Quinn Hughes returns as the Vancouver Canucks host the St. Louis Blues (cibc canada russia series)

cibc canada russia series

Quinn Hughes returns as the Vancouver Canucks host the St. Louis Blues

By Carol Schram

Nov 5, 2019 • 2:52 pm

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Tuesday November 5 - Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 14 GP, 9-3-2, 20 pts, second in Pacific Division St. Louis Blues: 15 GP, 9-3-3, 21 pts, first in Central Division

Though the Vancouver Canucks are back at Rogers Arena tonight, in some ways this is like the fourth game of a six-game road trip. After they face the St. Louis Blues, it'll be back onto the plane for back-to-back games in Winnipeg and Chicago later this week.

Both teams have enjoyed a little downtime, though, since their last games on Saturday — when the Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 5-2 and the Blues edged the Wild 4-3 in overtime in Minnesota. With the weather being so nice, Brock Boeser and Troy Stecher took their dogs to West Vancouver on Sunday, according to their Instagram stories. Meanwhile, the Blues' Jake Allen and Justin Faulk headed out to the valley for a fishing adventure on Monday.

The Blues' Tuesday morning skate is optional, so we won't get any full line breakdowns until closer to gametime.

After a full practice on Monday, the Canucks are also taking an optional skate ahead of Tuesday's game.

Sounds like Quinn Hughes will draw back into the lineup after being injured in the first period in Anaheim on Friday.

Here's Monday's update on the team's other injured players:

With the team playing so well, Sven Baertschi's still waiting for his chance to draw in for his first NHL game of the season.

Nothing definite yet from either side, but I'm expecting a Markstrom vs. Binnington matchup even though Thatcher Demko has taken the net for the Canucks' last two games against the Blues, dating back to last season. Markstrom gave up just one goal in each of Vancouver's two wins against St. Louis last December, but that was before Binnington came on the scene.

The two netminders have remarkably similar numbers so far this year, although Binnington has been a bit busier: Markstrom is now 5-2-2 with a 2.51 GAA and .917 save percentage. Binnington's save percentage is identical. His GAA is 2.56 and his record is 7-2-3. He has dressed for 12 of the Blues' 15 games so far this season, but did get a rest when Jack Allen picked up the win against the Wild last Saturday.

As I mentioned in Monday's blog, the Blues are showing no signs of a Stanley Cup hangover, even after losing Vladimir Tarasenko for what'll probably be the better part of the season after he opted for surgery on a shoulder that had been bothering him since last year. The post-Tarasenko era started with a 3-0 road loss to Boston but since then, St. Louis has put together a four-game winning streak, with three of those wins coming in overtime.

Despite their lofty spot in the standings, their scoring and defending are both around the middle of the pack in the league standings, since they have been winning so many close games. Their penalty kill might be something that the Canucks can exploit tonight — especially with Hughes back in the lineup. St. Louis sits 19th overall with an 80 percent success rate, while the Canucks remain third in that category, at 88.2 percent.

The St. Louis power play is good — ranked sixth at 24.5 percent. The Canucks have slipped a bit while Hughes has been out of the lineup. They're going into Tuesday's game ranked ninth, at 23.3 percent — but are tops in the league in the number of power-play opportunities they've had this year, with 60 through 14 games. That's another place where Elias Pettersson has been strong — drawing penalties.

With 7-8-15 in his first 15 games, David Perron is producing at the best pace of his career, and his four game-winning goals are tops in the league. Brayden Schenn is also rolling — tied for sixth in the league with 10 goals already. His career high is 28 but it looks like he will regress at some point. His career average shooting percentage is a fairly typical 12.6 percent. This year, he's at an incredible 32.3 percent so far.

The Blues are also celebrating a milestone on Tuesday, as Jay Bouwmeester plays his 1,200th career game. Drafted third overall by Florida back in 2002, 36-year-old Bouwmeester and his teammate Alexander Steen are the only first-rounders from their draft year still playing in the NHL. Bouwmeester had a decade-long Ironman streak of 737 consecutive games played between 2004 and 2014, so he has played more games than any other player from his draft class. Other 2002 draftees who are still slogging along include Duncan Keith, Trevor Daley, Valtteri Filppula, Johnny Boychuk and Curtis McElhinney.

The Canucks didn't have a first-rounder in 2002 — that's the pick they traded to Washington to get Trevor Linden back. The Caps took Boyd Gordon at No. 17. Even without their first, Vancouver did have 11 picks in that draft but from all those players, they got 12 NHL games — 11 from defenseman Brett Skinner and one from goalie Rob MacVicar.

Tuesday's game is also 70s Night at Rogers Arena, the first decade to be honoured as part of the Canucks 50th Season celebrations. If you missed it, this is a fun read about the Canucks' first-ever trip to the playoffs in 1975.

As for Vasili Podkolzin — I'm glad we'll get to see him here in Canada for six games.

The Russians did beat the QMJHL team 4-3 in New Brunswick on Monday night, but Podkolzin was held off the scoresheet. He made a few good plays, threw some hits and looked dynamic at times — including a tip through the five hole that went wide after it had beaten Quebec goalie Alexis Gravel.

In my mind, that basically mirrors what I've seen from afar about his season in Russia so far. Podkolzin is able to generate some opportunities and not shy to use his body, but isn't connecting as much offensively as perhaps we'd expect. I'm still looking for the guy who was on fire at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup!

Given all the shuffling between leagues that Podkolzin has been doing this season, I feel like six games with the same coach and same teammates might be just what he needs. I'll be looking to see if he starts finding his groove as the Canada-Russia series continues.

Game 2 goes tonight from Moncton, once again with a 4 p.m. PT start time.

Enjoy the game!

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