Tuesday March 28 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 75 GP, 30-36-9, 69 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 75 GP, 41-23-11, 93 pts, first in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks will be looking for their first home win since February 18 as the Anaheim Ducks make their final visit of the year to Rogers Arena on Tuesday night.
The Canucks are 18-13-6 overall at home this season, but are 0-5-3 in their last eight games on home ice. Their last win came courtesy of Chris Tanev when Vancouver beat Calgary 2-1 in overtime more than six weeks ago.
Oddly, during that same stretch, Vancouver has gone a respectable 4-4-0 on the road, improving their record away from Rogers Arena to 12-23-3.
Tonight's game will mark the home debut for Brock Boeser, who hopefully got a chance to get some sleep on Monday. His whirlwind weekend saw him play his last NCAA game with North Dakota on Friday, then his first two games with the Canucks on Saturday and Sunday.
Here's the latest rundown from the morning skate on which players you can expect to see in the lineup tonight.
Stecher's absence creates a hole on the power play, so Philip Larsen draws back in.
As we saw in Winnipeg on Sunday, Brock Boeser will also get power-play time, working with the Sedins.
Willie Desjardins says Stecher might be ready to return to action against Los Angeles on Friday, and we could also see Loui Eriksson rejoin the team at that time as well.
Sounds like Stecher's injury won't be too long term, but even if it was to keep him out for the rest of the season, I'd be very surprised to see Jordan Subban get called up. As much as anything, I don't think anybody wants to pull Subban off a Utica Comets team that's in a very tight playoff race. Subban is pointless in his last four games but his 14-18-32 ranks him among the AHL's top 20 scorers on defense.
The Comets went 1-2 last weekend, so they're currently in fifth place in the AHL's North Division—two points behind Albany and three behind St. John's, with a game in hand on the IceCaps. The top four teams in each division will advance to the playoffs.
Utica plays three games in three nights again this weekend—a home-and-home against Rochester, then a Sunday road game against Wilkes-Barre Scranton.
The AHL schedule runs one week longer than the NHL. The Comets will finish up on April 15, and it looks like their playoff hopes will probably be decided on that final weekend.
As for tonight's opponent in Vancouver, the Ducks are kicking off a four-game Western Canadian road trip tonight and coming into Vancouver as the first-place team in the Pacific Division—on a four-game winning streak and 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, while the San Jose Sharks are struggling. Impressively, they've gone on this run with Jonathan Bernier between the pipes—John Gibson is still sidelined with that lower-body injury, though he could get back in action at some point during this road trip.
Bernier's last regulation loss was the Canucks' 2-1 win in Anaheim back on March 5. Since then, he has given up just 15 goals in nine games and gone 8-0-1.
Up front, Anaheim is also now getting good production from its stars. Ryan Getzlaf was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week on Monday thanks to seven assists in his previous three games. Getzlaf is 3-17-20 in 12 games in the month of March and now leads the Ducks with 66 points in 68 games played.
The Ducks' strong month of March also coincides with their pickup of winger Patrick Eaves at the trade deadline. The 32-year-old journeyman broke out this year with 21 goals in 59 games with the Dallas Stars before he was traded. Since joining Anaheim, Eaves has continued to score at a similar pace with 6-2-8 in 13 games so far.
Bernier's just one example of an oft-maligned goalie that has turned things around late in the season. Eddie Lack is another—or he was, at least, before getting bulldozed in a nasty collision last night against Detroit.
I won't post the clip here, but Eddie was stretchered off the ice after the overtime game-winning goal. He has now been released from hospital, but is diagnosed with a neck strain.
Lack has been on fire since he was verbally roasted by his coach, Bill Peters, back on March 3. Since then, he has gone 5-1-1 in his seven appearances. He had only given up eight goals in the six games before last night's 4-3 overtime loss—and the single point last night moved the Hurricanes just four points out of that second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with eight games remaining.
When Peters called out Lack earlier this month, "he (was) 2-4-2 with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .873 save percentage that ranks 60th among 60 goaltenders to play at least 10 games," per
NHL.com. In his last seven games, he has dramatically outplayed Cam Ward, posting a .935 save percentage and 1.72 goals-against average.
Lack has already gone through one concussion this year. Here's hoping he can get back in action quickly and help the Hurricanes make a push for the postseason.
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