The Vancouver Canucks return to action at Rogers Arena and will have another tough test as they host the playoff-bound Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.
Vegas is coming off a couple of days off after a 7-4 loss to the Arizona Coyotes. The Knights and Canucks played this past Tuesday and the Knights won by a 6-3 score. Monday’s game will be game two of the Knights’ final road trip of the season.
The Knights currently hold the first wild card spot in the Pacific Division and if the playoffs were to start today, the first round would see the Canucks and Knights battle in the opening round. The Knights have won two of the three games so far this season and Monday’s game will be an important one for the Canucks.
Jonathan Marchessault is having a career year this season and is up to 41 goals on the season to go along with 25 assists. The 33-year-old pending free agent is playing on a line with Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel and that trio has played 400 minutes together and has been on the ice for 20 goals for and 13 against.
On defence, Alex Pietrangelo and newcomer Noah Hanifan are the team’s horses. They will both be eating up a ton of minutes and though Pietrangelo missed the Knights’ last game, he is expected to return to the lineup on Monday.
Hanifan has been slotted into the Knights’ first power play unit and on their penalty kill.
Logan Thompson continues to hold down the crease for the Knights with Adin Hill on the mend from a lower-body injury. Thompson has a 23-13-5 record and has a .908% save percentage. Jiri Patera is currently the backup.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- Vegas has gone 6-1-1 over their last eight games and is pushing to get a higher seed in the playoffs.
- They have the 12th-ranked penalty kill in the league and are clicking at 80.6% on the season.
- As for their power play, they have converted on 18.6% of their man-advantages and that ranks them 21st in the NHL.
- Jack Eichel has six goals in his last eight games.
- Eichel, William Karlsson and Anthony Mantha have each been at a point-per-game over the Knights' last eight outings.
The Canucks return home after a road trip that saw them go 1-2-0 with a pair of 6-3 losses to playoff-bound teams. Head Coach Rick Tocchet saw differences in the two losses on the road trip and though the Canucks fell on Saturday night, he liked the team’s effort but noted that his team was just not able to convert on their chances.
It is continuing to be a game-by-game focus from the Canucks as they only have five games remaining in the regular season.
Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller each have 10 points over their last 10 games and have continued to drive offence for the Canucks.
Miller has been playing with Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland lately and Garland has a strong control of the goal share over the last 10 games. With Garland on the ice at five-on-five, the Canucks have scored eight goals and allowed just three in the past 10 games.
Garland has played in all 77 games this season and at five-on-five, he has the second-best control of the goal share on the team. In his 936 minutes, Garland has been on the ice for 50 goals scored and 28 against – good enough for a 64.1% goals-for percentage.
Pius Suter leads the team with a 66.6% control of goal share at five-on-five, he has been on the ice for 36 goals and 18 against in his 756 minutes.
The Canucks have the second-best expected goals against with 2.22 xGA/60 since the All-Star break and one player on the roster ranks 15th in the league since the All-Star break.
Nils Höglander has played 340 minutes of five-on-five in the past nine weeks and has a 1.88 xGA/60 in those games. His lines have done an excellent job of limiting scoring chances against and are spending much more time in the offensive zone.
Carson Soucy, Brock Boeser and Tyler Myers all rank in the top 50 for xGA/60 since the All-Star break.
Canucks’ Top Performers over Last Five:
J.T. Miller: 1g-5a-6p
Quinn Hughes: 3g-2a-5p
Conor Garland: 1g-3a-4p
Dakota Joshua: 3g-0a-3p
Brock Boeser: 2g-1a-3p
Monday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT and can be viewed on Sportsnet. If you are looking for the radio broadcast, you are in luck, because Brendan Batchelor is on the call and to quote Gary Bettman, you’re going to want to hear this. The radio broadcast is available on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
