Canucks Game Facts
Tonight: Vancouver Canucks at Seattle Kraken
Where: Climate Pledge Arena
When: 7 pm pacific
TV/Radio: Sportsnet / AM-650
Key Factors:
Starting goalkeepers: Thatcher Demko for Vancouver, Joey Daccord for Seattle.
The Canucks lost to the Kraken 4-3 last Saturday night at Rogers Arena. A late comeback attempt fell short.
Depth scoring has been an issue at various times for both of these teams this season, although it appears Seattle may be snapping out of it. They had six different goal scorers against San Jose on Wednesday — yes, it’s the Sharks — but that game will boost confidence throughout the line-up, one that had seen more diverse contributions in the week leading up.
Bottom-six forward Nils Höglander now has a half dozen goals for Vancouver while dinged up Pius Suter had four timely ones before leaving the line-up.
Vancouver remains without injured 4th-liner Suter and defenceman Carson Soucy.
Nils Åman has been activated up front.
Winger Andre Burakovksy has started skating with Seattle, including this morning in a red jersey, and remains out, as does “number-one” goalie Philipp Grubauer.
Chris Driedger is the back-up.
Expect feisty with the potential for chippy.
Who’s Hot? And Not …
Vancouver centre J.T. Miller scored a beautiful goal in Denver on Wednesday to extend his point streak to nine games, one that’s seen him pile up 14 points.
Anthony Beauvillier has an assist in two straight games, but just three points total over his last ten. Recent linemate Brock Boeser has 13 goals on the season, but just one assist over his last four games.
For Seattle Jordan Eberle has eight points over his current six-game streak. Eeli Tolvanen had a career-high-tying three point night against the Sharks and is averaging a point-a-game over his last 13. Jared McCann is a point-a-game player over his last nine against the Canucks, the team that drafted him in 2014.
Reigning Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers is off to a slow start this season with 10 points in 21 games played.
Special Teams
The Canucks power play went 0-for-3 on Wednesday against the Avalanche after doing the same thing Monday night against the Sharks. That slipped their overall success rate on the season to 29.7%, still very impressive.
Seattle went 1-for-3 against San Jose to improve to 25% on the season with the man advantage.
The Kraken’s best bet against the Canucks is to simply stay out of the penalty box. They played a disciplined game last Saturday head-to-head. Seattle went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Canucks went 0-for-2.
When in the box, it hasn’t been pretty for either of these teams.
The Canucks PK checks in at 76.6% while the Kraken are even worse at 73%.
Coming In:
Canucks: 13-6-and-1 for 27 points, good for 2nd place in the Pacific Division. Vancouver lost to Colorado 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Kraken: 8-8-and-5 for 21 points and 4th place in the Pacific. The Kraken beat the Sharks 7-1 two nights ago.
Entries Of Interest:
— Canucks Loss Sets Up Kraken Pacific Rematch
— The Hugeness Of The Canucks Bo Horvat Trade
— Canucks Improve With Hronek Acquisition (from March)
NEW BOUDREAU POD …
