We’ve got one more Vancouver Canucks game before the All-Star break and the team is looking to get back in the win column before some well-deserved rest.
The Columbus Blue Jackets come to town for the second and final meeting between the teams this season. These teams played each other earlier this month and the Blue Jackets picked up a 4-3 win in a shootout where Blue Jackets’ goaltender Elvis Merzlikins pulled the monster out of himself.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist while Conor Garland and Elias Pettersson had the other two goals in the game. Casey DeSmith was in net for the game earlier this month and he stopped 40 of the 43 shots he faced through 65 minutes of play.
The Blue Jackets come into Saturday night with a 15-23-9 record. They’ve gone 2-4-1 over their last seven games and they are in game three of a road trip through the west. They picked up a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night and had a nice bounce back in Alberta after a 4-1 loss to kick off their road trip in Edmonton.
Columbus is also playing in the first of three games in four nights as they are going to be busy ahead of their All-Star break.
Offensively, the Jackets are led by Johnny Gaudreau with 29 points through 47 games. Gaudreau has been playing on a top line that sees Cole Sillinger as the pivot and Yegor Chinakhov on the right wing.
The defence corps is full of recognizable names. The top pairing sees Zach Werenski and Adam Boqvist eat up a ton of minutes. Werenski averages 24:06 of ice time per game through his 35 games played. The Werenski-Boqvist pairing has shown extremely well in the goal share this season. The duo has played 149:29 together this year and have been on the ice for 10 goals scored and only three against.
Ivan Provorov is the second-highest on the Jackets for ice time per game, he’s playing 22:45 a night and has been in all 47 games for the Jackets this season. Provorov has been skating alongside Damon Severson lately. This is a bit of a newer pairing as Provorov has spent most of his season with youngster David Jiricek as his partner.
We won’t see the 19-year-old Jiricek on Saturday night, as he was sent down to the AHL on Thursday afternoon. We will, however, see 19-year-old Adam Fantilli. The third-overall pick in the most recent NHL Entry Draft is playing left wing on a second line with Jack Roslovic on the right wing and Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner at centre.
Fantilli is a big forward with a ton of skill and has shown well in his rookie season after making the jump from the NCAA. Fantilli has 12 goals and 15 assists this year and he’s played in all 47 Jackets games. You will also see Fantilli on the top power play unit. He has picked up just one goal with the man advantage this year.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- Kirill Marchenko is the leading goal-scorer. He’s picked up 14 goals in 45 games this season and is the man to watch for on the power play. Marchenko has double the amount of power play goals than second on the team – he's scored six goals this season when the opposition is a man down.
- Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner is one of the best in the league in the faceoff dot. Jenner is clicking at 55% this season.
- Special teams have been up and down for the Blue Jackets this season. They are the 25th-ranked power play – running at 14.7%. The penalty kill has been a bit better for CBJ, they are the 18th-ranked penalty kill in the league with a 79.7% kill rate.
- It appears as if Elvis Merzlikins has taken back the starter’s spot after ‘letting that monster out of himself’ against the Canucks earlier this month. Merzlikins has started three of their last four games and has an 8-10-6 record to go with his .903% save percentage.
The Canucks come into Saturday’s game with their eyes on a pre-break victory. After an overtime loss on Thursday night, the team is hungry to get back to their winning ways before a 10-day break.
“We want to go to the break with a good feeling and obviously come out with a win,” said Elias Pettersson at Thursday’s practice. “Especially for me, the way it ended, last game, I think everybody will be ready to go. We’re going to work hard and get a win.”
We saw the Lotto Line split up on Wednesday, with the result being Pius Suter playing alongside J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser while Elias Pettersson centred a line with Ilya Mikheyev and Andrei Kuzmenko on the wings.
Suter picked up his second career hat trick in Thursday’s game. He is seeing time on the top power play unit and obviously looked great in Thursday’s outing.
Following Suter’s hat trick, the Canucks now have a league-leading nine players with double-digit goals: Brock Boeser (27), Elias Pettersson (25), J.T. Miller (21), Nils Höglander (14), Quinn Hughes (12), Dakota Joshua (12), Pius Suter (12), Ilya Mikheyev (10), and Sam Lafferty (10).
Thatcher Demko is heading off to Toronto for the All-Star weekend next week and continues to put up strong numbers this season. Demko is second in the NHL with 25 wins, he holds a .922% save percentage through his 34 starts and has a league-leading five shutouts.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five:
Quinn Hughes: 1g-7a-8p
J.T. Miller: 2g-4a-6p
Pius Suter: 4g-0a-4p
Conor Garland: 3g-1a-4p
Elias Pettersson: 3g-1a-4p
Saturday’s game is a 7:00 pm PT start and you can watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada. If you’re looking for a treat that your ears can eat, Brendan Batchelor will be doing play-by-play for the radio call on Sportsnet 650.
