Vancouver Looks For Win In Tampa Bay In Final Game Of Road Trip

Posted on December 22, 2015 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 22, 2015

Updated: 2:37 pm PST

Henrik Sedin To Play

Vancouver (12-14-9) plays the last game of their six game road trip, when they face-off against Tampa Bay (17-14-3) tonight.

The Canucks will try to get on the winning track after a 5-4 shoot out loss to Florida on Sunday afternoon.

The Canucks did not lack offense with Jannnick Hansen, Sven Baertschi, Derek Dorsett and Daniel Sedin all scoring. Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 42 shots and left the game because of cramps in favor of Jacob Markstrom who took the loss in the shoot out.

Henrik Sedin will be in the lineup tonight as he was cleared after practice to play.

Sedin has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury but was a full participant in the Canucks’ optional morning skate and said he’s ready to go.

“[The injury is] much better and I should be good tonight,” Sedin said. “You never want to test something in a game. I’m going in there feeling 100 percent.”

Sedin said he should record his normal minutes and will have his usual role on his line and on the power play.

Vancouver recalled goalie Joe Cannata from Utica Comets as Ryan Miller will not back-up tonight, coach Willie Desjardins told reporters today.

Jacob Markstrom will in net tonight, with Cannata as his backup.

Markstrom has been in 9 games this seasons and has a record of 1-1-3 with a 2.76 GAA and a .911 Sv%.

Chris Higgins did not skate today, and will not be in the lineup tonight.

Vancouver sits in 3rd place in the Pacific division of the Western Conference with 33 points, a point behind San Jose in 2nd spot, and a single points ahead of Arizona, Calgary and Edmonton. Anaheim is 4 points out of a playoff spots.

Five points separate Nos. 2-7 in the Pacific division.

Tampa Bay enters the game after a 5-2 win at Amalie Arena against the Ottawa Senators, their third win in a row. Steven Stamkos scored two times while Mike Angelidis, Nikita Nesterov and Alex Killorn also scored. Ben Bishop put in a 23 save effort for the win.

Tampa Bay occupies 6th in the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference, with 37 points, four points behind Detroit in 3rd spot and a playoff position.

Five points separate Nos. 2-6 in the Atlantic position.

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

Point Streaks going into the game tonight:

JARED MCCANN (1-1-2 / 2 Games)

JANNIK HANSEN (1-2-3 / 2 Games) BO HORVAT (0-2-2/ 2 Games)

SVEN BAERTSCHI (2-1-3 / 2 Games)
Sven Baertschi has goals in consecutive games for the first time this season. He last had a goal in consecutive games from Apr. 13-15/13. His

longest goal streak is three games from Mar. 11-15/12.
Bo Horvat has recorded an assist in consecutive games for the second time this season (he previously had an assist in consecutive games from Nov. 21-22/15). Last season, Horvat had an assist in two consecutive games on three separate occasions.
Jared McCann has two points (1-1-2) over the past two games. It is the first time he has recorded at least a point in consecutive games in his career.
Ryan Miller earned his 54th career shootout victory on Dec. 18 at DET. It is the most by any goaltender in NHL history.
Daniel Sedin has 17 points (8-9-17) in his last 15 games played. He currently leads the team in points (35), goals (15), ppg (5) and ppp (13), gwg (3), shots (129) and is second in assists (20).
The Canucks have gone two straight games where they have scored three or more goals (first time since Nov. 8-10)
Vancouver has a .667 win percentage when scoring three or more goals (10-1-4)
Vancouver has had 121 power play opportunities to date, the second most of any team in the League; 68 of these opportunities have been drawn on the road
The Canucks are 15th in the League in blocked shots with 469 and sixth in shots for with 1043

Here are the projected lineups:

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Alexandre Burrows

Ronalds Kenins – Jared McCann – Radim Vrbata

Derek Dorsett – Adam Cracknell – Brandon Prust

Alexander Edler – Christopher Tanev

Yannick Weber – Ben Hutton

Alex Biega – Matt Bartkowski

Jacob Markstrom

Joe Cannata

Injured: Chris Higgins (undisclosed), Ryan Miller (cramps), Luca Sbisa (hand), Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture)

Scratched: Andrey Pedan

LIGHTNING

Vladislav Namestnikov – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula – Ryan Callahan

Jonathan Marchessault – Cedric Paquette – Erik Condra

Mike Angelidis – Mike Blunden

Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman

Jason Garrison – Andrej Sustr

Matthew Carle – Braydon Coburn

Nikita Nesterov

Ben Bishop

Kristers Gudlevskis

Injured: Ondrej Palat (undisclosed), Tyler Johnson (undisclosed), Jonathan Drouin (lower body), Joel Vermin (hand surgery), Brian Boyle (upper body)

Scratched: Tanner Richard

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS

LIGHTNING PLAYERS STATS

CANUCKS-LIGHTNING AT A GLANCE

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

Vancouver Looks To Make It Two Wins In A Row On Road Trip, Against Florida

Posted on December 20, 2015 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 20, 2015

Vancouver (12-14-8) plays the second to last game of their six game road trip, when they face-off against Florida (17-12-4) this afternoon.

The Panthers open a 6 game homestand after winning 3 of 4 on the road that ended with a 2-0 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. Florida is 9-3-0 in their last 12 games.

Roberto Luongo got his second shutout of the season against Carolina. He is 6-4-0 in his last 10 games with a 1.73 GAA and a .935 Sv%.

Florida is 5th in the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference, 5 points behind Montreal in 1rst place, and 6 points ahead of Toronto in last place.

The Canucks look for their second consecutive road victory after defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout on Friday. The win followed three earlier losses on the road trip to the Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Black Hawks.

With the win against Detroit, Ryan Miller’s record improved to 5-4-1 in his last 10 games with a 3.03 GAA and .906 Sv%.

The last time Vancouver won consecutive road games was October 12 and 13 against Anaheim and Los Angeles.

Vancouver is tied for 3rd place in the Pacific division with Arizona and Calgary with 32 points, a single point behind San Jose in 2nd spot and three points ahead of Anaheim in last place.

Four points separate Nos 2-7 in the Pacific division.

CANUCK JOTTINGS

The Canucks wrapped up their sixth of 13 back-to-back series this season against Detroit on Friday night. Thus far, the Canucks have gone 5-4-3 in back-to-back games this season including a record of 2-3-1 in the first game and 3-1-2 in the second game.
Last season, Vancouver played in 12 back-to-back series. They posted a 15-8-1 record in those series going 10-2-0 in the first game and 5-6-1 in the second game.
ROAD TRIP SO FAR……
- Vancouver record: 1W-3L (GF: 5; GA: 15)
- Canucks have had five different goal scorers with a goal each:
  - Jared McCann, Radim Vrbata, Sven Baertschi
  - Henrik Sedin, Jannik Hansen
- Shot leaders:
  - Daniel Sedin: 20
  - Radim Vrbata: 17
  - Alex Edler: 14
- Face-off win percentage:
  - Alex Burrows: 66.7%
  - Bo Horvat: 53.3%
  - Derek Dorsett: 50%
- Plus/Minus:
  - Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin: +2 each
  - Chris Higgins: -6; Alex Edler: -5
  - Chris Tanev: -3; Bo Horvat: -4
  - Matt Bartkowski: -3
Chris Tanev leads the team and is t-7th in the League in blocked shots with 84. His defence partner Alex Edler ranks t-11th in the
NHL with 71 blocked shots.
Ronalds Kenins is t-4rth in the NHL in hits per games played with 4.5.
Derek Dorsett leads the team in hits with 76 and is tied for the 30th most hits in the league.
Daniel Sedin (126) and Radim Vrbata (117) rank 6th and 8th in the League, respectively, in shots.
The Canucks 21 PPG on the season are t-9th most in the NHL
Vancouver has had 119 power play opportunities to date, tied with Montreal for the the most in the League
The Canucks are 13th in the League in blocked shots with 460 and 8th in shots for with 1009
Vancouver is 24th in shots against with 1030.
Vancouver is 9th in the NHL in total face-offs with 2055 and 1rst in face-off losses with 1112.
The Canucks have the 5th least amount of hits in the league this season with 643 in 34 games for 18.9 hits per game.
Vancouver averages 29.7 shots for/gp (14th in the NHL) and 30.3 shots against/gp (22nd in the NHL).
In the last 10 games, the Canucks are 3 for 31: 9.7% on the power play:
- Road: 1 for 15: 6.7%
- Home: 2 for 16: 12.5%
The penalty kill, in the last 10 games, is 29 for 35, 82.9 percent:
- Road: 17 for 23: 73.9%
- Home: 12 for 12: 100%

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS

PANTHERS PLAYERS STATS

CANUCKS-PANTHERS AT A GLANCE

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

Everything OOO-Vey, Canucks Get It Done, Beat Detroit 4-3 In Shootout

Posted on December 18, 2015 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 18, 2015

Vancouver had been shutout in two of their last three games, and in four of their last nine outings dating back to November 30.

Vancouver came into the game having lost their 3rd game in a row of the road trip, and their 6th straight on the road.

Their captain Henrik Sedin could not play and his consecutive games played ended at 126 games.

But Sedin replacement Linden Vey, a thorn against Detroit last season, rose to the occasion and scored in the seventh round of a shootout to give the Canucks (12-14-8), a 4-3 win against the Red Wings (16-9-7) tonight at Joe Louis Arena.

With the victory, Vancouver pulled into a 3rd place tie with Calgary in the Pacific division of the Western conference, with 32 points.

Sven Baertschi had two points ( 1-1=2). Jared McCann, his 7th and Radim Vrbata, his 10th, scored for Vancouver (12-14-8), which won for the third time in 11 games (3-6-2).

The Canucks won their first game of the 6 game road trip, ending their three game losing streak to start the trip; and ended their 6 game losing streak on the road going back to November. They are 1-3 with 5 GF and 15 GA.

Ryan Miller made 25 saves through overtime and six more in the shootout.

Vancouver power play was not powerful as it was 0 for 2, with 5 shots. Canucks penalty kill was a perfect 3 for 3, with Miller only facing 4 shots.

On the current road trip their power play is 0 for 8, while their penalty kill is 10 for 14, 71.4%.

The Canucks out shot the Red Wings in the opening period 17-5, and in the game 40-28. Vancouver has out shot their opponents on the current road trip 137-130.

Canucks did not draw well on face-offs as they were 22 for 62. Bo Horvat was 10 for 22; Linden Vey, 5 for 15; Adam Cracknell, 3 for 10; Jared McCann, 2 for 12.

Vancouver face-off win percentage on their present road trip, after 4 games of 6, is an embarrassing 37.9 % (96 for 253).

The Canucks, if things were not desperate for them as it is, have teams in their division with games in hand, that could result in Vancouver making it into the basement of their division sooner than later, if they do not start using the momentum of the win tonight to register more victories, starting Sunday against Florida:

Anaheim, currently in last place, has 4 games in hand
Los Angeles, Calgary and Arizona, have 3 games in hand
San Jose has 2 games in hand
Edmonton has 1 game in hand

NEXT GAME UP: AT FLORIDA PANTERS, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2015

GAME REVIEW

CANUCKS AT A GLANCE

CANUCKS PLAYER STATS

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

Markstrom, Neuvirth Probable Starters In Net for Canucks, Flyers Tonight

Posted on December 17, 2015 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 17, 2015

Vancouver (11-13-8) plays the 3rd of four games in 6 nights on their six game road trip, when they face-off against Philadelphia (13-12-6) tonight.

Vancouver defeated Philadelphia at Rogers Place 4-1 on November 2, and are 6-1-1 in the past eight against the Flyers, with a three game winning streak against Philadelphia.

The Canucks have lost two straight on their road trip, and lost their last five games on the road.

The last time the Canucks faced losing six in a row away from home was when they lost 7 games – all in regulation – Jan. 31-March 6, 2014.

Vancouver currently is in 6th place in the Pacific division of the Western Conference with 30 points, just three points ahead of Anaheim in last place. Anaheim has 3 games in hand on the Canucks; Los Angeles, San Jose, Arizona and Calgary, all have 2 games in hand on Vancouver.

Four points separate Nos. 2-7 in the Pacific division, with San Jose in 2nd place, one point in front of Arizona, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Vancouver began their road trip with a 4-0 loss to Chicago on Sunday before giving up a season high 6-goals in a 6-2 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Ryan Miller was replaced by backup goalie Jacob Markstrom in the 3rd period after allowing six goals through two periods. He faced 36 shots while the Canucks put 21 on net.

“If we compete like that and battle like the way we did, we’re going to get embarrassed again,” forward Alexandre Burrows told the Canucks website after practice Wednesday. “If you care enough, you care about winning, and if you care about this team, you’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The Canucks penalty kill is 3 for 7 (42.7 percent), allowing 4 shorthanded goals against Chicago and Minnesota; and are 0 for 3 on the power play, all against Chicago, after failing to get a power play opportunity against Minnesota: the first time that has happened this season.

The Canucks have been outscored 10-2 so far on their road trip.

Ryan Miller has a 4.27 goals-against average in going 0-3-1 in his last four road starts.

Vancouver has been outscored 35-16 in going 1-6-3 in its last 10 on the road. Their only win at Minnesota on Nov. 25.

Jacob Markstrom has played in seven games and sports a 1-2-2 record with a GAA of 2.87 and .906 SV%. Markstrom last started a game on December 5 against Boston, where he gave up 4 goals in a 4-0 loss.

Philadelphia is currently 6th in the Metropolitan division of the Eastern Conference, with 32 points, 9 points out of 3rd and a playoff spot.

Goalie Michal Neuvirth and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes for a 4-3 overtime win Tuesday night, their 2nd win in the last three games.

Steve Mason is the No. 1 goalie despite Neuvirth leading the NHL in save percentage (.937).

The Flyers are 7-4-3 in their last 14 games overall, and 3-1-3 in their last 7 games at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Canucks have won their last two games in Philadelphia and are 4-1-0 in their last five visits.

“We’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to do it all together. We’ve got to work at it and keep a positive attitude and work your butt off in practice and get back to basics. That’s all you can do. And when game time comes, make sure your compete level is at its highest.”— Canucks veteran Brandon Prust

Source:Vancouver Sun, December 16, 2015