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Vancouver Canucks at Phoenix Coyotes – Tuesday November 5 - 6:00 pm - Sportsnet Pacific, KVTK
Vancouver Canucks 10-5-1 fourth in Pacific Division
Phoenix Coyotes 10-3-2 third in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks start a four-game road trip through the Pacific Division with a visit to the desert to take on the red-hot Phoenix Coyotes.
Winners of their last four games, the Coyotes sit one point ahead of the Canucks in the Pacific Division standings and are undefeated in regulation at home so far this year. Their 6-0-1 start is a new franchise record. The Canucks, of course, have been road warriors, with a 6-2-1 record away from Rogers Arena.
The Coyotes are winning with a run-and-gun style that's a big change from the cautious defensive approach they've employed for years. Phoenix is fourth in the league in goals scored, with seven players with 10 points or more. Radim Vrbata leads the charge and the 'Yotes are getting big production from their back-end bombers Keith Yandle, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Derek Morris.
By contrast, the Canucks have just four players over the 10-point mark, though Henrik Sedin is third in league scoring with 19 points. The captain has points in 11 straight games, a career high, and will be looking to extend that streak tonight.
It should be another battle of potential Olympic goaltenders as Roberto Luongo is expected to square off against Mike Smith between the pipes.
Quick Hits:
- David Booth practised with the team in Vancouver on Monday, then was sent to Utica for a conditioning assignment. Elliott Pap of the
Vancouver Sun has a good story on the situation, which apparently was a surprise to Booth.
Booth's description of the injury that has kept him out for the last 10 days is pretty vague:
“I was just making a couple of strides and I couldn't stride properly,” Booth explained when asked what happened in New Jersey. “I just want to be able to skate at 100 per cent. With my game, I need to be able to skate 100 per cent and feel 100 per cent and I wasn't able to do so. I didn't want to make things worse. It was a just a weird incident, that's all I can say.”
Since the team has tried everything else to get Booth going, this move seems as good as any. Perhaps a pile of ice time will give Booth the confidence he needs to find his game once again.
The Comets play at home on Tuesday, then have road games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Nicklas Jensen was also assigned to Utica last week.
- The Canucks have been mentioned in a couple of trade rumours this week.
Eklund suggests that the Rangers would be willing to part with Michael Del Zotto for one of the Canucks' forwards. Unless Alain Vigneault wants to take on David Booth as a reclamation project in the Big Apple, I don't see that happening.
- Bruce Garrioch of the
Ottawa Sun suggests that Yannick Weber could be part of a list of available defensemen who would shore up the Sens' struggling blueline. Weber has been used only as a spare part in his time in Vancouver; the team would probably let him go without much of a fuss.
- Not strictly Canucks-related, but always nice to acknowledge local sporting success. Big congratulations to the three-time Northwest League Champion Vancouver Canadians for
being named the top franchise in all of minor league baseball. The C's have been doing great things both on the field and in the community, as I wrote in a story for BCBusiness at the end of their season.
Click here to read.
Game time's at 6:00 tonight, on Sportsnet Pacific. I'll be back tomorrow with a recap.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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