The Vancouver Canucks are embarking on a five-game road trip that begins with their first matchup of the season against the Montreal Canadiens.
At 11-4-2, the Canucks have had success on the road this season and are looking to grind out some more wins over their upcoming road trip.
Monday’s start time is 4:30 p.m. PT at the Bell Centre, so you may need to hustle home from work.
With wins in seven of their last nine games, the Canadiens are back on home ice following a season-long six-game road trip that saw wins over the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers.
The Canadiens are playing their best hockey of the season and have leaned on the hot hands of Patrik Laine, Jake Evans, and Cole Caufield for their recent winning ways.
Evans and Laine have five goals apiece through the Canadiens’ last nine games even with Laine missing games with an illness. Caufield has been the points (9) leader over the last nine games, and he is the leading goal-scorer for Montreal with 21 in 39 games.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Goaltender Sam Montembeault has taken on a heavy workload between the pipes this season. The 28-year-old has started 30 of the Canadiens’ 39 games this season. He has a 14-15-2 record to go with a .900% save percentage and a 2.91 goals-against average.
- 23-year-old Jakub Dobeš has two great starts for the Canadiens, and they’ve both come over the past week and a half. The rookie had a 34-save shutout in his first NHL start on December 28th and followed that up by stopping 22 of 23 shots in a win against the Avalanche on Saturday night.
- Former Canuck Alex Burrows is the assistant coach of the Canadiens.
- Montreal’s power play ranks 17th in the league with a 21.2% conversion percentage on the man-advantage. Laine has scored all eight of his goals on the power play this season. Laine has only played in 13 games this season but has been red-hot on the power play.
- Canadiens’ captain Nick Suzuki leads the team with 17 assists on the power play and is the team leader with 38 points this year.
- On the penalty kill, they rank ninth in the league and have killed off 82.4% of their penalties.
- 20-year-old rookie Lane Hutson is third on the team for points with 27 and is quarterbacking their top power play unit. He averages 22:34 per game, second on the team to Mike Matheson, at 24:31 per game.
- Emil Heineman, Arber Xhekaj, and Josh Anderson bring a lot of physicality to the Canadiens’ depth and Heineman has contributed 10 goals through 38 games played.
The Story: Second Periods on the Road
The Canucks have outscored their opposition by a count of 53-44 on the road this season. A big reason for their success has been their second periods on the road. Having a big second period sets up the chance for a lead at the second intermission, and when the Canucks lead a game on the road at the second intermission, their record is 8-0-2 this season.
Through 17 road games, the Canucks have outscored their opponents 17-8 in second periods. Head coach Rick Tocchet always wants his team to focus on short shifts and that has shown up on the road in second periods when the teams have flipped the ice and have long changes.
Jake DeBrusk leads the team with seven second-period goals on the road this season. DeBrusk leads the team with 11 road goals and it’s interesting to see that he has scored a majority of them in second periods.
Maybe it’s something to watch for – maybe it’s just a weird coincidence. Either way, you can now watch for it and be the judge.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
J.T. Miller: 0g-5a-5p
Brock Boeser: 4g-0a-4p
Jake DeBrusk: 1g-3a-4p
Conor Garland: 2g-1a-3p
Elias Pettersson: 2g-0a-2p
When and Where to Watch
Monday’s game is a 4:30 p.m. PT start, and you can watch it on Amazon Prime or listen along to the radio call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
