3 Takeaways From Canucks’ 3-1 Loss to the Flames – The Hockey Writers Vancouver Canucks Latest News, Analysis & More

The Vancouver Canucks were looking to close 2024 on a positive note as they headed to Cowtown to face the Calgary Flames on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, what they got was another disappointing defeat, falling 3-1 in their second straight game without Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson in the lineup. It was a chippy affair with a lot of physicality and fighting majors, but ultimately another disjointed game where the Canucks failed to move the puck cleanly out of their own zone and generate any sort of speed off the rush. In other words, they missed Hughes badly, and they need him back asap.

With that, let’s dive into a few takeaways from the final test of 2024.

Canucks’ Blue Line Forget How to Move the Puck Without Quinn Hughes

I lost count of the number of times I saw a Canucks defenceman chip the puck off the boards/glass or flip it out in this game. It’s like they forgot how to make a clean pass or simply start a rush from their own zone. Without Hughes, the team lacks any sort of cohesion from the blue line as they seem to resort to handing possession back to the other team rather than making a play to one of their skilled forwards. It’s amazing how losing one player can have such a profound impact on a roster, but I guess when that player is a generational talent like Hughes, it makes sense. He has the puck so often that the other less-skilled puck movers don’t need to handle it as much in key situations.

Related: One Burning Question for Every NHL Team in 2025

However, with that said, these are NHL defencemen who have been in the league for a decent amount of time. You would think they could make a simple pass to a forward to start a rush. Yet, they didn’t do it very often against the Flames, and as a result, finished with a dreadful 36 Corsi For percentage (CF%) at five-on-five. They barely controlled play, because whenever they got the puck, they didn’t make any attempt to keep it and generate speed through the neutral zone. Hughes makes such a difference in that aspect of the game since his first instinct is to make a pass or skate it into the offensive zone. And he does it with poise and confidence almost every time. To say they need him back is probably the understatement of the year.

Brock Boeser Stays Hot Heading Into 2025

One positive thing that has happened over the last few weeks is the re-emergence of Brock Boeser. He now has six goals in his past four games and is only two back of Jake DeBrusk for the team lead. He was their leading goalscorer last season with 40 goals, and he now has 14, seemingly back on track to score at least 30 – maybe even approach 35. While it’s unrealistic to expect him to stay at this pace for the rest of the season, he is now more likely to hit 30 rather than just 20 or 25 like he was at the beginning of December.

Boeser was all around the net again in this game, tipping in his fifth on the power play, and tying Alex Burrows for 10th on the all-time goals list. He now only needs five to pass Thomas Gradin for ninth and seven to pass former captain Bo Horvat for eighth. He should stand alone in that position by the end of the season and could be in the top five in the next few years, barring a new contract, of course. Bottom line – the Brockstar is back at full strength, and the Canucks need him to stay that way with all the talent that is out of the lineup.

Canucks & Flames Play Old School Hockey & Remind Fans There’s Still a Rivalry

The rivalry between the Canucks and Flames has cooled off from the days of Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff in recent seasons, but this game remained fans that the spark can be lit at any time. If you didn’t know any better, you would think you were watching a bout from the 80s and 90s with all the fights and physicality that broke out. The Rodney Dangerfield quote “I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out” rang true in this one as three fights happened in the second period with Erik Brannstrom dropping the mitts with Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Bahl facing off with J.T. Miller, and a few minutes after Lomberg exited the box for fighting Brannstrom, throwing down with Derek Forbort. All told, the middle frame was a series of stops and starts for various boxing matches and a little bit of hockey as the teams combined for 44 penalty minutes.

The #Canucks penalty box is looking a little crowded 😂

📸: @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/esYwKfRKrz

— betway (@betwaycanada) January 1, 2025

The Canucks’ penalty box was standing room only at one point as Miller had to stand up to let Tyler Myers in when he took a cross-checking penalty on Nazem Kadri. With Brannstrom and Noah Juulsen already in there, head coach Rick Tocchet had to use two forwards on the subsequent five-on-three instead of the usual two defencemen and one forward set. It was a recipe for disaster, but they ended up doing a good job on the kill, limiting the Flames to only one shot. All in all, it was a period that probably sent Tocchet back to his playing days when five-minute majors and crowded penalty boxes were commonplace.

The biggest takeaway from this physical and chippy game was that Hughes and Pettersson can’t return to the lineup soon enough. Luckily, at least Pettersson will be available in a week if what Tocchet said on Monday is true. Hughes’ status is a bit more up in the air since he’s said to be the dreaded unclear “week-to-week”.

Hopefully, both Hughes and Pettersson are back for the start of one of the Canucks’ toughest road trips to date which starts in Montreal on Monday (Jan. 6) and takes them through Washington, Carolina, Toronto, and Winnipeg. All but one of those teams are currently in the playoffs and the Canadiens are in the midst of a three-game winning streak where they have beaten three very good teams in the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers so they won’t be a pushover by any means.

Without Hughes and Pettersson, it will be tough sledding to come away with victories, as every one of those squads possesses speed and the ability to score. The Canucks will need to move the puck cleanly and generate some speed of their own, and that appears to be a near impossibility with the defencemen they have leading the way right now. While he’s only one man, Hughes can singlehandedly change the pace of a game and the Canucks will desperately need his Norris Trophy skillset in the lineup for them to have any chance of returning home with a respectable record.