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Vancouver Canucks face big test Tuesday as NHL-best Lightning come to town

December 18, 2018, 2:11 PM ET [369 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Tuesday December 18 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 36 GP, 16-16-4, 36 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Tampa Bay Lightning: 34 GP, 25-7-2, 52 pts, first in Atlantic Division

After containing Connor McDavid and using their power play to dispatch the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks will face another big test when their pre-Christmas homestand continues with a visit from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

With a record of 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, the Lightning have taken a commanding lead in the overall NHL standings. They're now six points ahead of the three top teams in the West—Winnipeg, Nashville and Calgary—and seven ahead of second-place Buffalo in the East. With a points percentage of .765, the Lightning are currently on pace to finish with 125 points, which would be second only to the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (131 points) since the Presidents' Trophy was introduced in 1986.

Parity is not a thing in Jon Cooper's world.

It's not a stretch to make the case that the Lightning are currently the best-run team in the NHL. Coming up on six years behind the bench, Cooper is now the league's longest-tenured coach after Joel Quenneville's firing. The team's roster is stacked with stars, many of whom have agreed to stay with the team at contracts below market value (living in a low-intensity market with good weather and no state tax certainly helps, too). And before handing over the GM reins to his assistant, Julien BriseBois, earlier this year, Steve Yzerman was able to stay active in the trade market in part because of the Lightning's impressive record of drafting and developing young players.

This year, Brayden Point is getting all the attention. Drafted from the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors in the third round, 79th overall, in 2014, Point is tied with Alex Ovechkin and Mitch Marner for 10th overall in league scoring with 43 points, including 21 goals. Listed at 5'10" and 166 pounds, he's another player whose size probably worked against him at draft time, but who is proving that he can thrive in today's NHL.

Team Canada had to settle for silver at the 2017 World Championship, but two of my favourite things about that tournament were the opportunity to cover the articulate and cheerful coach Cooper on a daily basis, and watching Canada's Kid Line of Point, Marner and Travis Konecny. Nathan MacKinnon also had an incredible tournament, finishing with 15 points in 10 games. But that Kid Line buzzed for Cooper, showing off tremendous speed, skill and entertainment value.

Point has been on my radar since then but I'm not sure I expected him to be on pace for 51 goals and more than 100 points in the last year of his entry-level contract. He's another kid who's going to be looking to get paid as an RFA this summer.

For all the press he gets, though, Point is not even Tampa Bay's leading scorer. That honour goes to Nikita Kucherov, who has been on a tear for the last month. Still in the last year of his deal that pays $4.7 million before his big extension with the $9.5 million cap hit kicks in next season, Kucherov has climbed to fourth in league scoring with 14-34-48 in 34 games, largely on the strength of a 16-game stretch since November 15, where he has led the league with 30 points and been held off the scoresheet only once. His linemate Point has 24 points in those same 16 games, and now second-line center and captain Steven Stamkos has 20.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay blue line is led by current Norris Trophy holder Victor Hedman, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy finished third in Vezina voting last season. Vasilevskiy has been back for two games since missing a month with a broken bone in his ankle. While he was out, Louis Domingue went 11-3-0—not that hard to do when you're playing behind a team that's averaging a league-leading four goals per game.

Defenseman Anton Stralman also returned to the Lightning lineup in the team's 5-4 overtime loss to Winnipeg on Sunday, leaving rookie Mathieu Joseph as the only injured player on the roster.

Hard to find a weak spot to exploit—except, perhaps, for the fact that the Lightning have three other big tests on this Western Canadian road trip. Sunday's game against the Jets was an intense, see-saw affair, and they'll finish out their pre-Christmas schedule with visits to Calgary on Thursday and Edmonton on Saturday. Maybe they'll take the Canucks lightly, although I'm not even sure that'll be the case given Vancouver's own strong recent record and the fact that the Canucks beat the Lightning 4-1 in Tampa Bay back on October 16.

Here's how the Canucks rolled out their lines at Tuesday's morning skate:




Sven Baertschi's back in a regular jersey, making more progress from the concussion that has kept him on the sidelines since October 24.







After back-to-back wins over the weekend, Jacob Markstrom gets the night off.




Nilsson will be debuting some flashy new goalie gear tonight.

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👀 @goaliesonly

A post shared by Anders Nilsson (@andersnilsson31) on



Tuesday's game will be Vancouver's last before the holiday roster freeze goes into effect on Wednesday night. With his team currently in a very good place, don't expect Big Jim to do any wheeling and dealing between now and then.




I'll wrap up with a Petey stat of the day:




Should be a good one tonight. Enjoy the game!
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