| Canucks (37-22-2) |
Blue Jackets (25-28-10) | ||||
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AT |
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| Time | 4:00 PM PST |
TV | Sportsnet |
| Season Series | 2 - 1 Canucks |
Last Meeting | 4-3 Canucks (2-12-10) |
| The Enemy | The Cannon | Scoring Leaders | H. Sedin: 25-55-80 Nash: 28-29-57 |
| Canucks | Category | BJ's |
| 3rd | Conference Position | 14th |
| 6-4-0 |
Last 10 | 5-4-1 |
| 3.13 (3rd) |
Goals Per Game | 2.6 (18th) |
| 2.46 (8th) |
Least Goals Against Per Game | 3.08 (26th) |
| 1.33 (2nd) | 5 On 5 GF/GA | .74 (29th) |
| 21.2% (5th) | Power Play % |
20.2% (6th) |
| 80.8% (20th) | Penalty Kill % |
82.4% (13th) |
| 30.5 (12th) | Shots Per Game | 29.2 (21st) |
| 29.1 (7th) | Least Shots Against Per Game | 30.0 (15th) |
| 78.6% (4th) | Winning % When Scoring First | 51.6% (29th) |
| 85.7% (5th) | Winning % When Leading After 1 | 45% (30th) |
| 45.5% (5th) |
Winning % When Trailing After 1 | 28.1% (21st) |
| 96% (4th) | Winning % When Leading After 2 | 70.4% (28th) |
| 30.4% (2nd) | Winning % When Trailing After2 | 7.7% (24th) |
| 50.9% (9th) | Faceoffs % | 51.4% (7th) |
| 15.8 (27th) | Least PIM's Per Game | 13 (16th) |
| +34 (3rd) | + / - GF/GA | -33 (29th) |
Alright! The Canucks are back! As much as I'm feeling jolly in this, I am also feeling concerned. 6 more consecutive road games for Vancouver: Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix. No piece of cake there. 2 of the games are back to back. Columbus-Detroit today and tomorrow and Colorado-Phoenix on the 9th and 10th. 6 games in 10 nights while GM Place gets cleaned up. Whoopeee?
The Blue Jackets sit 9 points out of a playoff spot and need to get on roll immediately if they want any chance to make it to the dance. Their stats above hardly mean anything as they have improved since Ken Hitchcock was fired early February. The Canucks sit 8 points up on 9th spot and are basically tied for the NW Division lead with the Avalanche. Vancouver needs to go about minimal 50% in their next 6, but obviously aim higher. They went 4-4 in the 8 consecutive road games prior to the break. A few of those game stunk (ahem Minnesota bed-shitting).
Ironically, their last win came in Columbus, where they erased a 3-1 lead and Mikael Samuelsson scored the winning goal with that flutter shot that went over Steve Mason's head. You can see that footage here. Andrew Raycroft got the win. Let's see if he can repeat that tonight. Steve Mason's shutout streak of just over 2 games was killed in style that game. Columbus will have revenge on their minds.
I don't know what to expect in this one. How will each team reply after the Olympic performance and layoff? Is Kesler going to play pissed off? I hope so! Is the top line going to snap out of it?
In their last 7 games:
-Henrik Sedin has 2 assists
-Daniel Sedin has 3 assists
-Alexandre Burrows has 1 goal and 1 assist
Like I said before, the Canucks usually win when those guys put up points and lose when they don't. For example, Vancouver has 5 wins and 13 losses this season when Henrik does not register a point. How lousy is that? Where is the secondary scoring?
Cue the cue ball. That's where Pavol Demitra on line 2 should help. Demo is plenty warmed up after that terrific performance in the Olympics.
No Rusty Klesla or Mike Commodore for CBJ. No Bieksa or Mitchell for Vancouver.
Enjoy the game! Enjoy suddenly disliking Rick Nash all over again!
For anyone new to the site, we like to predict game outcomes. You get 1 point for the right score, 2 points for the correct team and score and 1 point if you predict the correct game-winning goal scorer.