protecting the puck and generating chances from below the faceoff dots. But they’re also both quick enough to thrive on the rush.
They’ve built immediate chemistry as an energetic, play-controlling duo. Vancouver’s third line was strong in Game 1 against Calgary, and it opened the scoring in Game 2 against the Flyers.
Garland pounced on a botched Flyers breakout attempt and sprung Höglander with a one-touch pass. Höglander immediately unleashed a rocket shot over the shoulder of Samuel Ersson. He’ll need to be more disciplined — two holding penalties in one game isn’t a good look — but his pace and skill could deserve a look higher up the lineup given the top six’s struggles.
Vancouver’s fourth line was excellent for most of the game, too. It was relentless on the forecheck, created energy and generated offensive looks. The Canucks had a 7-2 edge in five-on-five scoring chances when the bottom six were on the ice during the first period.
Teddy Blueger had countless scoring chances in the first two games. He finally got one to go when he tipped Derek Forbort’s backdoor pass to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead.
🚨Canucks Goal🚨
Derek Forbort makes a great pass to find Teddy Blueger for a tap in goal! #Canucks #LetsGoFlyers
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/NrIW55H5nI— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) October 12, 2024
Tyler Myers injured. Can Canucks’ right-side depth hold up?
Everybody knew the Canucks probably weren’t going to be as fortunate health-wise as they were last year. But I don’t think anybody could have predicted they’d be this hampered less than a week into the season.
Thatcher Demko, their Vezina-caliber starter, is still injured with no timeline for return. Joshua, a key middle-six driver, is out. And now, with a right-side blue line that already looked questionable with everyone healthy, Tyler Myers could be out of commission for a while.
Early in the first period, Myers got caught in a fluke collision with Joel Farabee when trying to pinch up the boards in the offensive zone. His right leg got twisted in an awkward position as he fell to the ice. Myers stayed down on the ice for several moments as play was blown dead. He was eventually helped off the ice while putting zero weight on his right leg.
Tyler Myers goes down after an awkward collision.#Canucks #LetsGoFlyers
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/omhL11M2WR— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) October 12, 2024
With the club down to five defenders, Hughes logged 31:29. Noah Juulsen suddenly became the No. 2 right-side defender and nearly hit the 20-minute mark. The Canucks can call Mark Friedman up if they need extra depth, but they don’t have a true top-four solution for his minutes. It’s especially tricky because Vancouver’s second pair is often trusted with matching up against the opposition’s top lines.
(Photo of Elias Pettersson: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images)
