Even through the losses—and the Canucks are now at six straight—there’s an argument to be made that Vancouver has stuck around in almost every contest they’ve played this season. (Aside from maybe last week’s loss to Minnesota and an earlier loss to Pittsburgh.)

Last night against the stacked Winnipeg Jets, one could once again make that point, but it wasn’t as if these two teams are at all close in terms of quality.

The Jets dominated this game from the start, but the Canucks weren’t out of it until the very end, as the club even threatened to tie the score in the third. In the end, it was a 6-3 Winnipeg win that both felt that way and didn’t.

Here’s what else we saw in Vancouver’s sixth straight loss.

Three that impressed

1. Sam Gagner

It didn’t look like someone playing their first NHL game of the season, as the veteran was able to create some chances on offence. With Darren Archibald barely seeing the ice and other players not performing (see Schaller, Tim), it’s not hard to envision a future where Gagner stays with the team even after others come back from injury. 

2. Nikolay Goldobin

Not sure how one could come at Goldobin with criticism based on who he’s played so far (we’ll get to that later), but this was one of his better games of the season.

https://twitter.com/ryanbiech/status/1064740598526013440

And remember, that’s saying something; he’s probably been Vancouver’s third-best forward so far this season.

3. Patrick Laine

He’s basically the evolved form of Alex Ovechkin just without the bad luck and criticism. People will start hating this dude eventually, especially if he gets a Stanley Cup early in his career and Winnipeg remains a juggernaut. For now, it’s easy to be caught by how much of a game changer he is, and how perfectly he fits this Winnipeg team that is just as content to run you over as they are to run up the score.

Give it a couple years and he’ll be one of the league’s biggest villains. Hey, he already looks like that Jaws character from the Bond film.

Three that didn’t

1. Connor Hellebuck

Yep, he won the game. But he also posted an .880 save percentage, stopping 22 of 25 shots. Also, you’d hope he would have studied the Canucks’ game against Montreal, in which Pettersson beat Carey Price in an almost identical way that he exposed the Jets’ tender.

2. Tim Schaller

Three assists in 21 games, and he’s been getting swaths of ice time with Bo Horvat. Not great. Schaller had a couple chances last night and couldn’t bury them. He also shot on a two-on-one with Elias Pettersson (seriously) and got tossed away by Dustin Byfuglien in the first minute of the game.

3. Andrew Walker

During one of the intermissions, Walker, of Sportsnet 650, dropped this gem when talking about Goldobin: “He’s such a swing guy for me. Eventually Pettersson has to play with guys who have more than three goals.” It’s the kind of response you give when you’re a dinosaur who can’t appreciate the more skilled guys on the roster. His resting jerk face looked a little ridiculous next to the charming, informed Satiar Shah. 

Notable

- Pettersson got away with punching Morrisey in the face (on the same shift he eventualy drew a call), but he wasn’t going to get away with two-handing an attacking Jet. He then proceeded to argue the penalty for some reason.

- Antoine Roussel beat up Brandon Tanev off a faceoff, but the Canucks’ grinder broke a code of sorts by proceeding to punch in Tanev’s face while the latter was on the ground. Had to be awkward being Chris Tanev on the bench.

- It’s quite clear that the Canucks are a long, long way from being anywhere close to where the Jets are right now. Just looking at Winnipeg’s defence core is mind-boggling. Byfuglien, Trouba, Morrisey, Myers are the top four, and all of them would be the Canucks’ top defenceman in ice time on the season.

- This is dumb.

https://twitter.com/HockeyRta/status/1064944749155622912

Quotable

“I thought we did a good job of responding and getting some life and finding a way to battle back.” – Sam Gagner

“There's no sense whining or crying about injuries. It's a good opportunity for young guys. It's a challenge, and they've got to accept it." – Travis Green

“We were smart but still aggressive…They’ve had a tough run here and they’ve got some key guys out of their lineup. I liked our game, we were good here tonight.” – Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice