The Vancouver Canucks hit the second half of their homestand with a Thursday night matchup against the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers.
Winners in six of their last seven games, the Panthers are rolling and will be a good test for the Canucks as they continue to improve on their game as the season goes along.
Jake DeBrusk continued his scoring spree on Tuesday night with a goal that sent the game into overtime. DeBrusk has 10 goals in his last nine games and leads the Canucks with 13 on the season.
Dakota Joshua scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday night and has been seeing his game improve over his last few outings.
The Panthers come into Thursday playing some of their best hockey of the season. They have won six of their last seven games and have outscored their opposition 33-16 over their last heptad of games.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Panthers come into Thursday with an 18-9-2 record and have a 9-4-1 road record.
- Sam Reinhart is second in the NHL with 19 goals on the season. He leads the league with four shorthanded goals and also has six on the man-advantage.
- Aleksander Barkov and Reinhart have played 255 minutes together this season and will be featured on the Panthers’ top line with Carter Verhaeghe being the third to complete the trio.
- Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett make up the dynamic duo on Florida’s second line and they are joined by Jesper Boqvist to complete that trio.
- On defence, Aaron Ekblad leads the way. He is averaging 23:25 per game and has picked up 14 points through 29 games played.
- Sergei Bobrovsky has started 19 of their 29 games this season but he and backup Spencer Knight have similar stats in the crease, and each has a sub-.900 save percentage.
- Scoring first is a major key for the Panthers’ strong record on the road. When they score first, they are 5-1-0 on the road while going 4-3-1 when the opposition scores first. The Panthers are 6-0-0 on the road when they come out of the first period with a lead.
The Story: Derek Forbort is “A Strong Possibility” to Get Back into the Lineup
Rick Tocchet spoke on Wednesday afternoon about the possibility of defenceman Derek Forbort returning to the Canucks’ lineup.
“Stability,” said Tocchet when asked what Forbort can bring to the lineup. “I think [there were] too many breakaways and two-on-ones last game. And I think a guy like him can kind of clean some of that up for us.”
Forbort said that he is feeling good about his progression in returning from injury and has been proud of how his team has dealt with adversity over the course of the season.
