Monday November 30 - Vancouver Canucks at Anaheim Ducks - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 24 GP, 9-8-7, 25 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 24 GP, 8-11-5, 21 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
We have a proverbial four-pointer on the schedule tonight in Anaheim. A regulation win for the Canucks would keep them six points clear of the Ducks, while a regulation loss would pull Anaheim within two points of Vancouver.
I know it's still early in the season, but the standings are packed so tight all around the league, I find the races quite compelling. When I submitted my weekly power rankings votes for Bleacher Report yesterday, I was surprised to notice that even though teams like Dallas, Washington, Boston, San Jose and Arizona have been on hot streaks in their last 10 games—all with records of 7-3-0 or better—no teams have been really terrible over the same stretch.
The only teams that have earned less than 10 points in their last 10 games are Winnipeg (3-7-0 for 6 points), Edmonton (3-5-2 for 8 points), Tampa Bay (4-5-1 for 9 points) and our two combatants tonight.
The Canucks and Ducks share identical 3-4-3 records in their last 10 games and have earned nine points each. And both teams picked up OTLs in their last game—the Canucks was a sort of victory after they came from behind to grab a point against the Stars in Dallas while Anaheim's was an abject disaster after they blew a 2-0 with less than two minutes left in the third period and ended up losing in overtime to Chicago.
So, the Ducks have certainly underperformed after having been tagged in many circles as Stanley Cup contenders this year, but it's not like the Canucks are enjoying a huge cushion of superiority at this point.
Here's how the Canucks lines shook out at practice in Anaheim on Sunday:
After drawing back in against the Stars, it looks like Sven Baertschi's headed back to the press box in favour of Jake Virtanen. In Dallas, Baertschi was the low man with just 8:10 of ice time, and took the weak tripping penalty on John Klingberg in the second period that led to the Stars' second power-play goal, by Jason Spezza.
Baertschi's last shift of the game ended with 6:40 left in the third as the Canucks drew the first of two penalties that eventually led to Henrik's tying goal. Once the Canucks had a grip on a point, that was the end of Baertschi's work for the night.
It makes sense to have Virtanen and his physical style in the lineup against the Ducks. He didn't play against Anaheim when the Canucks visited the Honda Center earlier in the season.
It's strange to realize that the Canucks' last game against a Pacific Division foe came all the way back on October 30, when they beat the Coyotes 4-3. This stat's pleasantly promising:
As for the blue line tonight:
Yes, Ben Hutton's back with the team!
But it doesn't sound like he'll immediately be parachuted back into the lineup.
Apparently Hutton's presence was required for the team's rookie dinner on Saturday night.
I wonder if Pedan was required to chip in? I'd say he's not technically a rookie yet since he still hasn't played his first NHL game, though I'm sure he'll appreciate a week of his base NHL salary of $700,000 on his end-of-November direct deposit instead of the $70,000 wage that he makes in the AHL.
Perhaps I'm naive, but with the current makeup of this team, I can't imagine that the rookie dinner indulgence was anything too excessive. Hopefully the boys will be feeling sharp and ready to go tonight.
As for our former boys, here's a quick update.
Kevin Bieksa continues to average over 22 minutes of ice time a game on Anaheim's top pairing but his defense partner has been switched from Hampus Lindholm to Cam Fowler, according to
Left Wing Lock. Bieksa has just three assists for the season, even though he's averaging 1:11 of power-play time per game. The Ducks are 16th in the league with the man advantage, at 19.1 percent, while Vancouver is now 11th at 20.4 percent.
Bieksa also plays a big role on the penalty kill which is tops in the NHL with an 87 percent success rate. Interesting, with the Canucks struggling this season—they're now all the way down to 24th (!) at 77.6 percent.
Bieksa's minus-9 in his last five games and minus-10 for the season but two players on the Ducks are worse. His partner, Fowler, and Ryan Kesler are both minus-11.
After a super-slow start, Kesler is starting to get in gear. Two of his three goals for the season have come in the past three games, and he picked up an assist against Chicago which means he's on a three-game point streak. His messy defensive play has also started to ease up—he's just minus-one in his last five games.
Click here to see a fired-up Kesler tangling with Jonathan Toews on Friday. Toews has really kicked up his truculence quota this year.
The Ducks have been getting by without starting goaltender Frederik Andersen for the past week or so, as he has been ill with the flu. John Gibson has gone 1-1-1 in Andersen's absence and is expected to start tonight.
Highly-touted defensive prospect Shea Theodore was recalled from San Diego by the Ducks on Sunday. It's his second recall of the year, but he has yet to get into a game.
That's the news for today. Buckle up—big game tonight!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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