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: 7-0-0
Score 3 Goals or Less: 4-12-8
Allow 4+ Goals: 0-7-3
Allow 3 Goals or Less: 11-5-5
On 0 Days Rest: 2-1-2
On 1 Day Rest: 4-6-5
On 2 Days Rest: 4-3-1
On 3+ Days Rest: 0-2-0
Score a PPG: 6-5-6
Give up a PPG: 3-8-6
25+ Shots on Goal: 9-9-7
Less than 25 shots: 2-3-1
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CANUCKS RECORD:
Overall record/streak: 11 – 12 – 8 / Lost 1
Home record/streak: 5 – 6 – 3 / Win 2 / Undef 2
Road record/streak: 6 – 6 – 5 / Lost 1
Last 5 Games: 2 – 3 – 0
Last 10 Games: 3 – 5 – 2
1-Goal Games: 4 – 6 – 8
2-Goal Games: 1 – 2
3-Goal Games: 6 – 4
Scoring first: 6 – 2 – 5
Opponent scoring first: 5 – 10 – 3
Leading after 1 period: 5 – 0 – 3
Trailing after 1 period: 0 – 8 – 3
Tied after 1 period: 6 – 4 – 2
Leading after 2 periods: 8 – 1 – 5
Trailing after 2 periods: 0 – 11 – 1
Tied after 2 periods: 3 – 0 – 2
OT Record – This Season: 1 – 8
OT Record – Franchise: 169 – 151 – 219
Shootout Record – This Season: 1 – 1
Shootout Record – Franchise: 51 – 56
Outshooting opponent: 4 – 5 – 5
Outshot by opponent: 7 – 6 – 3
Even 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.
CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 18, 2015 
Statistics courtesy of the NHL and Vancouver Canucks, with thanks.
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 