After an ugly 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Canucks arrive in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Article content
CANUCKS VANCOUVER
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
(5-7-2, seventh in the Pacific Division)
in VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
(8-6-0, fifth in the Pacific Division)
7 p. M., T-Mobile Arena
TV: CBC. Radio: Sportsnet 650AM
WHY SEE
It’s Saturday night and surely things can’t go as bad as Thursday. How can they? Right? The games at T-Mobile Arena are always a show anyway. Even on television. Plus, Vegas is hurt right now and hopefully the Canucks are looking to right the boat after Thursday’s brutal display against Colorado.
POINT LEADERS
GOLDEN KNIGHTS
1. Chandler Stephenson GP 14 G 5 A 8 PTS 13 (+5)
2. Jonathan Marchessault GP 14 G 7 A 4 PTS 11 (-3)
3. Reilly Smith GP 14 G 4 A 5 PTS 9 (Pair)
CANUCKS
1. JT Miller GP 14 G 6 A 10 PTS 16 (+2)
2. Quinn Hughes GP 13 G 2 A 10 PTS 12 (+6)
3. Conor Garland GP 14 G 3 A 8 PTS 11 (+3)
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
SPECIAL TEAMS
GOLDEN KNIGHTS: PP 10.7% (29th) PK 79.5% (21st)
CANUCKS: PP 16.7% (21st) PK 62.8% (32nd)
THREE THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
• Injuries . Vegas will be without Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson, Zach Whitecloud and Nolan Patrick, all injured. Alec Martinez was caught in the face with a skateboard blade in Thursday’s game and needed 50 points to close the wound. And of course Jack Eichel won’t be available for months. But they are making it work, even without a full top line.
• Shooting quality. The Golden Knights have won four of their last five games, a stretch that has seen them toughen up defensively. The big picture for the season shows them bleeding shots in front of the net, but lately they’ve toughened things up.
Commercial
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
• Special teams, again . There’s a lot of angst over the Canucks’ power play. “They are too talented to be so poor,” goes the rhetoric. The same song can be sung for the Knights, whose power play is scoring only one in 10 chances. Injuries have undoubtedly hurt his efforts at the men’s advantage, but there is still enough talent in this lineup. It should be better.
The Canucks Report, powered by Province Sports, is essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. Sign up here .
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We would like to hear from you about this or any other story that you think we should know about. Send an email to [email protected].
Reference-theprovince.com