The Vancouver Canucks are in the midst of a tough seven-game road trip through the Eastern Conference and have done pretty well for themselves so far, with wins against Columbus and Washington book-ending a loss to Detroit.
The sojourn continues tonight with a match-up against Pittsburgh, followed by stops in Toronto and Ottawa before finishing up against Montreal next Tuesday. Here’s part two of our preview, with a look at each of the Canucks opponents and a difficulty score (out of 10) for each game. Credit to LWOS Hockey News Director Ken Hill (@LWOSPuckHead) for his help with part two.
Canucks Road Trip Preview (Part 2)
Vancouver Canucks @ Pittsburgh Penguins (12/04/2014, 4:00 PM PST)
In a battle between two of the NHL’s most potent offenses, the Penguins easily pose the biggest threat to this point of the road trip. The Penguins currently sit at 4th place in the overall standings with 34 points in 23 games, and sit only two points behind the 1st place Lightning with two games in hand.
This game also presents a duel between two of the better pick-ups of the 2014 off-season in Radim Vrbata and Patric Hornqvist. Both Vrbata and Hornqvist had established themselves as reliable top-six producers at the National Hockey League level, but had never been labelled as top end contributors. Both have had tremendous starts to the season as well. Vrbata currently leads the Canucks with eleven goals in 23 games played, and has fit seamlessly alongside the Sedin twins. Hornqvist, after spending the past six seasons with the Predators, has accumulated 11 goals and 25 points in only 23 contests playing with Sidney Crosby.
The previous two games between these two clubs have ended with a shootout, 5-4 on January 7th and 4-3 on October 19th, both in favor of the Penguins. This one promises to be another high scoring affair between two of the leagues’ top teams through the first handful of months, and is without a doubt the biggest challenge for Vancouver through four games of this Eastern road swing.
Difficulty Score: 9
Vancouver Canucks @ Toronto Maple Leafs (12/06/2014, 4:00 PM PST)
Since two consecutive embarrassing blowout-losses last month, in which the Leafs were outscored by a combined 15-4, Toronto has actually turned things around quite nicely. They’ve reeled off a 4-0-1 record since then, good enough to currently have a toehold on one of the wild card spots in the East.
This could prove to be another run-and-gun game for the Canucks, as Toronto is one of the highest scoring teams in the league; their 3.38 goals per game is second in the NHL, ahead of Pittsburgh in third (3.33) and Vancouver in fourth (3.08).
However, where Toronto and Pittsburgh differ is on the defensive side of the puck, where goaltenders Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer have struggled at times this season behind a patchwork defense, leading to a team goals against in the bottom third of the league (23rd, 2.96).
Last year, the teams split their season series, with each getting a win in their home building (4-0 for the Canucks in Vancouver and 3-1 for the Leafs in Toronto).
Difficulty Score: 7
Vancouver Canucks @ Ottawa Senators (12/07/2014, 4:00 PM PST)
The second game of a back-to-back sees the Canucks take on the other Ontario team, the Senators. After a strong start to the season, going 7-3-2 over the first 12 games, Ottawa has really struggled. They’ve managed to pick up points in only five of their last 12 games, with just one regulation win over that span, yet the sit four points back of a wildcard spot in the East as of this writing.
The Senators can be a tough team to nail down. Most of their offensive, defensive, and special teams stats are middle of the road in the NHL. Only one of their losses this season was by more than two goals, indicating the team has been close in most games and luck might be playing a factor, but their PDO (100.53) isn’t significantly high enough to prove this.
However, there is one glaring statistic that may prove to indicate how good this year’s edition of the Senators have really been: Fenwick. Their 44.96 Fenwick% is 29th in the NHL, ahead of only the Buffalo Sabres. This tells us that Ottawa has done a pretty poor job of directing pucks toward their opponent’s net as compared to the number of offensive opportunities they’ve given up. No wonder goalie Craig Anderson has an incredible .930 save percentage, 4th in the NHL among goalies with at least 800 minutes played, while his goals against average is a relatively pedestrian 2.45.
The Canucks and Senators have already played each other once this year, a November 11th game in Vancouver that saw the Canucks dominate the shot clock and ultimately win the game 4-3 thanks to an overtime goal from Daniel Sedin.
Difficulty Score: 6
Vancouver Canucks @ Montreal Canadiens (12/09/2014, 4:30 PM PST)
The Canucks visit one of the top teams in the East to finally finish off this tough road trip. The Canadiens have been fighting for first overall in the NHL all season long, though a 1-3-1 record over their last five games have dropped them one point back of the Ducks and Lightning into a tie for second with the Penguins and Islanders (also, just one point ahead of the Canucks, currently). Point being: the Habs have been a beast this season and the Canucks will have their hands full.
In truth, Montreal’s position near the top of the league comes as a bit of a surprise when delving into team statistics. Their 2.44 goals per game is 21st, 2.48 goals against 11th, 41.1% power play 23rd, 85.1% penalty kill 7th, and 50.52 Fenwick % 15th. While it’s clear they’ve been a better team defensively than offensively, particularly on special teams, there’s nothing there that screams “President’s Trophy Winner”.
That said, the Habs are a deep team that has gotten by on the back of their depth at all positions. They currently have 10 players with double-digit point totals, while goaltender Carey Price has been very good with 14 wins, a 2.35 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in 21 appearances.
The two teams also met already this season, on October 30th in Vancouver, and the result was nearly the same as the Canucks game against Ottawa: Vancouver won the shot battle and the game after a Daniel Sedin overtime winner.
Difficulty Score: 9
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