Ducks At Canucks Preview: You Are Not A Jedi Yet

DUCKIES		CANUCKS
	AT

TIME:	Thurs. 7:00 PM PST	TV	Sportsnet Pacific
SEASON SERIES:	1-1	LAST MEETING	5-0 Canucks Jan. 25/13
THE ENEMY	Anaheim Calling	SCORING LEADERS	H. Sedin: 11-33-44 Getzlaf: 15-32-47

So here we go again: two teams playing eachother, that don't like eachother, that are not going any higher or lower in the standings. The Ducks are a hitting team. The Canucks have not been this season...until last game vs Chicago. Are we going to see an uber -emotional affair? I'm up for it, but please oh please stay healthy, Canucks.

Ducks and Canucks games are always an adventure. No shortage of emotion. No shortage of douchery from Cory Perry. Maybe Getzlaf KO-ing Hamhuis. And the scores...here are the last 10 game scores between these 2 teams in reverse chronological order:

5-0 Canucks

7-3 Ducks

5-4 Canucks

4-2 Ducks

5-2 Canucks

4-3 Ducks

3-0 Canucks

4-3 Ducks

5-4 Canucks

4-3 Ducks

Well then A very obvious trend here! How messed up is that? Plus, there are usually plenty of goals scored when they play eachother.Never a boring Canucks-Ducks game.

How good was the Canucks' effort against the Blackhawks last game? Can they maintain that kind of effort? Well, realistically, no. But they can at least come close. If they play that way they will win most of their games from here on out. And FINALLY a game that a Canucks goalie did not have to stand on his head.

So, while I am still excited about the effort against the Hawks, I am cautious to draw too many conclusions from it or to get my expectations too high. So, kick some ass again, Canucks. Let's see you string together two consecutive superb efforts. Then...maybe then.... they will reach Jedi status, in my mind anyway. If Anaheim badly outplays Vancouver, the Chicago game will be a distant memory.

I gotta say, I am very impressed with the Ducks' stats below:

DUCKS	CATEGORY	CANUCKS
29-11-6	SEASON RECORD	26-13-7
64	POINTS	59
2nd	CONFERENCE POSITION	3rd
Won 2	STREAK	Won 2
5-4-1	LAST 10	7-2-1
17-2-2	ROAD RECORD / HOME RECORD	14-5-3
2.78 (8)	GOALS PER GAVE AVERAGE	2.59 (16)
2.37 (8)	GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE	2.28 (5)
1.29 (3)	5 ON 5 GF / GA	1.11 (7)
21.1 (5)	POWER PLAY %	15.2 (23)
81.4 (12)	PENALTY KILL %	84.6 (7)
47.5 (26)	FACEOFF WINS %	47.7 (25)
510 (13)	ROAD HITS / HOME HITS	495 (24)
744 (5)	BLOCKED SHOTS	544 (27)
158 (8)	MINOR PENALTIES TAKEN	186 (24)
NHL.COM

PROJECTED ROSTERS

LALONGO!

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows

Higgins - Roy - Kesler

Raymond - Lapierre - Hansen

Sestito - Ebbett - Kassian

Hamhuis - Garrison

Edler - Corrado (woo!)

Alberts - Joslin

FOR THE TOILET DUCKS:

Hiller

Beleskey - Getzlaf - Perry

Palmieri - Bonino - Selanne

Winnik - Koivu - Cogliano

Dvorak - Steckel - Etem

Lydman - Beauchemin

Allen - Vatanen

Fowler - Lovejoy

Bobby Ryan is day to day with an illness. Not sure if he will play.

You can look at that Ducks roster and wonder where the hell they get all their scoring from. But:

TRENDS

• Ducks are 11-2 in their last 13 vs. a team with a winning record.
• Ducks are 9-2 in their last 11 vs. Northwest.
• Ducks are 6-17 in their last 23 Thursday games.
• Canucks are 4-1 in their last 5 Thursday games.
• Canucks are 13-4 in their last 17 vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
• Canucks are 9-3 in their last 12 games following a win.
• Canucks are 13-5 in their last 18 overall.
• More at Covers.com.

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARD LIST UPDATE

BW79 and Coach Ryan managed to score a point or two, but it was Tengeresz who scored the elusive 3-point night by predicting the Canucks to beat the ChickenHawks 3-1 with Zack Kassian scoring the game-winner. Most impressive! But you are not a Jedi yet! Heh! Congrats to all 3 of you.

FormerHab: 12

Bobby Canuck: 11

Nathaniel Perlow: 11

Twin Terror: 11

gmonk33: 10

patrik e: 10

andrew21nz: 6

EvianBubble: 6

Meat Mayos: 6

PeaceJo: 6

raincity: 6

BW79: 5

Sean Zandberg: 5

Tengeresz: 5

acg515: 4

Geordie Nuck: 4

team pinnelli: 4

vancitydan: 4

Vancouverguy: 4

westy99: 4

ChuckinNux: 3

DeathdogIGBL: 3

ktownfan: 3

marcness52: 3

pheenster: 3

Soundergarden: 3

Twitchy2010: 3

Coach Ryan: 2

jwolf0: 2

Sandwich76: 2

seedvt: 2

Slegna: 2

YorkAveOrca: 2

beardstache: 1

bygfeete: 1

dshaps: 1

Herculoid: 1

Kent Basky: 1

KYCanuck: 1

missy: 1

NS_Cix: 1

nucksandpucks: 1

radepalma: 1

Smoboy41: 1

Tangent: 1

Thursday: 1

ZeeTee: 1

VIDEO

The last meeting between these 2 teams....was excellent:

Stupid reporters with their stupid fucking questions:

Probably my fave Canucks shootout of all time:

The title of this game preview post has been brought to you by Lord Vader:

GO CANUCKS GO!