CANUCKS BANTER     By Andrew Chernoff    November 14, 2015

Season series:

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks each won on home ice last season. Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 44 saves in a 5-2 win at Air Canada Centre on Dec. 6. Canucks forward Derek Dorsett had the game-winning goal and two assists in a 4-1 win at Rogers Arena on March 14.

Canucks team scope:

• Center Brandon Sutter, who missed Vancouver’s 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday with an undisclosed injury, wasn’t at practice Friday and remains day-to-day according to coach Willie Desjardins.
• Injured forward Brandon Prust (ankle) and defenseman Luca Sbisa (lower body) are expected to join the Canucks before this seven-game road trip concludes.
• Vancouver is 1-2-1 so far, and after Saturday has stops remaining at Montreal on Monday and Winnipeg on Wednesday.
• Defenseman Alex Biega was assigned to Utica of the American Hockey League.
• Forward Sven Baertschi and defenseman Alexander Edler each have two goals in their past three games.

Maple Leafs team scope:

• If goalie James Reimer gets the nod, it will be his seventh straight start.
• Toronto starts a back-to-back, traveling to face the New York Rangers on Sunday, so it’s possible Bernier could also see his first action since Oct. 31 this weekend.
• Bernier is recovered from a lower-body injury sustained against the Pittsburgh Penguins and served as Reimer’s backup Thursday in a 2-1 shootout win at the Nashville Predators.
• The Maple Leafs are 3-1-2 in November and will be seeking their first three-game win streak since a six-game run from Dec. 6-16, 2014. “We said a long time ago, if we keep doing things the right way, bounces are going to go our way,” forward Nazem Kadri told The Toronto Sun after the win in Nashville.

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

• The Vancouver Canucks look for a victory after losing 5 of their last 8 games.
• The Vancouver Canucks are averaging 2.9 goals per game and are scoring on 14.8 percent of their power plays.
• Daniel Sedin leads Vancouver with five goals, Henrik Sedin has eight assists and Jared McCann has 25 shots on goal.
• Vancouver Canucks are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 79.6 percent of their power play chances.
• Ryan Miller has allowed 36 goals on 412 shots faced and Jacob Markstrom has given up three goals on 45 shots.
• Miller has given up 10 goals in his last three games.
• The Canucks are 1-5 in their last 6 games playing on 1 days rest and 1-4 in their last 5 overall.
• The Canucks are 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Toronto and 12-2 in the last 14 meetings overall.
• Vancouver is 1-for-19 with the man advantage over its last six games and has allowed seven power-play goals in the past five contests
• All 10 of Vancouver’s losses have come by one goal – five in overtime and one in a shootout

The Canucks are in 3rd place, tied with Arizona with 19-points, in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, 3-points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who sit atop the division with 20 points. San Jose is in fourth place with 16-points. Anaheim, Calgary and Edmonton follow with 14, 13, 12-points respectively.

Los Angeles, Arizona, San Jose all have 2-games in-hand on the Flames. Canucks, Ducks, Oilers all have 1-game in-hand on the Flames.

Vancouver is among the top seven team in the Western Conference tied with Arizona with the 6th-best record. Dallas Stars lead the conference with 26-points.

Vancouver is among the top 14-teams in the NHL tied for the 7th-best with 19-points, with Arizona, Ottawa and New Jersey. Montreal leads the NHL with 28-points, just two points ahead of the Rangers and Stars; and 5-points ahead of the Blues and Capitals.

Toronto occupies last place with 12-points in the Atlantic Division of the Easter Conference, 6-points behind Tampa Bay for the final playoff position in the conference. Montreal is in top sport with 28-points, 9-points ahead of Ottawa with 19. Tampa Bay is next with 18-points. Detroit is in 4rth, and Buffalo in 5th, with 17 and 16-points respectively. Boston and Florida are tied for sixth and seventh with 15-points each.

Daniel Sedin leads the Canucks in scoring with 15-points including a team leading 10-assists. Henrik Sedin closely follows with 13-points; Jannik Hansen with 10-points including a team best +10 in plus/minus. Alex Burrows, Brandon Sutter and rookie Ben Hutton are all tied with 8-points apiece.

Top snipers on Vancouver are the Sedin brothers and rookie Jared McCann, all with 5-goals.

Morgan Rielly leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 11-points, followed by Dion Phaneuf with 9-points. Both Rielly and Phaneuf lead the team in assists with 8-assists. Joffrey Lupul, James Van Riemsdyk have 8-points; Leo Komarov and Tyler Bozak have 7-points each.

Top snipers for Toronto are Lupul, Van Riemsdyk and Komarov with 5-goals each.

CANUCKS AT A GLANCE

 

Statistics courtesy of the NHL, Vancouver Canucks and SportingCharts, with thanks.