Thursday November 29 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 27 GP, 11-13-3, 25 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Vegas Golden Knights: 26 GP, 13-12-1, 27 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks will wrap up a November to Forget as they look for just their fourth win in the calendar month when they host the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.
The Canucks came out of the gate strong with a solid 8-6-0 showing in October but injuries had taken a toll by Halloween. This month, they're 3-7-3, with nine points in 13 games, as they head into Thursday's contest.
Here's how the lines look at the morning skate.
After his stealth appearance selling 50/50 tickets, it looks like Jay Beagle is getting close to returning from his broken arm—skating with the team as an extra forward for the first time since he was injured on October 13, just under seven weeks ago.
Though he was injured in just his fifth game with the Canucks, his stock seems to have risen since he has been sidelined. It has been crystal clear that the team has taken a big hit defensively without Beagle and Brandon Sutter on face-off and penalty-killing duties.
After he was a surprise scratch against L.A. on Tuesday, it's nice to see that Erik Gudbranson is skating, although he won't play against Vegas.
Even though the Canucks are still missing four regulars, it's nice to see the group starting to get healthy again, especially when they'll have an extended stretch of time at home this month. This chart is a few days old but over eight years, the trend is clear:
As for Vegas, they have dealt with their fair share of injuries during their brief history, but are also getting healthier—and moving up standings accordingly.
The Golden Knights roll into Vancouver riding a four-game winning streak—and have scored 14 goals in their last two games, against San Jose and Chicago. Max Pacioretty has caught fire over the last two weeks, with six goals and five assists in his last eight games. Alex Tuch has 19 points in 18 games since joining the team after an early-season injury caused him to miss the first eight games, and Cody Eakin is tied with Jonathan Marchessault for the team lead in goals: both players have 10.
Yes—Pacioretty, Tuch and Eakin have been playing together on Vegas' new-look second line.
So even without free-agent acquisition Paul Stastny, who appeared in just three games before suffering a lower-body injury, and Erik Haula, who suffered a gruesome knee injury on November 6, the Golden Knights are getting balanced scoring—and plenty of it. After languishing near the bottom of the league offensively at the beginning of the season, they've just passed Vancouver to move into 20th overall with 2.92 goals per game. The Canucks are at 2.85.
The Golden Knights' return to form has corresponded with defenseman Nate Schmidt's return from his 20-game PED suspension. He's averaging 21 minutes a game on the blue line in his six games so far this season, and Vegas is 5-1-0 in those six games.
Marc-Andre Fleury's game is also rounding into form. He has given up just 12 goals in his last seven starts, and has three shutouts during that stretch to give him a league-leading five already this season—in just 22 games. Fleury's 13 wins also rank him second in the league, one behind Toronto's Freddy Andersen.
The matchup in net is expected to be Fleury vs. Markstrom tonight.
I still have the occasional nightmare about that first-ever preseason game for the Golden Knights last season, when this completely unknown entity rolled into Rogers Arena and had me scrambling to keep up with all the stats as they smacked the Canucks 9-4 on September 17, 2017. I feel like the stage could be set for a similar outburst tonight; hopefully the Canucks are up to the task.
To wrap up today—maybe he's just trying to make sure that he gets a warm welcome when he heads out our way for World Juniors at Christmastime, but Corey Pronman of The Athletic has featured a couple of Canucks prominently a couple of recent 're-assessment' articles.
First off—Elias Pettersson toplines this story.
Pronman explains why he was lukewarm on Petey, and what has since made him come around.
And for the 2018 draft class, he gives some love to Canucks' third-round pick Tyler Madden.
Pronman has now re-classified Madden from a 'depth prospect' to a 'legit NHL prospect' thanks to his impressive start at Northeastern, where the freshman is tied for third in team scoring with 5-5-10 in 12 games and earning power-play time from coach Jim Madigan.
I saw Madden at the Canucks' Summer Showdown game at the end of development camp in July. He is definitely on the small side, listed this year at 5'11" and just 150 pounds. But his skills and hockey sense seemed impressive—and have translated well to the NCAA level.
In a college setting, with a more limited schedule than he'd face in major junior, Madden should get some time in the weight room to start adding bulk to his lean frame. It's exciting to see him showing this level of potential so early on.
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Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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