VANCOUVER — There was finally a feeling of optimism surrounding the Vancouver Canucks heading into this game.
The Canucks had reeled off a couple of massive wins to leapfrog the Calgary Flames and reclaim the final wild-card spot. Quinn Hughes was back and operating at close to his usual elite level and Elias Pettersson appeared to be turning a corner. A win over Utah on Sunday evening would have crushed Utah’s playoff chances and been the perfect cherry on top to sustain the good vibes.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
The Canucks were lifeless offensively, had tired, heavy legs for most of the evening and fell 3-1. Here are three takeaways from the loss.
The sluggish, out-of-sync offensive performance
The offensive fireworks from Saturday’s six-goal outburst against the Blackhawks didn’t carry over against Utah. Vancouver mustered just four shots on goal in the first period and six in the second. The only semi-threatening chance they generated at even-strength through the first two periods was a slot shot by Pius Suter set up by Conor Garland.
Controlled entries were hard to come by, especially with Filip Chytil out. The club’s transition passes weren’t clean and there was even an entry where Nils Åman accidentally got in Quinn Hughes’ way and bumped into the captain. It, of course, didn’t help that the Canucks were playing on consecutive nights, even though there was no travel involved.
The biggest problem, however, is that too many plays in the offensive zone were dying at the point. Routine low-to-high passes were bobbled and squirting out of the attacking end. Point shots were getting blocked and squeezed out of the zone. Vancouver’s defencemen weren’t making smart decisions with the puck.
Here’s an example where Mancini had the puck at the right point and Hughes was beaver-tailing for a pass. Mancini didn’t spot the passing opportunity and fired a shot that got blocked, which allowed Utah to recover puck possession in the defensive zone corner:
I think Quinn hughes wanted the puck on this play
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL#Canucks #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/HIiNYgOwzl
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 17, 2025
The Canucks were out of sync offensively as a five-man unit. Hughes was the only one who seemed capable of making dynamic, creative plays, but even that was only in spurts rather than for sustained, dominant stretches.
Gritty, hard-nosed defensive play kept Canucks close
Most times, when your offence is lacklustre as Vancouver’s attack was through the first 40 minutes, you don’t really have a chance to win. This is where the Canucks deserve credit: Their gutsy, hardworking effort away from the puck limited Utah’s offensive damage and kept them close enough to hang around.
The Canucks defended better than the scoring chance/expected goal numbers on Natural Stat Trick would lead you to believe. It wasn’t easy for Utah to get to the inside. Vancouver was defending slot passing lanes well, with the exception of Kevin Stenlund’s tying goal. Derek Forbort made a couple of clutch shot blocks, including one in the second period to stymie Utah’s two-on-one rush attack.
Wingers Conor Garland and Jake DeBrusk made heavy, impressive plays under pressure to transport pucks out of the defensive zone and relieve pressure. On one shift, Garland blocked a shot that stung him badly and was practically playing on one foot. He showed remarkable toughness to keep battling and made a slick maneuver later on the shift to stickhandle the puck out of danger and engineer a clean defensive zone exit to relieve pressure. The Rogers Arena faithful chanted his name as he hobbled back to the bench.
Sure, it was a lot of ugly hockey, but the Canucks fared well defensively considering Utah is one of the best teams in the league at racking up shots and chances at even strength. The scrappy, high compete effort gave the Canucks a tie score heading into the third period, presenting an opportunity to grind out at least a point. They didn’t capitalize on that opportunity, unfortunately, but it’s meaningful that they were tied through the third period on the second leg of a back-to-back, on a night when nothing was going offensively.
Utah catches a break, Canucks run out of gas
Sometimes when you spend enough time controlling play in the offensive zone, you’re able to manufacture some luck. After being frustrated by Vancouver’s bend-but-don’t-break defensive form through two periods, Utah finally got a bounce that broke the game in its favour.
Sean Durzi’s point shot deflected off the maze of traffic in front of Kevin Lankinen and landed perfectly in front of Logan Cooley on the weak side. Cooley was wide open, essentially had a whole net to shoot at and made no mistake.
Utah takes a 2-1 lead. Logan Cooley with the goal.
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL#Canucks #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/6HMzcPa9ng
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 17, 2025
The Canucks’ offensive push once Utah took the lead was laboured and tepid. Most of their shots were from long distance. Their passing was consistently off the mark— there was one shift where Elias Pettersson was winding up with speed through the neutral zone, only for Filip Hronek to shank his breakout pass into Pettersson’s skates, which completely disrupted their flow.
They were gifted a prime opportunity to claw back when Brock Boeser drew a double minor high-sticking penalty, but the ensuing four-minute power play was disastrous. Their entries were problematic and routine passes got flubbed. They didn’t create a single high-danger chance on the extended power play.
It looked like the Canucks were completely out of gas based on their inability to create speed and connect passing plays.
(Photo of Teddy Blueger: Bob Frid / Imagn Images)
