Columnist image

| Archive

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks (28-31-9) open a three-game homestand when they host the Vegas Golden Knights (37-26-5) tonight at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks return to action following a 3-2 loss in Edmonton on Thursday. Jay Beagle and Alex Edler had the Vancouver goals, while Thatcher Demko made 31 saves in his third start of the season. Edler appeared in his 800th National Hockey League game and scored for the second night in a row after netting the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over Toronto on Wednesday night.

Starting with last Sunday’s 3-0 loss in Vegas, the Canucks have dug themselves too many early holes lately. They were down 3-0 to the Golden Knights, they trailed Toronto 2-0 and fell behind 3-0 in Edmonton. The Canucks have surrendered the game’s first goal in eight of their last 10 outings and a league-high 42 times in 68 games this season. The Canucks are 19-5-2 when they open the scoring, but 9-26-7 when allowing their opponents to score first.

After watching from the bench Thursday, Jacob Markstrom returns to the Canucks net tonight. He made 28 saves in goal and added his second assist of the season against the Leafs on Thursday. With the result, Markstrom set a new career high with his 24th win of the season. The victory also moved him into a tie for fifth with Gary Smith on the franchise all-time wins list with 72.

Brock Boeser had a couple of assists on Thursday, but has gone eight games without scoring. Elias Pettersson picked up his first point in five games with a helper against the Oilers. However, the Canucks scoring leader – and NHL’s top rookie point producer – has gone nine games without a goal and has just one in his last 13. Despite a slowdown in his production, Pettersson still has a 20-point lead over Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin in the NHL rookie scoring race.

With 57 points on the season, Pettersson needs just three more to tie the Canucks rookie scoring record shared by Pavel Bure and Ivan Hlinka. Trevor Linden had 59 points in his first season in the NHL.

The Canucks will welcome Jake Virtanen back to the line-up. The big winger missed 10 games after breaking two ribs in a collision with Ryan Getzlaf in Anaheim on Feb. 13. Virtanen is fifth on the team with 12 goals. Markus Granlund comes out of the line-up to make room for Virtanen. Chris Tanev was also injured in Anaheim. The veteran defenceman took part in this morning’s skate with his team, but will not play tonight. The Canucks will go with the same six defencemen they have used for the past two games.

The Golden Knights arrive in town on a five-game win streak having given up just one goal in their past three outings. They beat Calgary 2-1 on home ice on Wednesday after blanking the Canucks and Anaheim. Defencemen Shea Theodore and Deryk Engelland had the Vegas goals against the Flames while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 of 34 shots.

Fleury has been the busiest goalie in the league this season. He leads the NHL with 57 starts (and appearances), 33 wins and eight shutouts. He will get the start tonight and may get a night off tomorrow when Vegas visits Calgary.

Shea Theodore rides a four-game point streak into action tonight, one goal and four assists during that time. William Karlsson has four points in his three-game streak.

The Knights' current win streak coincides with the arrival of Mark Stone at the NHL trade deadline late last month. The winger’s new eight-year, $76 million contract extension was finalized yesterday. In five games with his new team, Stone has yet to score, but has a pair of assists and 18 shots on goal.

While Vegas is one of the top teams in the league on home ice (21-10-4), the Knights are 16-16-1 on the road. Last year, they finished 22-14-5 away from T-Mobile Arena.

With 14 games remaining on their schedule, the Golden Knights appear to be locked into a third place finish in the Pacific Division. They are 10 points behind Calgary and nine back of San Jose, and are eight ahead of fourth place Arizona.

Tonight marks the conclusion of the four-game regular season series between these teams. Vegas is 2-0-1 against Vancouver, while the Canucks are 1-2 in their head to head showdowns. Max Pacioretty has four goals in the three games while Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser each have a pair of goals. Vegas is 3-0 at Rogers Arena since joining the league last season and 6-0-1 in the franchise’s seven games against the Canucks.

 

POSSIBLE CANUCKS LINE-UP

Roussel-Horvat-Virtanen

Leivo-Pettersson-Boeser

Pearson-Gaudette-Goldobin

Eriksson-Beagle-Motte

 

Edler-Stecher

Pouliot-Biega

Sautner-Schenn

 

Markstrom

 

POSSIBLE GOLDEN KNIGHTS LINE-UP

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith

Pacioretty-Stastny-Stone

Nosek-Eakin-Tuch

Carpenter-Bellemare-Reaves

 

Schmidt-Engelland

McNabb-Theordore

Merrill-Miller

 

Fleury