Vancouver Canucks try to win two straight vs Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena (ducks)

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Vancouver Canucks try to win two straight vs Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena

By Carol Schram

Dec 30, 2016 • 2:53 pm

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Friday December 30 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific

Vancouver Canucks: 36 GP, 15-18-3, 33 pts, sixth in Pacific Division Anaheim Ducks: 37 GP, 18-12-7, 43 pts, third in Pacific Division

The Vancouver Canucks will look to close out their home schedule for 2016 on a positive note as they host the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Rogers Arena.

All told, the Canucks are a dead-even 20-20-4 in 2016 on home ice, based on an 11-6-2 record this season and a 9-14-2 run from the grim second half of 2015-16. A win tonight would tip the ledger to the positive side—and would mark the first pair of consecutive wins for Vancouver in more than a month. The last time that happened was November 26 in the shootout against Colorado, then November 29 against Minnesota.

That home win over the Wild was also the last time Minnesota lost a game in regulation. They followed it up with an overtime loss in Calgary before starting the 12-game winning streak that they're currently riding.

Something will have to give tomorrow night when the Wild square off against John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets, whose winning streak has now stretched to 14 games. Wednesday's win over Los Angeles was just the Canucks' 15th all season!

Just an optional skate for the Canucks at Rogers Arena this morning.

Ryan Miller will get the start again after a solid outing against the Kings on Wednesday.

Tonight marks a big milestone for Alex Burrows:

The two other undrafted players to have reached the 800-game mark are Vern Fiddler at 853 games and Chris Kunitz at 844 games. Kunitz, of course, has earned an Olympic gold medal and three Stanley Cups over the course of his career, but Burrows is the only one of the three to have played his entire NHL career with one team. At 35, he's also a little younger than both Fiddler (36 years old, four NHL teams) and Kunitz (37 years old, two NHL teams).

Burrows has been steady this season, with six goals and 14 points in 32 games. He continues to be one of Willie Desjardins' most reliable penalty killers, averaging 1:38 of shorthanded ice time per game; Bo Horvat's the only forward that plays more on the penalty kill.

By this point, Burrows' story is well-known. He started out in ball hockey and worked his way up to the AHL after stints with three different ECHL teams, including the marvellously-named Greenville Grrrowl.

There's no reason to expect any lineup changes tonight after Wednesday's win. Jayson Megna is likely sticking with the Sedins on the first line, so Ben Kuzma profiled him in The Province today.

Megna played 17:10 on Wednesday, the most ice time he has received as a Canuck and the busiest night of his entire NHL career. Needless to say, right now he has nothing but kind words for coach Willie Desjardins.

“It’s easy,… Megna told Kuzma of playing with the Sedins. “They’re always finding you with passes and they’re always on the tape, even through traffic. Using my speed to get in on the forecheck and coming back is something I can bring. But it has been quite the journey. Willie (Desjardins) has shown confidence in me and I don’t want to let him down.

“I think he truly cares about me and that’s taking a chance on his end.…

As for the Anaheim Ducks, they're on the second half of a back-to-back tonight, after scoring twice in the third period to take a 3-1 win from the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome on Thursday. John Gibson got the win, so I wonder if we'll see Jonathan Bernier between the pipes tonight for Anaheim? They're not doing any on-ice work today, and Randy Carlyle doesn't announce his goalies before game time, so we'll have to wait and see which way that rolls.

The Ducks are just two points out of first place in the Pacific Division, but they have been wildly inconsistent. The started off the month of December with an easy 3-1 win over the Canucks at Rogers Arena on the first day of the month but since then, they've gone 6-4-3—and have given up five goals or more in all four of their regulation losses. The normally stingy Ducks are ranked 17th in the NHL defensively right now, giving up an average of 2.77 goals per game, while the Canucks are 27th at 3.03 goals per game.

That being said, Anaheim is 2-0 against Vancouver this season and has given up just three goals over those two games. The Ducks limited the Canucks to 19 shots on goal back on October 23 at the Honda Center, but Vancouver did outshoot Anaheim 28-24 in the December 1 loss at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks have now generated less than 25 shots in each of their last six games and are tied with New Jersey for last in the league with 27.9 shots per game. We need to see more of the attack that Vancouver was able to generate in the first seven minutes on Wednesday if the home team hopes to deliver a win.

Defenseman Brandon Montour made his NHL debut for the Ducks last night in Calgary as Sami Vatanen deals with a lingering illness. Defenseman Simon Despres and forward Nate Thompson have both been on long-term injured reserve for most of the season, and Clayton Stoner's on the shelf for at least a month after undergoing abdominal surgery.

Langley, B.C. native Shea Theodore was healthy-scratched for the third time in Anaheim's last five games on Thursday in Calgary.

To close today—Troy Stecher has acquitted himself well since being called up by the Canucks in late October. The 22-year-old has 10 points in his first 27 games, is averaging 20:52 of ice time per game and hasn't shown any signs of levelling off as the season has ground on.

Yesterday, the Richmond native unabashedly showed that he's still a Canucks fan at heart.

Funny to think that he's actually a year older than Horvat.

Enjoy the game!

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