The Vancouver Canucks return to home ice in 2024 with their second and final matchup against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
That’s January 2nd, for those of us who have no idea what day of the week it is after all the holiday madness.
In their first battle of the season, the Canucks were able to pick up a 5-2 victory over the Sens. Elias Pettersson picked up a three-point night back on November 9th. Ilya Mikheyev potted a pair of goals and Casey DeSmith stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced for the win.
Since that game, a lot has changed in the nation’s capital. The Senators fired head coach D.J. Smith on December 18th and now have a new source of leadership behind their bench that includes Jacques Martin as the head coach and Daniel Alfredsson as an assistant.
The Senators have gone 3-3-0 record since the coaching changes but have had a lot of practice time over the past couple of weeks with their new staff. Tuesday’s game will be the first of a five-game road trip for the Sens. They played their last game on New Year’s Eve -- a 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Offensively, the Sens are led by 22-year-old German centre Tim Stützle. The third-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft has picked up 33 points (7g-26) through 32 games this season and though we are seeing some lineup changes with the new coaching staff, after a 5-1 win, we expect to see Stützle continue to have Vladimir Tarasenko and Drake Batherson on his wings.
Batherson is tied with Claude Giroux for second on the team in points. The youngster and the veteran each have 29 points on the year.
Giroux plays on a top-six line with Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk, giving the Senators one of the most talented top-sixes in the league on paper.
On the backend, the Sens’ leading minute man is Thomas Chabot but he’s only played in 10 games this season. Chabot has battled some injuries, though, he did make his return to the lineup on New Year’s Eve against the Buffalo Sabres. Chabot has averaged 24:02 of ice time this season but since he’s coming back from injury, we’ll likely see a lower number than that beside his name. Chabot played 21:01 in the Sens’ New Year’s Eve game, which was his first game back from the injury sustained on December 2nd.
Aside from Chabot, you can expect to see a lot of Jakob Chychrun and 21-year-old Jake Sanderson. These two defencemen both average around 23 minutes of ice time a game, have a great first pass out of their own zone, and can create scoring chances in the offensive zone.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- Brady Tkachuk is the only Senator with over 100 shots on net this season. With 147 shots, he sits fifth in the league. He’s scored 16 goals this season and also leads the team in hits with 93.
- Joonas Korpisalo looks to be taking over the starter’s position between the pipes. Korpisalo has started in 20 of the Sens’ 32 games this season. He holds a .890% save percentage and a 3.66 goals-against average.
- Former Canuck Zack MacEwen scored his first goal of the season on New Year’s Eve with a bomb of a slap shot as he came down the right wing with space.
- The Senators have the 23rd-ranked power play – clicking at 17.6%.
- The penalty kill has been a challenge and after giving up seven power play goals over their last five games, the Sens have the league’s worst penalty kill. They are killing off 72.1% of penalties this season.
- Parker Kelly has scored both of the Sens’ shorthanded goals this season.
The Canucks are looking to bounce back after a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers last week. The team has had a few days of hard practices and will look to take what they’ve worked on and bring it into Tuesday’s game.
We’ve seen the power play slide out of the top-five and into ninth with a 23.6% conversion percentage. The Canucks have scored four power play goals over their last eight games and have won the special teams battle by only giving up three power play goals against over that eight-game stretch.
The line of Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, and Conor Garland continue to feast in their bottom-six role.
Teddy Blueger has three goals and six assists for nine points in his last seven games, Conor Garland has a goal and six assists for seven points in his last seven games, and Dakota Joshua has potted five goals and added three assists for a total of eight points over his last seven games.
Heading into the new year, the Canucks are number one in five-on-five goals scored this season. They lead the league with 89 five-on-five goals and are fourth-best for goals-against – only allowing 57 at five-on-five.
As noted on Twitter by our reporter Kate Pettersen (@CanucksReporter), the Canucks hold a 20-0-0 record when they lead after two periods.
Scoring first has also been huge for the team. The Canucks are 18-4-1 when they score first and it’s even more impressive on home ice as the team is 10-1-0 when scoring first at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks are excellent in second periods this season and hold a league-best control of the goal share. They’ve scored 52 goals in second periods this season while only giving up 29.
Tuesday’s game will be the final home game before the team sets off on a seven-game road trip that will take them up to the middle of January. After this upcoming road trip, the Canucks only have one five-game road trip and three three-game road trips remaining on the season.
Hottest Canucks over the Last Five:
Teddy Blueger: 2g-5a-7p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-5a-6p
Dakota Joshua: 3g-2a-5p
Elias Pettersson: 2g-3a-5p
Conor Garland: 1g-4a-5p
Tuesday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT and you can watch it on Sportsnet. You can listen to Sportsnet 650 for the radio broadcast with TikTok sensation Brendan Batchelor on the play-by-play.
A reminder that Tuesday is January 2nd.
