The Vancouver Canucks return to Rogers Arena on Saturday night for a Hockey Night in Canada 4 p.m. PT battle between the NHL’s top teams with the Boston Bruins in town.
Saturday’s game provides a rebound opportunity for the Canucks, who lost to the Bruins 4-0 on February 8th.
Following a 13-1-3 run, the Canucks have lost four consecutive games for the first time this season and head coach Rick Tocchet is looking for a better effort on Saturday night following a 5-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday to close out a three-game road trip that took place over four days.
Tocchet wants his team to get tougher on their zone exits and wants to see the reps from practice be something that show up in game action. He wants to see everyone do their job and believes that leadership can come from anywhere in the lineup.
The Bruins come into Saturday night on game three of a four-game road trip through the Pacific Division. They picked up a 6-5 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday and then fell to the Calgary Flames 3-2 in overtime. The Bruins have been to overtime in each of their last four games and five of their last six.
Boston ranks seventh in the NHL for goals against as well as goals for. They are led by all-star forward David Pastrnak, who has found the back of the net 36 times this season and assisted on 46 goals to give him 82 points in 58 games
Pastrnak leads a top line that features Jake DeBrusk on left wing and Pavel Zacha down the middle. You will see movement throughout the game as Pastrnak will also see time on a line with Brad Marchand, but Zacha has primarily been the centre this season. Pastrnak averages 9.4 shot attempts per game and leads the league with 288 shots on net
Charlie McAvoy leads the defence corps and is averaging 24:59 per game. He typically plays alongside Matt Grzelcyk or Hampus Lindholm on the top pairing, but Lindholm is out week-to-week and Grzelcyk left Wednesday’s game and didn’t return to action on Thursday. Those injuries promote Parker Wotherspoon to the top pairing.
The goaltending duo of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark have combined for a .916% save percentage and Swayman has picked up three shutouts this season. Ullmark played on Thursday while Swayman was in on Wednesday.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- McAvoy, Marchand, and Pastrnak each have 12 or more power play assists this season and are the three primary puck possessors on the power play.
- The Bruins have the seventh-ranked power play in the league and are clicking at 23.3% on the season.
- The power play has been in a bit of a slump lately, the Bruins have scored two goals on 24 opportunities over their last eight games.
- After giving up a power play goal in four straight games, the Bruins' penalty kill has been perfect over their last three games and killed off six penalties in that time.
- McAvoy has picked up six points from the backend over his last five games. The right-shot defenceman has averaged 28:39 over the past five games.
The Canucks are looking to snap their longest losing streak of the season. The team has struggled on the power play of late and only has one goal with the man-advantage over their last nine games.
J.T. Miller has been scoring at a high rate over his last five games. The 30-year-old forward has six goals and has won 56.5% of his faceoffs over his last five games.
Arshdeep Bains averaged 13:09 in his first two NHL games this season. The youngster who developed his pro game down the road in Abbotsford has been able to fit in an NHL lineup and has been effective at creating scoring chances but hasn’t quite found the scoresheet yet.
Thatcher Demko holds a 30-12-1 record on the season and has a career-high five shutouts this season. Demko has a .911% save percentage over his last six games.
The Canucks are back to practice on Friday after playing three games in four nights and will appreciate being on home ice for Saturday’s big matchup. The Canucks have 12 of their next 15 games on home ice, including a nine-game homestand in March. The team only has two three-game road trips left of travel and unlike their most recent trip, they don’t have any three games in four-night trips.
Saturday will be a big game with the top two teams in the NHL standings matching up and the Canucks will want to get back on track to kick off the three-game homestand.
Saturday’s game is a 4:00 pm PT start and can be viewed on Hockey Night in Canada or you can listen to the thundering voice of Brendan Batchelor on the radio call with Sportsnet 650.
