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

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

Canucks not producing:
- Bo Horvat: 1 goal-5 assists in last 21 games
- Derek Dorsett: 0 goals-3 assists in last 21 games
- Jared McCann: 1 goal-3 assists in last 21 games
- Adam Cracknell: 1 goal-2 assists in last 19 games
- Brandon Prust: 1 goal-1 assist in last 12 games
- Sven Baertschi: 2 goals-2 assists in last 17 games
- Chris Higgins: 2 goals-1assist in last 18 games
- Alex Burrows: 2 goals-1 assist in last 20 games
Canucks producing:
- Henrik Sedin: 7 goals-18 assists in last 21 games
- Daniel Sedin: 11 goals-14 assists in last 21 games
- Jannik Hansen: 8 goals-5 assists in last 21 games
- Alex Edler: 4 goals-8 assists in last 21 games
- Radim Vrbata: 6 goals-4 assists in last 19 games
Vancouver power play is ranked 17th overall in the NHL: 21 for 114, 18.4%. On the road it is ranked 21rst: 10 for 61, 16.4%
Canucks penalty kill is ranked 24th in the NHL: 81 for 104, 77.9%. On the road it is ranked 26th: 45 for 62, 72.6%.
Daniel Sedin is 6th in NHL scoring: 14-20=34 points; Henrik Sedin is t-10th in NHL scoring: 9-22=31 points.
Alex Edler is 17th in defense NHL scoring: 6-11=17 points.
Jared McCann is 15th in rookie NHL scoring: 6-3=9 points; Ben Hutton is 18th in rookie NHL scoring: 0-9=9 points.
Canucks injured: D Luca Sbisa (hand), F Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), and D Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture) are on the injured reserve list.
Plus/Minus:
- Jannik Hansen: +9
- Daniel Sedin: +8
- Henrik Sedin: +8
- Chris Tanev: +4
- Radim Vrbata: -16
- Bo Horvat: -15
- Yannick Weber: -12
- Ben Hutton: -9
Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler joins the 600 games played club tonight when he suits up against the Flyers. He becomes the 14th player to reach that mark in franchise history joining active Canucks Henrik and Daniel Sedin, along with Alex Burrows. He’s the sixth blue-liner in team history to reach the mark joining current assistant coach Doug Lidster along with Mattias Ohlund, Dennis Kearns, and Garth Butcher.
Edler is quickly rising in other areas in the franchise record books as well this season. He recently took over sole possession of second place on the all-time power play goals category by a defencemen (38) behind only Sami Salo’s 48. His 72 career goals are fourth in franchise history among defencemen behind Ohlund (93), Jyrki Lumme (83), and Salo (74), while his 276 points ranked him fourth among all-time defencemen behind Ohlund (325), Lumme (321), Kearns (321), and Lidster (307).

http://canucks.nhl.com

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS

FLYERS PLAYER STATS

CANUCKS-WILD AT A GLANCE

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

Vancouver Continues To Build Up Losses, With 6-2 Loss To Minnesota

Posted on December 15, 2015 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 15, 2015

Updated at 8:55 pm PST

CANUCKS MAKE LOSING LOOK EASY

The Vancouver Canucks (11-13-8) registered their 21rst loss of the season, in a lopsided loss, to the Minnesota Wild (16-7-6), and continue to be winless on their 6 game road trip.

Vancouver came out skating with the Wild and got the first two shots on Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper but the home team scored first on the power play when Ben Hutton took a penalty for holding Charlie Coyle, at 4:50.

Thomas Vanek scored on the power play, his 11th goal of the season, on a tip in, assisted by Zach Parise (7) and Jason Pominville (14) at 5:17.

The Wild continued to take the game to Vancouver as they pressed the Canucks in their own end, with Miller coming up with timely saves. At the halfway point of the period, Minnesota had built up a 13 to 5 shot lead.

After a few good shifts that saw the Canucks get some good scoring opportunities, Minnesota beat Vancouver to the net, scoring at 12:47 to make it 2-0, on an even strength goal,when Jason Zucker scored his 7th goal, on a wrist shot, assisted by Thomas Vanek (10) and Mikko Koivu (17).

Minnesota outshot Vancouver 17-12. Canuck defensemen got most of the shots in the first period for Vancouver: Matt Bartkowski had 3; Alex Edler and Alex Biega, 2 each; no Canuck forward had more than one shot in the period.
Canucks were not very good in the face-off circle, successful on 8 for 22. Adam Cracknell was 3 for 5; Henrik Sedin, 2 for 7; Bo Horvat, 2 for 5; Jared McCann, 1-5.
Canuck defensemen had four of the 5 block shots, led by Chris Tanev with 2; Chris Higgins had the only block shot amongst the Vancouver forwards. Vancouver and Minnesota had 7 hits each, with no Canuck having more than one.

In the middle period, Vancouver continued to get into penalty trouble, and play with little intensity or push back, and Minnesota continued to make Vancouver pay.

Yannick Weber got a penalty at 5:17 for holding Charlie Coyle, and the the Wild wasted little time adding to their lead as Zach Parise scored his 10th goal, assisted by Thomas Vanek (11) and Mikko Koivu (18) at 5:25, to make it 3-0 Wild.

Miller had stopped Parise on two previous shots, but he couldn’t stop the third, and a frustrated Miller had to be wondering where his teammates were on that goal. Minnesota had out shot Vancouver 5-0 up to goal.

A little over a minute later, the Canucks spoiled Kuemper’s shutout bid, as Jannick Hansen scored his 9th goal, on a wrist shot, assisted by Henrik Sedin (21) and Daniel Sedin (21), at 6:45, and Vancouver pulled within two at 3-1.

Less than two minutes later, the Wild scored a disputed goal that was challenged by the Canucks when Mikko Koivu scored on Miller with a snapshot at 8:12. Vancouver believed the play to be offside but on review was ruled a good goal. Assists went to Thomas Vanek (12) and Nate Prosser (2), and the Wild were once again up by three goals at 4-1, on an even strength goal.

At 11:04 Jared McCann got a double-minor for high sticking Zach Parise and Minnesota were on power plays three and four of the game.

And once again, the Wild were efficient with their time as, they scored their 3rd power play goal of the game; Ryan Suter, on a wrist shot, his 5 goal, at 12:36, assisted by Zach Parise (8) and Mikko Koivu (19), making it 5-1.

Before the period would end, Minnesota would make it 6 to 1, on an even strength goal, when Marco Scandella scored his 4rth goal, on a wrist shot, assisted by Matt Dumba (4) and Nino Niederreiter (5) at 16:03.

The Wild outscored the Canucks 4-1 in the middle period and out shot Vancouver, 19-9.
The penalty kill was put to sleep as the Wild were 2 for 3 on the power play, needing little time to score against a lacklustre Canuck team.
At the end of two, Zach Parise led both teams in shots with 8, with teammates Jason Zucker and Ryan Suter having 4 each.
The Canucks defensemen had a total of 10 shots after two, led by Matt Bartkowski with 4. Jannick Hansen led the Vancouver forwards with 3 shots.
Vancouver did not do any better on face-offs in the middle period as they were 9 for 27. Adam Cracknell and Bo Horvat were the best face-off men after two period, both 6 for 12.

The final period started with a new goalie for Vancouver as coach Willie Desjardin replaced Ryan Miller with Jacob Markstrom, and Minnesota took their hand off the throttle, as there would be only one goal scored.

Just over six minutes into the period, a turnover to the Canuck captain, Henrik Sedin, resulted in Vancouver’s second goal, as he fed a pass to brother Daniel to make it a four goal game at 6-2 Minnesota.

It was Daniel Sedin’s 14th goal of the season, and Henrik Sedin’s 22nd assist of the campaign, at 6:16.

CANUCK JOTTINGS

Canucks were out shot 41-31 in the game.
In the face-off circle, Vancouver was 25 for 72.
Jannick Hansen had 5 shots for Vancouver; Zach Parise led the Wild with 8 shots.
Canucks had no power play opportunities; and were 2 for 5 on the penalty kill.
Canuck defensemen Alex Biega and Yannick Weber led all Canucks in hits with 3 each.
Chris Tanev finished with 3 block shots.
Vancouver has been outscored 10-2 in their first two games on the road trip.

NEXT GAME UP: AT PHILADELPHIA FLYERS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015

GAME REVIEW

CANUCKS AT A GLANCE

CANUCKS PLAYER STATS

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

Vancouver Looks For Another Road Win In Minnesota Tonight

Posted on December 15, 2015 by CanucksBanter

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