After Trading J.T. Miller, Canucks Lose 5-3 To The Stars

At 5:00 pm PT on January 31, the Vancouver Canucks took on the Dallas Stars, losing by a score of 5–3. Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk, and Carson Soucy scored for the Canucks, while Oskar Back, Jason Robertson (2), and Roope Hintz (2) scored for the Stars. Thatcher Demko manned the crease for the Canucks, stopping 11 of 14 shots. On the other end of the ice, Jake Oettinger made 26 saves on 29 shots.

Vancouver’s 5–3 loss was not the biggest part of today. Barely an hour before the game, news broke that star Canucks forward, J.T. Miller, would be traded back to the New York Rangers. Joining him in the deal are defenceman Erik Brännström and prospect Jackson Dorrington. In return, Vancouver received centre Filip Chytil, defender Victor Mancini, and a top 13-protected 2025 first-round pick.

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Without their second-highest points getter on the season in Miller, the Canucks would be relying heavily on Elias Pettersson for top-line centre duties. He, Teddy Blueger, Pius Suter, and Aatu Räty combined for a faceoff win percentage of 41.5 on the game, with Pettersson taking 24 draws and winning 37.5%. While Pettersson won an important faceoff on Vancouver’s fifth power play opportunity, the puck ended up in Dallas’ possession and eventually led to another Stars goal.

The Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers pairing remained in-tact to start the game, as the two played a total of 23:26 and 19:49 minutes respectively. However, nearly halfway through the third period, Hughes left the bench for the dressing room, returning just in time to man the blueline on Vancouver’s fourth power play opportunity of the night. After coming back from the dressing room, Hughes was given shorter shifts, showing less mobility than usual and leading fans to wonder about the status of the Canucks captain.

With one assist on the night, Pettersson may not have been too noticeable, but he had extra responsibilities piled on him tonight. He led all forwards in ice time in the first period with over seven minutes played, ultimately finishing the game with 22:29 minutes played. He also had three shots on goal.

Vancouver’s power play looked clunky tonight, which is reasonable given that one of the unit’s main components had been traded only an hour before the game. Now without Miller, the Canucks iced a first-unit of Pettersson, Hughes, Garland, Brock Boeser, and Debrusk.

The Canucks tied the game up in the second period off an odd-man rush from Nils Höglander and Garland. Höglander slid the puck over to Garland, who was able to tuck it past Oettinger, who left the net open in anticipation of what the Swedish forward would do. Prior to this, a high-stick caught Höglander up on the chin, causing him to completely spill blood all over his jersey. Still, no call was made.

Other than his assist on Garland’s goal, Höglander was noticeable in tonight’s effort against the Stars. He drew two penalties in the game — one against Matt Dumba, and one against Kyle Capobianco. While the team didn’t capitalize on either opportunity, the effort gave the team some in-game time to test out a unit that hadn’t even gotten the chance to practice together. Höglander also had a close tip-in chance near the end of Vancouver’s third power play opportunity of the game. By the end of the game, he registered one hit, two shots on goal, and 12:26 minutes played.

After Derek Forbort was called for tripping, the Stars quickly took the lead with a power play tally scored by Robertson. Vancouver pushed back immediately after, throwing Hughes and Myers on to generate a chance that was ultimately neutralized and brought back into Vancouver territory. By the end of the second period, Vancouver had thrown 20 shots on Dallas’ net.

The third period got off to a wild start, as Vancouver and Dallas opened up the game and began trading back-and-forth chances. Players began to throw their bodies around a little more, as Stars rookie Logan Stankoven threw a hit on Höglander, but ended up springing off of him instead. The stretch of rushes culminated in a break for Hintz, who made no mistake in backhanding the puck past Demko.

Vancouver started to slow down after Hintz’s goal, with the team only registering a single shot in the first 13 minutes of the third period. To give urgency to a dispirited effort, on Vancouver’s fifth power play opportunity of the game, Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet opted to pull Demko and ice six players with less than four minutes left in the game. It only took eight seconds for Dallas to score on the empty net.

While Vancouver gave up the empty-net goal, the Canucks’ man-advantage ultimately scored to bring the game to 4–2. DeBrusk tapped in a goal to score Vancouver’s first power play goal of the game in their fifth attempt. The effort spurred yet another emptying of Demko’s net, and although the effort looked promising, Dallas eventually retrieved the puck and shut down any hopes of a Canucks comeback with their second empty-net goal of the game. A goal by Soucy came too late in the game, with the 5–3 score marking the end of the team’s three-game win streak.

Facts and Stats:

• Canucks surrender first goal of the game for the 29th time this season

• With his assist tonight, Nils Höglander registers back-to-back games with a point for the first time since October 11, 2024

• Conor Garland takes sole position of second on the team in points with 34 on the season

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

9:12 - DAL: Oskar Back (3) from Colin Blackwell

2nd Period:

5:08 - VAN: Conor Garland (14) from Nils Höglander and Filip Hronek

16:28 - DAL: Jason Robertson (18) from Wyatt Johnson and Matt Duchene (PPG)

3rd Period:

4:04 - DAL: Roope Hintz (21) from Jason Robertson and Esa Lindell

16:33 - DAL: Roope Hintz (22) from Wyatt Johnson (ENG)

17:51 - VAN: Jake DeBrusk (18) from Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes (PPG)

19:07 - DAL: Jason Robertson (19) from Thomas Harley and Roope Hintz (ENG)

19:56 - VAN: Carson Soucy (2) from Phil Di Giuseppe and Danton Heinen

Up Next:

Vancouver returns to Rogers Arena for a Sunday night showdown with the Detroit Red Wings. It’s likely that new acquisitions Chytil and Mancini could play in this game, marking their first as members of the Canucks organization. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:00 pm PT.

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