The Vancouver Canucks are back in action at Rogers Arena for a Sunday afternoon affair with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Following a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, the Canucks will look to stack up some wins on home ice as their six-game homestand continues.
The Lightning will be a well-rested team, despite their travel from Tampa Bay to Vancouver; they have not played since Thursday, when they beat the San Jose Sharks. Tampa is kicking off a four-game road trip through the Pacific Division and has a 5-5-1 record on the road this season.
Brock Boeser became the 15th player in Canucks history to reach 400 points with the organization on Friday night. He picked up a goal and an assist in the win.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Lightning are the best first-period team in the league this season. They have scored 33 goals and allowed 17 through 24 games.
- Leading-scorer Nikita Kucherov has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury and his status will be one to monitor on Sunday morning.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy has started 20 of the Lightning’s 24 games. He has an 11-8-1 record with a .909% save percentage, a 2.42 goals-against average, and two shutouts.
- 26-year-old Brandon Hagel is having a great start to his season, scoring 12 goals, and adding 19 assists for 31 points in 24 games. Hagel is second to Kucherov for points.
- The Canucks and Lightning played on October 15th and the Lightning picked up a 4-1 win. Sunday’s game will be the final matchup between these two clubs.
- Victor Hedman continues to be Victor Hedman. The 34-year-old is still logging loads of minutes and being a trusted penalty killer and power play quarterback. Hedman skates on the top pairing with 24-year-old J.J. Moser.
- Tampa’s power play ranks ninth in the league, running at 24.7%. Brayden Point leads the league with nine power play goals this season. Kucherov (13 assists) and Hedman (10) are the primary playmakers on the power play.
- On the penalty kill, they rank 20th, killing off 78.9% of their penalties this season. They are second in the league with four shorthanded goals this season.
The Story: Momentum on the Penalty Kill
The Canucks killed off all of their penalties on Friday night against the Blue Jackets and Head Coach Rick Tocchet spoke about how important his shorthanded group has been this season.
“Well, it's huge,” said Tocchet. "The PK usually gives you a lot of life. The fans get into it. You know, [when] you kill that penalty off, it gives the bench juice. When it's two [to] nothing, you're still in the game. I think they were zero for five last night, that really won the game; killing those penalties off. [If] they score there, who knows if you can come back.”
Carson Soucy has been most impressed with how the penalty-killing group has progressed throughout the season.
“The improvement,” said Soucy when asked about what he was most proud of on the penalty kill. “Even just by game, the adjustments in-game, the adjustments for every team, and then obviously just the sacrifice of blocking shots. I think we've done a good job of using each other on our clears and we're [making] in-game adjustments or those team adjustments have been really good.”
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Quinn Hughes: 2g-9a-11p
Elias Pettersson: 1g-8a-9p
Jake DeBrusk: 6g-1a-7p
Pius Suter: 5g-1a-6p
Conor Garland: 2g-4a-6p
When and Where to Watch
Sunday afternoon’s game is a 1 p.m. PT start, and you can watch it on Sportsnet or listen along to the radio call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
