Coming off a 6-2 victory on Saturday night, the Vancouver Canucks turn their attention to the Utah Hockey Club for the second game of a weekend back-to-back.
It’s a big game on the calendar as these two clubs fight for a wild card position in the Western Conference. Utah is coming off a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Friday night and has been in Vancouver preparing for the Canucks since they flew into town on Friday.
Utah sits with 69 points in the standings and is nipping at the heels of the Canucks with under 20 games remaining in the season. They have gone 5-3-2 since the 4 Nations break and have been dangerous over that stretch.
They rank number one in the league in controlling scoring chances at five-on-five since the break. Utah has had 255 scoring chances while giving up 183 over their last 10 games. That gives them a league-leading 58.2% control of on-ice scoring chances.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Clayton Keller leads Utah with 74 points this season. He is one of the two 20+ goal-scorers for Utah. Keller has 23 goals through 65 games, while Dylan Guenther has 24 through 54 games.
- Keller has a goal and three assists against the Canucks through two games.
- Guenther has been the driving force on the power play, scoring 11 goals on the man-advantage. He also leads the team with eight game-winning goals.
- On defence, Mikhail Sergachev is averaging 25:25 of ice time per game. The 26-year-old has 11 goals and 32 assists this season.
- Utah’s power play is tied for 11th in the league at 23.4%, while their penalty kill is 13th with an 80.6% kill rate.
- Kevin Stenlund is one of the league’s top players in the faceoff dot. He has won 58.9% of his draws this season.
- Jack McBain is 7th in the league for hits with 228 through 66 games.
- Karel Vejmelka has started 40 of Utah’s 69 games this season. He has a 18-17-6 record with a .908% save percentage, a 2.49 goals-against average, and has one shutout on the season.
The Story: Preparing for Night Two of a Back-to-Back
Elias Pettersson spoke about learning from their mistakes on Saturday night and wanting to continue scoring goals on Sunday in a big game for the standings.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet liked that the ice time was quite balanced on Saturday night and believes that can help his team with the second game of the back-to-back. He spoke about how the team is turning the page immediately after Saturday’s game and is already focused on Utah.
“You got to treat every game like a playoff game,” said Tocchet. “They’re delicious off the rush, and we know it’s a quick turnover. We got to really dial in on how we’re going to defend that rush because if we can defend the rush, we’ll be okay.”
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Elias Pettersson: 4g-2a-6p
Filip Hronek: 1g-5a-6p
Pius Suter: 2g-2a-4p
Conor Garland: 1g-3a-4p
Nils Höglander: 0g-4a-4p
When and Where to Watch
Sunday’s game is a 5:00 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.
