Canucks: Will these road warriors end up Pacific Division winners?

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There were many lessons to be taken from the 2023-24 season by the Vancouver Canucks.

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Pick up your points early and often was a big one.

On Nov. 7, 2023, the Canucks had a 9-2-1 record after 12 games — a points percentage of .792 — a ferocious start to a season they finished with 109 points, the fourth-highest total in team history.

Going into Thursday’s game in Los Angeles, the Canucks aren’t quite at the same pace, but they are still humming along at 6-2-3. That’s still good for a points percentage of .682, which is ahead of the .665 points percentage they managed last season.

These Canucks are picking up points against less opponents. That’s important.

But there’s a long way to go and much tougher opponents await.

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Heading into Thursday’s game against the Kings, the Canucks had won five of their six road games.

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Historically, home teams in the NHL did tend to win a lot more than the visitors, but that’s become less and less the case.

In recent seasons, home teams have won just 55 per cent of the time, a decline from even a decade ago, when home teams won about 59 per cent of the time.

Last season, the Canucks went 23-14-4 on the road, the ninth-best record in the NHL.

It was at home where they feasted most: 27-9-5, fourth-best in the NHL.

In other words, the Canucks need to pick up the pace from their pedestrian 1-1-3 home record at the moment.

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A big factor in the Canucks’ success on the road has been the play in goal, especially that of Kevin Lankinen.

In their six road games before Thursday, the Canucks had posted the fourth-best five-on-five save percentage in the NHL.

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Couple that with an excellent 10.3-per-cent shooting percentage on offence, and that’s a pretty good recipe for success.

The Canucks’ save percentage isn’t going to stay sky-high, but it’s likely to remain strong since the Canucks have been defending in their own end pretty well.

On the season, Lankinen has faced a career-low in shots against — the Canucks are yielding just 27.1 shots per game with him in net, more than three shots per game fewer than last season, when Lankinen was the Nashville Predators’ backup.

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There was plenty of fanfare for Quinn Hughes’ latest Hall-Of-Fame comparable accomplishment, and it was deserved: Being the third-fasted defenceman in NHL history to 300 assists is no small feat. Hitting that mark last Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks has him in the company of Bobby Orr and Brian Leetch, the only two blueliners to hit the mark faster, and one game quicker than Paul Coffey.

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We noted many times last year how astounding Hughes’ career already is — feat after feat puts him in the company of a handful of all-time greats.

One feat that went under the radar in the Anaheim game was it was also the 22nd time in his career he had picked up at least three assists in a game, third most for defencemen before the age of 25.

Only Orr and Coffey have been more proficient.

Hughes is already the greatest defenceman in team history, and he’s on course to be the greatest player in team history too.

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One piece of bad news: the Canucks’ power play continues to struggle.

They’re generating barely one shot per minute of power play time. The best units in the NHL, such as Winnipeg, Colorado and Vegas, get off nearly twice as many shots per minute. In fact, the Canucks’ shot rate is the worst in the NHL.

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That said, the Canucks are finishing their shots off well enough, but the truth is they’re still not shooting it enough.

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On the other hand, the Canucks have one of the most disruptive penalty kills going. They are middle of the pack in terms of success rate — 12th overall at 82.4 per cent — but they have been very good at limiting shots against overall — the Canucks’s opponents are getting the second-fewest shot attempts off in the league — and also doing a good job at limiting quality chances against — they’ve given up the ninth-best rate of high-danger chances against in the league.

Stopping shots on the penalty kill isn’t exactly straightforward and not every chance is made the same, even by the numbers, but the better you are at limiting the opposition’s chances to shoot, the better chance you will have to stop shots.

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A final piece of good news: Heading into Thursday’s game, the Canucks have the 11th-easiest schedule remaining.

Most pre-season rating systems saw the Canucks having one of the easiest schedules, if not the easiest, over the course of the full season, just based on the sequence of games and the rest time between them.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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