The Vancouver Canucks suffered their first defeat of the season 2-0 against the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Oct. 17. After starting the year with two wins against the Edmonton Oilers, the Canucks looked to start the season on a three-game win streak, something they had not done since 2016-17. Albeit the final score may portray the game was close, in all reality Vancouver never seemed in the game, putting together a rather lackluster performance. Here are three main takeaways from the contest.
Back to Back Games with Slow Starts
Vancouver’s previous game against the Oilers started off on the wrong foot as Leon Draisaitl tickled the twine just 42 seconds into the game. Nonetheless, the Canucks showed poise and resilience and found a way to answer, winning 4-3. Against the Flyers, Vancouver went down 1-0 early, this time 1:45 into the game as Egor Zamula netted his first-ever NHL goal to put his team in front. Unlike the preceding game, they never recovered and were dominated for the next 58 minutes.
Noah Juulsen had himself – yet again – another rough game as he was out there for both Flyers goals in the first period. On the first goal by the aforementioned Zamula, the defenceman screened goaltender Thatcher Demko, failing to get his body in front of the puck and making life a bit harder for his netminder. The second goal came with a few minutes left in the first period, a period where the Canucks were outplayed, and a majority of the blame falls on Juulsen’s shoulders for the goal. After failing to secure the puck on a risky pinch, Elias Pettersson was forced to slash Sean Couturier on the breakaway caused by his failed pinch attempt, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty shot which Couturier scored on.
Juulsen is not solely to blame for the Canucks’ slow start; every player came out of the gates at a snail’s pace but he stood out from the bunch. The Canucks do not want to make a habit of digging themselves out of holes every game, so it is vital for them to come out firing on Thursday, Oct. 19 against a solid Tampa Bay Lightning squad playing in their home building.
Tyler Myers is… Tyler Myers
Disclaimer: I think Tyler Myers has value to this Canucks team. His size and veteran leadership are important to this group and traits like that are hard to put on a stat-sheet. With that being said, it is clear to see Canucks fans will not be seeing a changed Myers. Dubbed the “Chaos Giraffe,” Myers lived up to that label against the Flyers, and not in a good way. The “Tyler Myers Experience” has its ups and downs and on Tuesday night it was all down. According to Natural Stat Trick, he posted a 34.47 expected goals for percentage (xGF%) which is… not good. He led the Canucks in penalty minutes with four and in giveaways with two. For those who have been following the Canucks for a while, that has always been Myers’ downfall and last night his shortcomings showed.
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Look, it is obviously unrealistic for someone entering their age-34 season to completely fix their problems within their own game. Myers will forever have penalty and turnover issues, but Canucks fans have probably hoped he could suppress them a little this season. He looked lost out there against the Flyers, something head coach Rick Tocchet simply can not have when it comes to dealing with a veteran defenseman like Myers. Tocchet may try all he can to help the defenceman become less turnover/penalty prone, but as they say: you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Thatcher Demko is Back
The only reason why the final score was not worse was because of the efforts of Thatcher Demko. According to MoneyPuck, the former Boston College goaltender saved 1.74 goals above average (xGSA), meaning the score should have at least been 4-0 if it were not for his efforts. Now to clarify, Demko never really “left” per se, but his groin injury last season was cause for concern as to how he would bounce back. Those concerns should be put to rest considering he finished last season strong and looked even better Tuesday night. Check out this unbelievable save late in the third period to keep the deficit at two.
The Canucks will now head to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning on Thursday hoping to bounce back from their first loss of the season.
