Following a robust performance on Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks (43-18-8) continue their homestand and are back at Rogers Arena Thursday night to battle with the Montreal Canadiens (25-31-12).
The Canucks played confidently in a tight game on Tuesday and picked up a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Elias Pettersson scored a pair of goals and Conor Garland was the man to open the scoring in the game.
As for the visiting Canadiens, they are heading into game three of their five-game Western Conference road trip. So far, the trip has not gone the Canadiens way – they took a 5-2 loss from the Calgary Flames on Saturday night and then fell 3-2 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
The Canadiens’ offence is led by their captain, Nick Suzuki. The 24-year-old centre has 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points in 68 games this season. He is two points shy of tying his career-high in points and already has surpassed his career-high in goals.
Suzuki centres the top line that sees Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky on the wings. Caufield has hit 20 goals for the third consecutive year and Slafkovsky is beginning to find his way in the NHL as the 19-year-old, second-year pro has scored 14 goals and added 23 assists for 37 points in 68 games.
The Canadiens are made up of mostly youngsters in this league but have a strong veteran presence in the locker room with David Savard, Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia, and former Canuck Tanner Pearson.
Sam Montembeault has led the way between the pipes and has started 32 of their 68 games this season. He has a .905% save percentage and a 13-12-7 record. Their backup, Cayden Primeau is the only backstop to pick up a shutout for the Canadiens. Primeau has two shutouts this season through his 15 starts including a 41-save shutout on March 12th.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- Mike Matheson leads the Habs in ice time. He is sitting at 25:35 average time on ice this season and also leads the Canadiens defence corps with 47 points (9g-38a).
- Joining Matheson on the top pairing is 22-year-old Kaiden Guhle. Guhle is the only player on the Canadiens roster with 100+ hits and shot blocks.
- The Canadiens have announced that Joshua Roy is out indefinitely. That will be a loss to their top-six.
- Cole Caufield has 263 shots on net this season -- 102 shots ahead of second-place, Mike Matheson.
The Canadiens are a feisty team on the road this season and the Canucks will have to be ready to trade some punches while also sticking to their structure.
Protecting home ice has been important to the Canucks all season long and this long homestand is giving the team a chance to lock in their system and continue to ramp up their play for the playoff push.
Scoring first is important for any team but it has been massive for the Canucks on home ice. The team is 17-3-2 at Rogers Arena when they are the first to light the lamp.
Playing with a lead in the third period has also been important for the Canucks this season and on home ice, the club is 17-1-2 when they lead heading into third periods on home ice. The Canucks have outscored their opponents 40-24 in third periods at Rogers Arena through 33 games.
Elias Pettersson picked up a pair of goals on Tuesday, bringing his season total up to 33. Pettersson’s career-high for goals was last season when he scored 39. Pettersson also picked up an assist in Tuesday’s game bringing him to 82 points. It is the second time that Pettersson has eclipsed 80 points.
Tocchet liked his new lines on Tuesday night. Pettersson played with Nils Höglander and Conor Garland and that trio was on the ice for eight scoring chances for and just one against.
The new trio of Elias Lindholm, Ilya Mikheyev and Sam Lafferty had a 72.3% Corsi in the game and spent most of their ice time in the offensive zone.
This will be the second matchup of the season between the Canucks and Canadiens. The Canucks picked up a 5-2 win back in November on a night where Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua, and J.T. Miller each had multi-point games. Casey DeSmith got the win that night stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced.
Canucks’ Top Performers over Last Five:
Elias Pettersson: 3g-3a-6p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-5a-6p
J.T. Miller: 2g-3a-5p
Conor Garland: 2g-2a-4p
Nils Höglander & Brock Boeser: 1g-2a-3p
Thursday’s game is a 7:00 pm PT start, and you can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen to the play-by-play call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
