December 14, 2015
Arrival Of The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train and Santa Claus in Castlegar, B.C.
More Pictures To Come……..
All Pictures Copyright 2015 Andrew Phillip Chernoff.
Vancouver Looks For Another Road Win In Minnesota Tonight
CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 15, 2015
Updated: 1:12 pm PST
CANUCKS NEED TO KEEP BATTLING
AGAINST TEAMS WITH TALENT AND SPEED
Winning on the road is hard. We’ve won some big games on the road…..there’s some tough buildings to win in…..and we’ve won in ‘em. Coach Willie Desjardins, on winning big games in tough buildings, as the Canucks look to establish another winning streak.
The Vancouver Canucks (11-12-8) will play the Minnesota Wild (15-7-6) at Xcel Energy Center tonight.
Minnesota begins a stretch of six of the next seven games at home after returning home from a three-game road trip that Minnesota finished 1-0-2.
The Wild carry a season-high seven-game point streak (4-0-3) into the game tonight.
It is game two, of a six game road trip for Vancouver, that lost its first game of the trip 4-0 to the Chicago Blackhawks on December 13. Ryan Miller started in goal for Vancouver and made 26 saves on 29 shots.
The loss ended a two game win streak for the Canucks with previous victories against the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers at Rogers Place.
Vancouver are without a win in their last four road outings (0-2-2) and have not won on the road since their last visit to the Xcel Energy Center back on November 25, when they knocked off the Wild by a 3-2 score.
Tonight marks the second of three meetings this season between Vancouver and Minnesota. The Wild visit Rogers Arena on Feb. 15th.
The Canucks are tied for 2nd place in the Pacific division. Vancouver is trying to keep pace with 1rst place Los Angeles in the division, where teams Nos. 2-7 are separated by just three points.
Vancouver has 6 wins in 17 road games (41-GF & 49-GA), and are 2-5-4 in the last 11 road games.
Ryan Miller is expected to start again tonight.
Miller is 4-6-1 since November 12, with a 2.80 GAA, and .913 Sv%. He is 1-5-1 on the road during that stretch with a 3.11 GAA and .902 Sv%.
Ryan Miller, has seen action in 25 of 31 possible games this season. His record is 9-10-6, with a 2.53 GAA and a .914 save percentage, his highest in three seasons. He has 1 shutout.
In his last three starts, Miller is 2-1-0, allowing 6 goals on 96 shots, with a GAA of 2.04 and a .938 save percentage.
Canucks on the mend and the unavailable include, Luca Sbisa (hand); Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), and Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture) are on the injured reserve list.
The Wild carries a season-high seven-game point streak (4-0-3) into the game on tonight. That includes a current five-game stretch in which the Wild has allowed four goals, two of which have come at even-strength, and two in regulation.
The Wild are in 4rth place in the Central division, two points behind St. Louis and Chicago tied for 2nd place and 10 points behind Dallas in 1rst place.
Minnesota have 10 wins in 15 home games (40-GF & 27-GA), and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 home games.
The Wild’s latest win came against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, a 2-0 victory.
Vancouver’s win against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center is one of the Minnesota’s three home regulation losses this season, tied for the fewest in the NHL. The Wild’s 10 home wins are tied for second-most in the NHL.
The Wild are 4-0-2 in their last 6 games, and have scored 10 goals and only more than two goals in a single game on one occasion in those six games. However, they’ve only allowed 5 goals in those same 6 games which includes three shutouts. If you take out goals they surrendered in 3-on-3 overtime, that total drops down to just three goals allowed.
Minnesota have held their opponents to 25-or-fewer shots in each game while averaging 14.5 blocked shots per game.
Darcy Kuemper is expected make his fourth start in goal for Minnesota tonight, since Devan Dubnyk sustained a mild groin injury on Dec. 5.
The only injury to Minnesota is Devan Dubnyk (groin strain) and he is expected to be in the lineup tonight in a backup role.
The Wild power play ranked t-23rd in the league entering Tuesday at 17.2 percent. The Canucks’ penalty kill ranked 19th at 79.8 percent.
The Canucks power play ranked t-14th in the NHL entering Tuesday at 18.4 percent. The Wilds’ penalty kill ranked 16th at 77.1 percent. Vancouver leads the NHL in power play opportunities with 114 entering Tuesday.
Minnesota’s 16 PPG on the season are t-8th most in the NHL.
Vancouver’s 21 PPG on the season are t-3rd most in the NHL with Nashville, behind Chicago with 23 and 5 teams tied with 22.
The Canucks are the worst team in the face-off circle, with a 46.6 FOW percentage overall. They have a 43.3 FOW percentage on the road (30th) and a 50.8 FOW percentage at home, t-19th with Pittsburgh.
The Wild are ranked 6th in the face-off circle, with a 51.4 FOW percentage overall. They have a 52.8 FOW percentage at home (9th) and a 50.1 FOW percentage on the road (6th best).
Canuck defensemen average 12.5 block shots and 10.9 hits per game this season. Matt Bartkowski leads Vancouver defensemen with 2.1 hits per game, while Chris Tanev leads defensemen with 2.7 block shots per game.
Canucks forwards average 6.9 block shots and 22.4 hits per game this season. Adam Cracknell leads active forwards with 2.4 hits per game, while Brandon Prust and Derek Dorsett lead Vancouver forwards with 0.7 block shots per game.
Minnesota defensemen average 9.9 block shots and 6.6 hits per game this season. Christian Folin leads Wild defensemen with 1.4 hits per game, while Jared Spurgeon leads Wild defensemen with 2.2 block shots per game.
Wild forwards average 7.1 block shots and 18.3 hits per game this season. Chris Porter leads Minnesota forwards with 2.7 hits per game, while Charlie Coyle leads Wild forwards with 1 block shot per game, this season.
PROJECTED LINEUPS:
CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen
Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Alexandre Burrows
Chris Higgins – Jared McCann – Radim Vrbata
Derek Dorsett – Adam Cracknell – Brandon Prust
Alexander Edler – Christopher Tanev
Yannick Weber – Ben Hutton
Alex Biega – Matt Bartkowski
Ryan Miller
Jacob Markstrom
WILD
Zach Parise – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville
Thomas Vanek – Mikko Koivu – Jason Zucker
Nino Niederreiter – Charlie Coyle – Justin Fontaine
Chris Porter – Erik Haula – Ryan Carter
Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Marco Scandella
Nate Prosser – Matt Dumba
Darcy Kuemper
Devan Dubnyk
CANUCKS JOTTINGS
- Tonight marks Bo Horvat’s 100th NHL game. According to Elias Sports Bureau, at 20 years and 225 days old, Horvat will be the 20th Canucks player to appear in 100 games prior to his 21st birthday, and the first to do so since Taylor Pyatt played in his 100th game on Feb. 2/02 (20 years and 175 days).
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Last game against Chicago, Daniel Sedin notched a game-high six shots…Matt Bartkowski registered a game-high six hits…Ryan Miller made 26 saves…Radim Vrbata appeared in his 900th career game.
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RECENT TRANSACTIONS:-Dec. 13 – Jake Virtanen loaned to Team Canada for the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship-Dec. 12 – Ronalds Kenins and Andrey Pedan recalled from Utica-Dec. 10 – Guillaume Brisebois signed to a three-year entry level contract.
- Daniel Sedin has 15 points (6-9-15) in the last 11 games. He currently leads the team in points (33), goals (13), ppg (5) and ppp (12), gwg (3), and t-first in assists (20). He is also 6th in NHL scoring.
- Henrik Sedin has 14 points (4-10-14) in the last 11 games. Henrik ranks t-first on the team in assists (20), second in points (29), and t-second in goals (9), ppg (4), and ppp (12). He is also t-11th in NHL scoring.
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Alex Edler leads the team in time on ice per game (24:25) and has led the team in that category in 27 of 30 games he’s played, including 16 games where he’s led all skaters in TOI. He currently ranks 18th in the NHL in TOI/GP.
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Chris Tanev leads the team and ranks 6th in the League in blocked shots with 77. His defence partner Alex Edler ranks 19th in the NHL with 61 blocked shots.
- Canucks power play is 2 for 19, 11 percent, in its last 5 games.
- Vancouver’s penalty kill has killed all 12 of 13 man advantages in the last 5 games, 92.3 per cent.
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VANCOUVER’S 2015.16 RECORD WHEN…Score 4+ Goals: 7-0-0Score 3 Goals or Less: 4-12-8Allow 4+ Goals: 0-7-3Allow 3 Goals or Less: 11-5-5On 0 Days Rest: 2-1-2On 1 Day Rest: 4-6-5On 2 Days Rest: 4-3-1On 3+ Days Rest: 0-2-0Score a PPG: 6-5-6Give up a PPG: 3-8-625+ Shots on Goal: 9-9-7Less than 25 shots: 2-3-1
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CANUCKS RECORD:Overall record/streak: 11 – 12 – 8 / Lost 1Home record/streak: 5 – 6 – 3 / Win 2 / Undef 2Road record/streak: 6 – 6 – 5 / Lost 1Last 5 Games: 2 – 3 – 0Last 10 Games: 3 – 5 – 21-Goal Games: 4 – 6 – 82-Goal Games: 1 – 23-Goal Games: 6 – 4Scoring first: 6 – 2 – 5Opponent scoring first: 5 – 10 – 3Leading after 1 period: 5 – 0 – 3Trailing after 1 period: 0 – 8 – 3Tied after 1 period: 6 – 4 – 2Leading after 2 periods: 8 – 1 – 5Trailing after 2 periods: 0 – 11 – 1Tied after 2 periods: 3 – 0 – 2OT Record – This Season: 1 – 8OT Record – Franchise: 169 – 151 – 219Shootout Record – This Season: 1 – 1Shootout Record – Franchise: 51 – 56Outshooting opponent: 4 – 5 – 5Outshot by opponent: 7 – 6 – 3Even shots: 0 – 1 – 0
SEASON SNAPSHOT
CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS
WILD PLAYER STATS
CANUCKS-WILD AT A GLANCE
Statistics courtesy of NHL, Vancouver Canucks and SportingCharts, with thanks.
NHL MORNING SKATE – DEC. 15, 2015
NHL MORNING SKATE – DEC. 15, 2015
Welcome to the “NHL Morning Skate,” a daily collection of the latest news and notes from around the League.
MONDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
Edmonton 3, BOSTON 2 (OT)
Washington 4, PITTSBURGH 1
Tampa Bay 2, COLUMBUS 1
OTTAWA 5, Los Angeles 3
Buffalo 2, DETROIT 1
HOLTBY, CAPITALS SPOIL SULLIVAN’S DEBUT WITH PENGUINS
Braden Holtby made a season-high 44 saves, including 30 over the final two periods, to spoil Mike Sullivan’s debut behind the Pittsburgh bench and lead the Capitals to a 9-1-1 record in their past 11 contests.
* At 21-6-2 (44 points), the Capitals continued their best start to a season in the franchise’s 41-year history. They also leapfrogged the idle Canadiens (20-8-3, 43 points) for first place in the Eastern Conference, where the top four clubs are separated by four points:
* Holtby, who leads all goaltenders with 19 wins and a 1.87 goals-against average this season (24 GP), extended his career-high point streak to 12 games (11-0-1). His 44 saves were two shy of his career high, established on Nov. 17, 2013 vs. STL (46 SV in 4-1 W).
* T.J. Oshie (2-1—3), Nicklas Backstrom (1-2—3) and John Carlson (1-1—2) all registered multi-point performances for the Capitals, who improved to 11-4-1 in their last 16 regular-season visits to Pittsburgh dating to Jan. 21, 2008 (PIT: 5-9-2).
TALBOT, SEKERA LEAD OILERS TO SIXTH CONSECUTIVE WIN . . .
Cam Talbot made a career-high 47 saves and Andrej Sekera scored the winning goal 41 seconds into overtime to lead the Oilers to their sixth consecutive victory, their longest such run since Oct. 22 – Nov. 3, 2011 (6-0-0).
* Talbot, who made his first start since Nov. 27 at DET, eclipsed his previous career high of 38 saves, last achieved on March 15 vs. FLA (2-1 W w/ NYR).
* Sekera recorded his fourth career game-winning goal and second in overtime. The other also came against the Bruins, on March 30, 2008 vs. BOS (w/ BUF).
* The Oilers have won their last three games against the Bruins – all after regulation – on the heels of a 13-game skid in the head-to-head series dating to Nov. 6, 2001 (0-10-3). They also snapped a 10-game drought with their first win in Boston since Nov. 7, 1996 (0-8-2).
. . . DID YOU KNOW?
Despite suffering the overtime loss, the Bruins extended their point streak against the Oilers to 16 games dating to Nov. 6, 2001 (13-0-3). Via Elias, that is the second-longest active point streak by an NHL team against one opponent:
Longest Active Point Streaks vs. One Opponent
19 – Coyotes vs. EDM (16-0-3; March 17, 2011 – Nov. 12, 2015)
16 – Bruins vs. EDM (13-0-3; Nov. 6, 2001 – Dec. 14, 2015)
11 – Lightning vs. ANA (7-0-4; Jan. 9, 2009 – Dec. 2, 2015)
11 – Penguins vs. EDM (8-0-3; Dec. 5, 2007 – Nov. 28, 2015)
11 – Blackhawks vs. CGY (7-0-4; Feb. 2, 2013 – Nov. 20, 2015)
STREAK STOPPERS
Both the Sabres and Senators overcame deficits to earn regulation wins on Monday and snap the point streaks of the Red Wings (8-0-5) and Kings (7-0-2), respectively.
* Ryan O’Reilly and Johan Larsson scored 61 seconds apart to help the Sabres overcome a 1-0 deficit with less than five minutes remaining in regulation. Buffalo snapped an eight-game drought with its first win in Detroit since Oct. 13, 2006 (0-6-2).
* Per Elias, the Sabres won in regulation when trailing in the final five minutes of the third period for the first time since April 2, 2003, when Daniel Briere and Tim Connolly scored 65 seconds apart to rally from a 3-2 deficit for a 4-3 victory vs. ATL.
* O’Reilly extended his point streak to eight games (4-7—11), equaling a career high established March 14-30 (5-8—13 w/ COL). He leads the Sabres in goals, assists and points this season (11-17—28 in 31 GP).
* The Senators scored four consecutive goals in the second period – powered by three-point performances from both Mike Hoffman (2-1—3) and Mika Zibanejad (1-2—3) – to overcome an early 1-0 deficit.
* Hoffman, who led all rookies with 27 goals in 2014-15 (79 GP), registered his 16th and 17th goals of the season (27 GP) to move into sole possession of fourth place in the NHL. He also picked up his seventh career game-winning goal and third of the season.
* Zibanejad posted his third career three-point game and second of the season (also Oct. 14 at CBJ: 1-2—3). Erik Karlsson added 1-1—2; his 27 assists are tied for first in the NHL this season (w/ Patrick Kane), while his 34 points lead all defenseman and share fourth overall (w/ Taylor Hall).
BOYLE’S SHORTHANDED GOAL POWERS LIGHTNING
Brian Boyle scored a shorthanded goal early in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and power the Lightning to their fourth victory in their past six outings.
* Boyle collected his fifth career shorthanded goal (501 GP), four of which have come since joining the Lightning last season (110 GP).
* Ben Bishop turned aside 25 of 26 shots to improve to 8-2-1 in his past 11 decisions. He began the season with a 5-7-1 record in his first 13 appearances.
MILESTONES & BENCHMARKS
* Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, a third-round selection (62nd overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft, made 27 saves in his League debut.
* Red Wings defenseman Mike Green played in his 600th NHL game.
* Senators forward Mark Stone (0-1—1) collected his 100th NHL point (37-63—100 in 132 GP).
* Darryl Sutter (LAK) coached his 1,151st career game to tie Marc Crawford for 15th place on the NHL’s all-time list among head coaches.
LOOSE PUCKS
Despite suffering the overtime loss, the Bruins have earned at least one point in 11 of their past 12 games (8-1-3) . . . Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin scored his 14th goal of the season (29 GP), 12 of which have come on home ice (15 GP). He also raised his totals to 10-34—44 in 31 career regular-season games vs. WSH . . . Sabres goaltender Chad Johnson denied 32 shots, including a game-saving stop of Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist in the final seconds of regulation . . . Oilers forward Jordan Eberle (1-2—3) registered his first three-point game since March 16 vs. TOR (1-2—3) . . . Kings forward Tyler Toffoli notched his team-leading 12th goal of the season . . . Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron collected one assist to extend his point streak to five games (1-5—6) . . . The Penguins acquired defenseman Trevor Daley from the Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Rob Scuderi . . . ICYMI: The Department of Player Safety suspended Ducks forward Nate Thompson for three games for an illegal check to the head of Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk . . . Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford, Oilers forward Taylor Hall and Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk were named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Dec. 13 . . . The Penguins honored forward Pascal Dupuis with a video tribute at CONSOL Energy Center.
SNEAK PEEK AT TUESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
New Jersey @ Buffalo, 7:00 p.m., MSG+ 2, MSG-B, BELL TV
Florida @ NY Islanders, 7:00 p.m., FS-F, MSG+
Edmonton @ NY Rangers, 7:00 p.m., SNW, MSG
Carolina @ Philadelphia, 7:00 p.m., FS-CR, CSN-PH
Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30 p.m., TVAS, SUN, SNO
San Jose @ Montreal, 7:30 p.m., CSN-CA, SNE, RDS
Calgary @ Nashville, 8:00 p.m., SNF, FS-TN
Vancouver @ Minnesota, 8:00 p.m., SNP, FS-N+
St. Louis @ Winnipeg, 8:00 p.m., FS-MW, TSN3
Colorado @ Chicago, 8:30 p.m., NBCSN, CSN-CH
Columbus @ Dallas, 8:30 p.m., FS-O, FS-SW
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Trudeau remains strong as preferred choice for PM in Nanos tracking, many Canadians unsure about Ambrose (ending December 11, 2015)
Nanos Weekly Leadership Tracking
- Preferred Prime Minister – Tracking on the preferred Prime Minister front suggests that Trudeau continues to enjoy a significant advantage with 51.5% of Canadians saying their preferred choice for PM is Trudeau followed by Ambrose at 13.7%, Mulcair at 12.8%, May at 5.0%, and 15.9% of Canadians were unsure.
- Qualities of a Good Political Leader – Asked a series of independent questions for each federal party leader, a strong majority (68.9%) of Canadians say that Trudeau has the qualities of a good political leader. Mulcair came in at 53.5%, May came in at 41.7%, and Ambrose at 27.4% with a significant proportion of Canadians who were unsure on Ambrose on this question.
The team at Nanos in conjunction with Klipfolio have launched our new live political data portal where you run the numbers you want and can explore the trends and data you need. This is part of our campaign, not only to provide the most reliable data to Canadians but to let them use it as they wish. We were the first to do nightly tracking and now we are the first research organization to post live public opinion data for Canadians.
We were the first to do nightly tracking and now we are the first research organization to post live public opinion data for Canadians. Here’s the link to check it out
To view the detailed tracking visit our website.
Methodology
The views of 1,000 respondents are compiled into a party power brand index for each party that goes from 0 to 100, where 0 means that the party has no brand power and 100 means it has maximum brand power. A score above 50 is an indication of brand power for the party and its leader at this time.
The important factors in this weekly tracking include the direction of the brand strength or weakness and also the brand power of one federal party relative to another.
The data is based on random telephone interviews with 1,000 Canadians, using a four week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of 1,000 respondents may be weighted by age and gender using the latest census information for Canada, and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.
The interviews are compiled into a four week rolling average of 1,000 interviews where each week, the oldest group of 250 interviews is dropped and a new group of 250 interviews is added. The current wave of tracking is based on a four-week rolling average of 1,000 Canadians (250 per week) ending December 11th.
A random telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians is accurate 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.
All references or use of this data must cite “Nanos Party Power Index” as the source.
Consumer confidence in Canada continues to slide in most of country – Energy-rich Prairie provinces hit new 12 month low in confidence (released December 14, 2015)
Bloomberg Nanos Weekly Consumer Confidence Tracking
Perceptions on the future strength of the Canadian economy slide a noticeable three points in one week according to the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index.
“The energy-rich Prairie provinces, once a powerhouse of positive economic sentiment hit a new 12 month low,” said Nanos Research Group Chairman Nik Nanos.
“Canadian consumers appear to be hedging their bets; for every factor having a positive effect on household pocketbooks – i.e., declining energy prices and borrowing rates that remain extremely low – there are enough displacement issues and global uncertainties to go around. One would expect a long lag before the benefits of the drop in the Canadian dollar and the prospective fiscal stimulus filter through to household expectations”, said Robert Lawrie of Bloomberg Economics.
The BNCCI, a composite of a weekly measure of financial health and economic expectations, registered at 55.32 compared with last week’s 56.21. The twelve month high stands at 58.62.
The Bloomberg Nanos Pocketbook Index is based on survey responses to questions on personal finances and job security. This sub-indice was at 59.60 this week compared to 59.11 the previous week. The Bloomberg Nanos Expectations Index, based on surveys for the outlook for the economy and real estate prices, was at 51.04 this week (compared to 53.30 last week).
The average for the BNCCI since 2008 has been 56.75 with a low of 43.28 in December 2008 and a high of 62.92 in December 2009. The index has averaged 55.49 this year.
To view the weekly tracking visit our website.
Methodology
The BNCCI is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on random telephone interviews with 1,000 Canadian consumers (land- and cell-lines), using a four week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of 1,000 respondents may be weighted by age and gender using the latest census information for Canada and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada. The interviews are compiled into a four week rolling average of 1,000 interviews where each week, the oldest group of 250 interviews is dropped and a new group of 250 interviews is added. The views of 1,000 respondents are compiled into a diffusion index from 0 to 100. A score of 50 on the diffusion index indicates that positive and negative views are a wash while scores above 50 suggest net positive views, while those below 50 suggest net negative views in terms of the economic mood of Canadians.
A random telephone survey of 1,000 consumers in Canada is accurate 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.
All references or use of this data must cite Bloomberg Nanos as the source.
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 