CANUCKS BANTER     By Andrew Chernoff    January 1, 2016

The Vancouver Canucks play the 3rd of four games against Pacific division opponents tonight as they host the Anaheim Ducks, on their 7-game home stand.

Tonight marks the 11th time the Canucks have played on New Year’s Day and their seventh game on home ice on New Year’s Day.

Overall the Canucks have a record of 4-5-1 on New Year’s Day.

Being home for the holidays is generally a good thing, but it’s a whole different story on New Year’s Day as far as the Canucks are concerned. On the road, Vancouver is 4-0 all-time in New Year’s Day games. At home, it’s not pretty.

The Canucks are 0-5-1 (five losses and a tie) all-time at home on New Year’s Day. This is the third straight year that Rogers Arena will host the Canucks on New Year’s Day. The Canucks are 0-2 at Rogers Arena after falling 3-2 to the Kings last year, and 4-2 to the Lightning the year before that.

Source: canucks.nhl.com

Coach Willie Desjardins said today he thinks Tanev is good to go versus the Ducks. “He competes hard and he’s a real team guy. We’re happy he’s back”

Tanev thought he might be out longer after blocking two hard shots from Steven Stamkos in the final minutes of 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 22, according to canucks.nhl.com.

The news is not good for Sven Baertschi, who suffered an upper-body injury in the loss to the Kings and will not be in the lineup tonight. Baertschi left in the second period against the Kings and hasn’t skated since. He is listed as day-to-day, according to the Vancouver website.

Ryan Miller (groin), Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), Luca Sbisa (hand), and Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture) are on the injured reserve list.

Jacob Markstrom will get the start for the Canucks, his 4rth straight start with Ryan Miller injured, while the Ducks may go with Frederik Andersen after John Gibson got the call yesterday, in his shutout win over Edmonton.

Gibson is 3-0-0 with two shutouts and a .967 save percentage in his past three starts and has already shut out the Canucks in both career starts against them, including 25 saves in a 4-0 win on Nov. 30, according to the Canucks website.

Anaheim (15-15-6) comes into the game having defeated the Edmonton Oilers last night 1-0 at Rexall Place, in the second game of their 3 game Western Canada road swing, their second straight shutout.

Anaheim snapped Calgary’s 11-game home winning streak with a 1-0 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 29th.

In their last 6 games on the road, the Ducks are 3-2-1 with 8 GF and 12 GA; averaging 26.0 shots for and 22.0 shots against.

In those six games, the Ducks power play is 1 for 12, while their penalty kill is exceptional at 18 for 19, for 94.7 percent success, with a face-off win percentage of 47.9 percent. Anaheim has been shutout in 5 of their 18 road games.

The Ducks have played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the same season only one other time in club history, during the 2005-06 campaign, Anaheim earned a 5-4 shootout victory on Dec. 31 at St. Louis before following up with a 4-2 win on Jan. 1 at Nashville.

ANAHEIM DUCKS NOTES

• After tonight the Ducks have an eight game home stand beginning January 3.
• Anaheim have two games in hand on the Canucks.
• Including last night’s game in Edmonton, the Ducks have yielded a league-low 22 goals in December.
• Anaheim led the NHL in fewest shots allowed in December with 251
  (next closest is Winnipeg at 335).
• This season, the club ranks second among league leaders in fewest goals allowed in the first period (19) and second in fewest allowed in the third (25).
• Anaheim leads the NHL in penalty kill percentage (88.0%), having successfully killed 110-of-125 penalties in 36 games and 36-of-40 over the last ten contests (90.0%).
• The Ducks are tied for second in the NHL in fewest power-play goals allowed with 15.
• Anaheim is among the top teams in the face-off circle, ranking third with a 51.4 win percentage.

Vancouver (14-15-9) enters the game having played the Los Angeles Kings on December 28, losing 5-0 at Roger’s Place.

Radim Vrbata notched a team-high seven shots; Andrey Pedan registered three hits and participated in his first NHL fight; and Jacob Markstrom had 33 saves in his third straight start.

On Boxing Day, Vancouver defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in overtime at Roger’s Place.

Vancouver begins play today sitting outside the playoff picture having been surpassed in recent days by the Sharks and Coyotes.

At home in their last 6 games, the Canucks are 3-3-0 with 11 GF and 17 GA; averaging 23.3 shots for and 32.3 shots against.

In those six games, all in the month of December, the Canucks power play was 2 for 22 for 9.1 percent, while their penalty kill was exceptional at 17 for 18 for 94.4 percent.

At home in December, Vancouver had a face-off win percentage of 45.7 percent. Only New Jersey was worse in December in the face-off circle at home, with a FOW% of 44.1 percent in 7 home games.

Vancouver has been shutout in 2 of their 16 home games.

Tonight marks Kevin Bieksa’s first visit to Rogers Arena as a member of the visiting team. Among defencemen in franchise history, Bieksa ranks seventh in games played (597), t-seventh in goals (56), sixth in assists (185), sixth in points (241), t-10th in ppg (19), and t-third in gwg (12).

Vancouver sits in 4rth place in the Pacific division with 37 points, 13 points behind the Kings in 1rst place. Canucks are a single point behind San Jose and two points behind Arizona. They are a point ahead of Anaheim and Calgary, and 4 points ahead of Edmonton.

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

• Vancouver has points in 7 of its last 13 (5-6-2=12 pts) & 11 of its last 20 games (7-9-4=18 pts).
• Vancouver is 1-1-2=4 pts, against the Pacific Division this season, including 4-1-1=9 pts on the road.
• Radim Vrbata has 27 shots in his last 6 home games.
• Daniel and Henrik Sedin have 6 points in their last 6 home games (1-5=6 each).
• Bo Horvat in the last 6 home games has a FOW% of 61.2 percent; 10 shots, 7 hits, 5 takeaways and 5 blocked shots.
• There are only three Canucks with more than one goal in the last six home games: Jannick Hansen and Radim Vrbata with 3 each; and Alex Edler with 2 goals.
• Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom are tied among Canuck goalies in points with one assist each. Both are tied for 3rd place in goalie points with five others.
• Radim Vrbata, Brandon Prust and Chris Higgins have no goals  against Pacific division teams.
• Daniel Sedin and Jannick Hansen each have 3G and 3A in 10 games against Pacific division opponents, with Hansen having a plus/minus of +9.
• Radim Vrbata has a plus/minus of -6 in 10 games against Pacific division teams.
• Daniel Sedin is 3 goals from tying Markus Naslund (346) for first all-time in franchise goals
• Alex Edler is 2 goals from tying Sami Salo (74) for third all-time amongst defencemen in franchise goals
• Vancouver enters 2016 with 23 games to play before the February 29th deadline: 14 games at home and 9 games away. The Canucks entered 2015 with 27 games to play before the March 2, 2015 deadline and were 15-12-0: 8-6-0 at home and 7-6-0 on the road.
• Canucks picked up Sven Baertschi from Calgary at the 2015 trade deadline for 2015 2nd-round pick in the NHL draft.

DECEMBER IN REVIEW

• In December, the Canucks, in 13 games:
  • Had the the 3rd fewest goals scored with 23, ahead of Montreal and Anaheim.
  • Gave up the 8th most goals in the month with 39.
  • Had the 5th least amount of shots for with 346 and the 7th most shots against with 433.
  • Had 3 power play goals, second worst in the NHL, just ahead of Anaheim.
  • Were 30th, dead last, in power play average at 8.1 percent.
  • Were shorthanded 52 times, the most of any team in the month.
  • Were tied for the 5th most power play goals against with 9.
  • Were 15th best on the penalty kill at 82.7 percent.
  • Were 27th in face-off wins with 336 and 2nd in face-off losses with 468.
  • Face-off win percentage was the worst in the NHL, at 41.8 percent.
  • Were tied for the 4rth most losses in the month with 6.

COMING INTO TONIGHT

• CANUCKS POWER PLAY ‘OUT OF ORDER’
  • Vancouver’s power play is on an extended power outage at 0 for 17 in their last 8 games and 2 for 29 in their last 10 games.
  • Those eight games include their last two games at home where Vancouver is 0 for 6 and counting.
• CANUCKS PENALTY KILL IS HOMICIDAL
  • Vancouver’s power play is a killer at 17 for 18, 94.4 percent in their last 6 home games. And 23 for 27 in their last six games overall, 85.2 percent.
• CANUCKS NO STRANGER TO THE SIN BIN
  • Vancouver is the 5th most penalized team in the league overall with 458 total penalty minutes in 38  games (12.1 minutes per game). They have taken the 3rd most penalties at 179 (4.7 penalties per game). They have the 3rd most minors taken with 153;  tied for the 5th most majors with 16.
  • A year ago, December 31 2014, Vancouver was the 16th most penalized team in the league overall with 369 total penalty minutes in 35 games (10.5 minutes per game). The had the 17th most penalties with 153 (4.4 penalties per game); the 20th most minors taken at 130; and the 13th most majors at 15.
  • In December, Vancouver were tied with the 4rth most penalty minutes in the league with 178 in 13 games. They had the 2nd most penalties taken with 70; were 1rst in most minors with 61; tied for 4th most majors with 6.
• CANUCKS EVEN STRENGTH SHOT ATTEMPTS GAME NOT PRETTY
  • At home, in 16 games, the Canucks  shot  attempts at even strength, are 667 shot attempts against to 575 shot attempts for, a deficit of -92 shots. A 41.7 shot attempts against average per game, compared to a 35.9 shot attempts for average per game.
  • In their home games in December, Vancouver shot attempts at even strength were, 280 to 213, a deficit of -67 shots in 6 games. A 46.7 shot attempts against per game average, compared to 35.5 shot attempts for per game average.
  • Over all, in 38 games, the Canucks shot attempts at even strength are, 1606 shot attempts against to 1469 shot attempts for, a deficit of -137.  A 42.3 shot attempts per game against average, compared to a 38.7 shot attempts for per game average.
  • Last season, in 35 games at December 31, 2014, the Canucks shot attempts at even strength were, 1517 shot attempts against to 1495 shot attempts for, a deficit of -22. A 43.3 shot attempts per game against average, compared to a 42.7 shot attempts for per game average.
• CANUCKS FACE-OFF GAME LACKING A LOT OF SKILL
  • Offensive zone, defensive zone, neutral zone; ahead, behind, close—-the Canucks are the worst in the 30 team NHL. Looking for a plus? Nowhere to go but up.
  • 
• LACK OF PRODUCTION
  • Bo Horvat, 26 games without a goal; plus/minus of -14
  • Chris Higgins, 19 games without a goal; plus/minus of -12
  • Adam Cracknell, 18 games without a goal
  • Alex Burrows, 16 games without a goal; plus/minus of -8
  • Derek Dorsett, 1 goal in last 29 games played
  • Brandon Prust, 1 goal in last 27 games played
  • Jared McCann, 1 goal in last 19 games played; plus/minus of -8
  • Radim Vrbata, 1 goal in last 9 games played

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYER STATS

DUCKS PLAYER STATS

CANUCKS PACIFIC DIVISION SPLITS-REGULAR

Stats from ESPN.com

CANUCKS PACIFIC DIVISION SPLITS-EXPANDED

Stats from ESPN.com

Statistics provided by the NHL, Vancouver Canucks and ESPN.com, with thanks.