Canucks Close Out 2024 With A 3-1 Loss To The Flames

The Vancouver Canucks closed out 2024 with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. Brock Boeser scored the only goal, while Kevin Lankinen stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced. With the loss, the Canucks dropped to 10-4-2 on the road and will start 2025 outside of a playoff spot.

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Tuesday's loss was another example of Vancouver's offensive struggling to generate chances. The Canucks finished the night with 24 shots on goal and, according to Natural Stat Trick, less than 20 total scoring chances. While they did score on the power play, Vancouver looked lost in the offensive zone for the majority of the night, which resulted in only scoring one goal.

The biggest issue with the offence in this game was that the Canucks top players got little to no help when it came to generating shots on net. As mentioned, Vancouver finished the night with 24 shots, but 13 of them were generated by either J.T. Miller, Jake DeBrusk or Boeser. Overall, it wasn't the top-end players that struggled, but the other 15 skaters, as Max Sasson, Conor Garland and Phil Di Giuseppe, were the only non-top-line players to finish with more than one shot on goal.

Another concerning moment from this game was the Canucks inability to generate chances with the empty net. Down 2-1 with just under two minutes remaining, Vancouver pulled the goaltender. Between Lankinen being pulled and Jonathan Huberdeau scoring the empty netter, the Canucks were credited with two turnovers, including one in the neutral zone by Carson Soucy two seconds before the goal. The inability to set up late in games in the offensive zone with the extra attacker has been a concerning trend this season and is something Vancouver needs to dedicate practice time to in the future.

The game was not all negative, as the Canucks showed they will not be pushed around by the opposition. Vancouver held a 29-28 hits advantage in the game, while three fights broke out in the second period. While fighting is not needed every night, it was a positive to see the Canucks sticking up for each other during the second period.

Arguably, though, the biggest positive on the night was the penalty kill, which went a perfect two for two against the Flames. The biggest stars were Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger, who stepped up massively during Calgary 1:17 of five-on-three action. While the team has struggled over the past few weeks, the penalty kill continues to be a bright spot, as they have now gone perfect in four of their last five games.

The main takeaway from this game is that Vancouver desperately misses both Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. Overall, they played decent defensively but struggled to generate offence at even strength. Hopefully, 2025 will bring more exciting games and a rejuvenated Canucks offence that can record more than 25 shots on a regular basis.

We Want To Wish All Our Readers A Happy And Safe New Year From The Entire THN Vancouver Canucks Team. 

Facts and Stats:

- The Canucks finish 2024 with a record of 44-24-14

- Brock Boeser's 193rd goal ties Alex Burrows for the tenth most in franchise history

- Brock Boeser's 69th power play goal ties Pavel Bure for the seventh most in franchise history

- Vancouver records under 25 shots for the 15th time this season

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

14:31- CGY: Connor Zary (9) from Yegor Sharangovich and Jakob Pelletier

2nd Period:

No Scoring

3rd Period:

6:15- VAN: Brock Boeser (14) from J.T. Miller and Erik Brännström (PPG)
9:18- CGY: Nazem Kadri (14) from Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil 
18:58- CGY: Jonathan Huberdeau (16) (ENG)

Up Next:

The Canucks will play their first game of 2025 on Thursday when they face the Seattle Kraken. Vancouver will be looking for some revenge as the Kraken defeated the Canucks 5-4 in overtime less than a week ago. Game time is set for 7:00 pm PT from Climate Pledge Arena.