After a successful road trip through California, the Vancouver Canucks are back on home ice and will be here for the next two weeks as they embark on a six-game homestand.
First up is a big Hockey Night in Canada matchup with the Edmonton Oilers. This will be the season's first battle between the two Pacific Division foes. The Canucks went 4-0-0 against the Oilers last season but ultimately fell in the playoffs, losing in seven games during the second round.
Saturday night’s game is certainly going to be full of fireworks as these two teams look to establish their dominance in the division.
When you are talking Oilers, start with Connor McDavid. Edmonton’s captain suffered a lower-body injury on October 28th but returned to the Oilers’ lineup on Wednesday in a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.
McDavid has scored three goals and added seven assists for 10 points through 11 games this season. He is second on the team in scoring, trailing Leon Draisaitl, who has nine goals and seven assists for 16 points in 14 games.
The Canucks return to home ice with momentum and will look to kick off this homestand with an impressive performance against a team they will see three times this season. The two teams will not play again until mid-January and will play their final two matches within a six-day span.
Jake DeBrusk was the Canucks’ hottest scorer through the California road trip. He scored in all three games on the trip and now returns to Vancouver with the hopes of continuing his scoring ways.
Through the three California games, DeBrusk was on the ice for four goals and only one against at five-on-five. The Canucks did an excellent job preventing goals on the road trip and there were seven Canucks who were not on the ice for a goal against at five-on-five during the trip.
Daniel Sprong, Brock Boeser, Pius Suter, Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, Quinn Hughes, and Filip Hronek were among the players who played a minimum of 25 minutes at five-on-five during the California trip and were on the ice for zero goals against.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Draisaitl leads the Oilers in goals with nine this season and has done most of his damage away from the power play, scoring eight of his nine goals at even strength.
- Recently, Draisaitl has been on a line with Viktor Arvidsson and former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin.
- To round out the top-six, McDavid centres a line with Jeff Skinner and Zach Hyman.
- On the backend, the Oilers rely heavily on Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. Bouchard is averaging 24:20 per game this season while Ekholm sits at 23:30.
- In net, the Oilers have been running with Stuart Skinner for most of the season. Skinner has a 3-5-1 record with an .885% save percentage.
- The Oilers have been horrendous on special teams this season. They currently rank 27th in the league on the power play with a 14.3% conversion rate. Things get even worse on the penalty kill, where they are the worst team in the league and have killed off just 59.5% of their penalties this season.
- Somewhere where the Oilers are doing well is shots on net. They are second in the league with 33.1 shots per game.
- The Oilers have struggled early in games, giving up 13 goals in first periods this season while scoring seven of their own. They have scored first in five of their 14 games and if they do not score first, their record is 3-6-0 on the year.
The Story: Let’s Talk About Quinn Hughes for a Little While
Last year’s Norris Trophy winner has somehow found another level to his game this season. The 25-year-old defenceman went on a tear through California during the club’s most recent road trip.
Hughes played 70 minutes and 13 seconds over his past three games. And I want to make these stats as easy to understand as possible.
During those 70 minutes of Hughes, the Canucks had 54 scoring chances and gave up just seven scoring chances against. The Canucks’ captain is controlling the game at a rate that is beginning to fall off the charts. In those 70 minutes of ice time, Hughes was on the ice for just one goal against while his Canucks scored seven times with him on the ice.
He picked up six points on the trip and now sits third in the NHL for points from a defenceman. The more impressive stat is that Hughes has only been on the ice for four goals against at five-on-five this season.
Hughes has played 232 minutes at five-on-five this season and his defensive numbers may even look better than his prolific offensive stats. Of defencemen who have played a minimum of 10 games this season, Hughes ranks seventh for goals against per 60 minutes played.
Of defencemen who have played a minimum of 10 games, Hughes leads the league in scoring chances control, with his Canucks controlling 67.5% of scoring chances when he is on the ice.
Another interesting stat is how much Hughes is hitting the net with his shots. His career high for shots per 60 minutes was last season when he hit the net 5.9 times per 60 minutes.
This year, Hughes is blowing that number out of the water and getting shots on net at a ridiculous rate of 9.1 per 60 minutes played.
The Canucks’ captain is leading the charge as the team looks to string together wins and build their confidence into the next part of the season. Hughes is playing the best hockey of his career, and the stats are showing us that he has unlocked even more in his game.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Quinn Hughes: 2g-6a-8p
Brock Boeser: 2g-2a-4p
J.T. Miller: 1g-3a-4p
Conor Garland: 1g-3a-4p
Jake DeBrusk: 3g-0a-3p
Pius Suter: 3g-0a-3p
When and Where to Watch
Saturday night’s game will be a 7:00 p.m. start and you can watch the All-Canadian matchup on Hockey Night in Canada or you can listen along with the sweet-voiced Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
