Monday March 9 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks, 7:00 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 37-24-4, 78 points, second in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 42-18-7, 91 points, first in Pacific Division
While their California brothers in Los Angeles and San Jose have struggled to find their mojo this season, the Anaheim Ducks have cruised through the year as one of the top teams in the National Hockey League.
Their season hasn't been without issues. Top sniper Corey Perry missed 15 games and has just 46 points on the year, though he has been heating up in recent weeks. And remember when both Frederik Andersen and John Gibson were injured coming out of the All-Star break, forcing Anaheim to turn to a tandem of Jason LaBarbera and Ilya Bryzgalov? Now there's a goaltending dilemma.
Through it all, they've managed to put up points, and currently sit first in the entire National Hockey League. They're seventh offensively and 19th defensively and their goal differential of plus-14 is only five goals better the Vancouver's, but the Ducks have a knack for coming out on the plus side of close games.
Of the four games Anaheim has played against the Canucks this season, three have been decided in overtime or a shootout—only the Ducks' 4-0 win on January 27th came on the road. The Canucks squeaked out a 2-1 shootout win thanks to Nick Bonino back on Nov. 9, then lost a shootout at home on Nov. 20 and saw Cam Fowler score the overtime winner at the Honda Center on Dec. 28.
So, the Canucks do have four of a possible eight points against the Ducks so far this season, but Anaheim has seven. Such is the crazy math of the National Hockey League.
Tonight's game will complete the season series against the Ducks, and also kicks off a five-game homestand for Vancouver. For better or for worse, the Canucks will play 11 of their last 17 games at Rogers Arena. Their road record of 20-12-3 is second in the league—behind none other than the Ducks.
Here's the big word on the lineup from today's morning skate:
Also, Frank Corrado is expected to sub in for Adam Clendening on the right side.
Look—it's Brad Richardson! And Kevin Bieksa! Both are skating, though neither is expected to play tonight:
It also sounds like the Canucks will be without Chris Higgins and Yannick Weber:
And finally, Nick Bonino is officially a game-time decision, though it sounds like he'll play:
Pretty tough to predict line combinations through all that uncertainty. As in, "I don't know if this means Ronalds Kenins will draw back in after sitting out against San Jose."
One thing is for sure: After an outstanding effort in San Jose, Eddie Lack will make his third straight start. And look who stopped by to say hello this morning:
Kesler ranks third in Ducks team scoring with 17 goals and 41 points—roughly the same rate of production that he put up last year with Vancouver, although he's scoring less goals. Perhaps most surprisingly, Kesler is one of just two Ducks to have played in all 67 games this season, along with Andrew Cogliano.
Kesler's currently playing on a line with new acquisition Tomas Fleischmann and Jakob Silfverberg. He has four points in his last five games but was pointless and a minus-three in Anaheim's last outing, a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last Friday.
In case you missed it,
Kesler spoke out about his move to Anaheim again last week on a website called
The Players' Tribune. He talks a bit about some of the unexpected emotions involved in moving away from Canada, but mostly about become buddies with the two guys he used to hate, Perry and Getzlaf. According to Kes, it's now nothing but sunshine and roses in the Anaheim locker room.
The Players' Tribune has been founded by baseball's Derek Jeter as a tool to get the players' voices directly out to the fans. It eliminates the middleman—the journalist—and as Kesler points out, it's a strictly comment-free zone.
The Canucks are trying for their first outright win against the Ducks in 12 tries—Anaheim is 9-0-2 in its last 11 meetings with Vancouver. It's a relatively light night in terms of scoreboard-watching, with only the San Jose Sharks playing, against Pittsburgh.
I'll give the final word today to Daniel Fung at
Canucks.com from his keys to the game. Touché.
Not everyone's a fan of Daylight Saving Time but maybe it can help the Canucks. Now that they're playing an hour ahead, perhaps they can skip the part of the game where they give up the first two goals and just pretend they're in battle back mode to start the game.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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