The Vancouver Canucks are now halfway through their second-longest homestand of the season and are holding a 2-1-0 record ahead of welcoming the Tampa Bay Lightning to town on Tuesday night.
Tampa has been a streaky team this season. They’ve had multiple three-game losing streaks this season but still hold a respectable 13-11-5 record. The Lightning are currently on one of their better runs this season – picking up three wins through their last four outings.
As you’d expect based on their recent history and success, the Lightning have a strong power play. They are clicking at 29.9% this season, which puts them third in the league for conversion percentage. On top of their strong play with the man advantage, they are doing good work while down a man as well. The Lightning currently sit 11th in the NHL with an 81.8% penalty kill but are one of only three teams who have not picked up a shorthanded goal this season.
Nikita Kucherov is always a big story when he comes to town, and Tuesday night will be no different. The Russian winger is leading the NHL in points with 47 through the first 28 games of the season. Kucherov has been on an absolute tear since the start of November and is averaging two points a game in his last 18 outings. His 19 goals now lead the NHL but Canucks forward Brock Boeser is one goal behind him and will try his best to catch and contain Kucherov on Tuesday night.
After missing the first 20 games of the season, Andrei Vasilevskiy is back between the pipes for the Lightning. He has helped lower the average goals against significantly since he took over for Jonas Johansson.
Quick hits on the competition:
- The Lightning are one of the most veteran teams in the NHL and have not had a player under the age of 25 play for them this season.
- They have four double-digit scorers this season. Kucherov has 19, Brayden Point has 12, Brandon Hagel has 10, and Steven Stamkos has 10.
- Kucherov put up three points on Saturday in the Lightning’s last game. He has followed up each of his three-point performances with one-point games this season.
- Victor Hedman leads the way in ice time. He’s playing an average of 23:39 a game. Behind him is Mikhail Sergachev, who is playing 23:25 a night.
- Former Canuck Tyler Motte is back from the injury that kept him out of the lineup earlier in the season when the Canucks and Lightning first matched up. Motte has one point through 19 games.
- Tanner Jeannot is the leading man in terms of physicality, and not just with the Lightning. Jeannot leads the NHL in hits with 101 through 29 games.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said that he’s a good friend of two-time Stanley Cup champion, and current Lightning head coach Jon Cooper and that he has a lot of respect for how Cooper handles his players.
“I'll call Coop [Jon Cooper] and ask his opinion on stuff and thank God, he gives me some advice but he's the type of guy that knows when to push and when not to and that's why I think he's a great coach,” said Tocchet.
Tocchet also spoke about the Canucks’ most talked about player over the past few games, Nils Höglander. The coach likes the way that Höglander is fitting into the J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser line.
“His forechecking ability really helps Millsy and Boes, he’s a dog on a bone type of player,” said Tocchet about Höglander. “His defensive game has gotten better [and] he’s still striving to be better. His puck protection has been the best I’ve seen since I got here. I didn’t know Höggy that much until this year and I would say [over] the last week or two, his puck protection has been really good. He holds on to pucks and he's not losing pucks like he did early in the season and I think that's a big part of his game. For a small guy like that to hold pucks, I'm not comparing him to Martin St. Louis. But the last couple of weeks he's protecting the puck as a small guy and coming out of the hole. Like Marty used to be all the time.”
Tocchet said that the Sedin twins have spent a lot of time with Höglander on puck protection and we’ve seen the 22-year-old out early with the head coach to work on positioning in the offensive zone and where to go to generate scoring chances from the slot for himself as well as his linemates.
Höglander has picked up points in each of his last three games with two goals and an assist. That trio controls 51.35% of expected goals and has been on the ice for three goals-for and two goals-against in the 39:16 of ice time they’ve had this season.
Miller has picked up his scoring pace as he sits in second for league scoring with 40 points through 28 games. Miller has 10 points in his last seven games. Boeser is on the same pace of 10 points through his last seven and has picked up five goals.
Something we’re going to try here in the previews is a five-game reflection on who has been the top points producers.
Hottest Canucks over the last five:
Elias Pettersson: 2g-5a-7p
Brock Boeser: 1g-5a-6p
Sam Lafferty: 3g-2a-5p
J.T. Miller: 2g-3a-5p
Ilya Mikheyev: 2g-2a-4p
The Canucks fell 4-3 to the Lightning in Tampa Bay in their fourth game of the season. Kucherov picked up two goals in that game while Nick Paul added a goal and an assist in the tightly contested game in Tampa Bay. The Lightning scored two power play goals on three attempts in that game while Tyler Myers, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks.
Tuesday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. You can watch the game on Sportsnet and hear Brendan Batchelor on the radio call through Sportsnet 650.
