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Quinn Hughes’ offensive evolution, Canucks' defensive woes vs. Lightning: 3 takeaways

9 December 2024Last Update :
Quinn Hughes’ offensive evolution, Canucks' defensive woes vs. Lightning: 3 takeaways

The Vancouver Canucks are entering one of the more challenging stretches of their regular-season schedule.

Sunday’s matinee affair with the Tampa Bay Lightning marked the beginning of a span of seven games in 12 days, which includes dates with other offensive juggernauts like the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights. That’s a big step up compared to November when only one of Vancouver’s 13 games (Nov. 19 against the New York Rangers) was against an opponent that ranked top 10 in the league in goals scored per game.

J.T. Miller’s return could be on the horizon, but with Filip Hronek still out, the next two weeks will be one of the biggest tests of the season. The Canucks have been impressively resilient this season, but their lack of star power aside from Quinn Hughes was clearly felt against the Lightning’s constellation of elite talent.

Vancouver was competitive and close at even strength and Kevin Lankinen was sharp again, but Tampa Bay scored twice on the power play and was perfect on the penalty kill. Here are three takeaways from the Canucks’ 4-2 loss.

How Hughes keeps evolving offensively

It’s ridiculous how quickly and profoundly Hughes can singlehandedly alter the environment of a game.

Vancouver’s captain missed nearly 15 minutes of the first period after being high-sticked by Brandon Hagel during his opening shift. His absence was sorely felt. The Canucks generated just one shot on goal during the ensuing four-minute power-play. The entries, in particular, were a disaster without him. At even strength, the Canucks held the fort down defensively without Hughes. They defended Tampa Bay well off the rush — preventing cross-seam passes with multiple layers in the middle — which disrupted the Lightning’s speed in transition. However, the Canucks struggled to advance the puck up ice without Hughes and couldn’t build any offensive zone pressure.

Hughes’ return later in the first period was like an instant light switch. It felt like the Canucks were rolling downhill for the rest of the period. Just seconds after he stepped back on the ice for his first shift back, sporting a full face shield, the Canucks began controlling puck possession and spending more time in the Lightning zone. Hughes set up Nils Höglander in the slot for one of the team’s only scoring chances of the opening period. He walked the line and commanded play from the point like no other defender in the league can.

Superstars can’t be a one-trick pony in how they attack offensively because opposing teams are always pre-scouting their tendencies. Hughes’ opening goal was another example of how many tricks he has up his sleeve and how that keeps him one step ahead of opposing teams. When Hughes dashes down the left half-wall with the puck in the offensive zone, he’s usually shown two main tendencies in the past: He either fires an east-west pass into the slot or targets the short side top corner with a sharp angle shot.

But on this goal, Hughes threw a curveball. First, instead of skating the puck around the net to the other side, he cut to the inside on his backhand. That on its own is something we didn’t see very often from him last season. Then, to top it off, he threw a surprise no-look backhand shot through traffic. Andrei Vasilevskiy was completely fooled by it.

The Canucks had a 5-0 advantage in shots with Hughes on the ice in the first period.

How Tampa’s magical east-west passing killed Canucks defensively

Tampa Bay’s offensive stars singlehandedly took over when these teams first met in October, and they delivered an encore performance at Rogers Arena. The Lightning are one of the best teams in the league at breaking defences down with impeccable east-west passing through the slot and that’s exactly how they took control of the game in the second period.

On Tampa Bay’s tying goal, Jake DeBrusk, who was supposed to cover the point, dove in down low to try and steal the puck. He couldn’t corral it and it squeezed into the slot. DeBrusk was now caught way out of position and that gave his check, Ryan McDonagh, the perfect opportunity to pinch down and steal possession in the slot. McDonagh did a perfect job of selling a shot and then slid the puck across to Nikita Kucherov who pumped a shot into the yawning cage.

Less than two minutes later, the Lightning went to work on the power play and showed why their top unit is still a formidable threat despite Steven Stamkos’ departure. The puck movement of Tampa’s top unit was magical and mesmerizing. There was zero time wasted on deciding where the puck should go; every pass was instantaneous and laser-accurate and threaded the needle through the slot perfectly. Brayden Point made no mistake with a wide-open net to shoot on:

Even Jake Guentzel’s game-winning goal, which included a fortuitous bounce, was preceded by an east-west pass:

Invisible offensive performance from Canucks’ top line

Tampa Bay’s top line (Kucherov, Point, Guentzel) combined for four goals in various game states. Their best forwards were firing on all cylinders; meanwhile, the Canucks’ top line didn’t do any damage.

DeBrusk looked decent — he had three shots and created havoc in the net-front area on the few occasions his line did have offensive zone possession — but Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser were remarkably quiet. Pettersson and Boeser combined for just two shots. The Canucks controlled just 33 percent of expected goals during Pettersson’s five-on-five shifts and they were on the ice for a goal against.

Vancouver’s top forwards executed poorly on the power play, too. The Canucks got a jolt from Conor Garland’s line, which consistently threatened, but didn’t get enough contributions from the top of the forward lineup. That made all the difference on a night when Tampa’s top forwards were rolling.

(Photo of Quinn Hughes reacting as the Lightning celebrate Brayden Point’s third-period goal: Bob Frid / Imagn Images)

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