★[GDT] Vancouver Canucks vs Minnesota Wild • Feb 19, 2024

[Jaimito]

#1 Nux 37-13-6

#21 Wild 25-23-6

 

Nux last 10:

6-2-2 loss 1

 

Wild 7-2-1 OTL

 

Season series both teams won at home. 

 

Nux are 1-0-1 vs Wild. 

 

 

 

Wild and Avalanche for Back-to-Back Road Games Launch Canucks' Busy Week

Petey vs Wild

By Chris Faber

February 18, 2024

 

The Vancouver Canucks hit the road in search of more wins with three games in four nights including a back-to-back against the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche on Monday morning and Tuesday evening.

 

With their 18 road wins on the season, the Canucks rank second in the league for picking up victories away from home and are looking to continue to pick up points in other buildings aside from Rogers Arena.

 

Monday’s game is an 11:00 am PT start time with the Family Day holiday in British Columbia and Presidents’ Day down in the United States. The Wild and Canucks both saw a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night. The Wild fell to the Buffalo Sabres on home ice via a 3-2 overtime loss. On the season, the Wild hold a 25-23-6 record and are four points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

 

This will be the third and final matchup of the season between the Canucks and the Wild. Casey DeSmith picked up a 26-save shutout on December 7th in a 2-0 victory. The Canucks fell to the Wild 2-1 in a shootout on December 16th. If the upcoming game resembles the prior two, we should expect another defensive battle between these two clubs.

 

Offensively, the Wild are led by Kirill Kaprizov, who has 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points in 47 games this season. Kaprisov joins Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the top line and that trio has been very successful this season. All three players on the top line have 40 or more points and the trio has been on the ice for 15 goals scored and just six goals against.

 

On defence, rookie Brock Faber currently sits second to Connor Bedard in rookie scoring – he’s picked up four goals and 29 assists this year and is averaging a whopping 25:05 per night. He has been efficient on the first power play unit and will see time with Jonas Brodin as the top defence pairing for penalty killing.

 

Between the pipes, Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury are in a 1A-1B situation with Gustavsson picking up 31 starts to Fleury's 22. The duo has save percentages right around .900 but Gustavsson has picked up a couple of shutouts this season and Fleury has one of his own.

 

Quick Hits on the Competition (MIN):

 

Joel Eriksson Ek will be shooting the puck and he will be doing it often. Eriksson Ek leads the Wild with 199 shots on net this season and he also leads the Wild in power play goals with 10.

 

Speaking of the power play, the Wild sit 17th in the league with a 20.7% conversion rate.  

 

On the other end of the special teams, the Wild have the 28th-ranked penalty kill and are clicking at 75.1%.

 

The Wild are still without their captain Jared Spurgeon, who is out with a left hip and back injury.

 

Joining Faber in the youth movement are Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi. Both are 22-year-old forwards who have found their scoring touch this season. Boldy has 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points while Rossi has picked up 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points this season.

 

Getting back to the Canucks, the pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek continues to be a top-tier defence duo in the league. Through 56 games, the pairing has been on the ice for 60 goals scored and only 32 goals against. That gives them a 65.2% control of the goal share at five-on-five and no pairing is really close to being on the ice for as many goals scored. The next closest is the pairing of Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin, who have been on the ice for 44 goals scored at five-on-five.

 

It’s more than likely that we will see Casey DeSmith get back into game action over one of these two games, the Canucks’ backup has a 7-3-5 record this season and continues to pick up points for the team in his starts.

 

J.T. Miller has been all over the scoresheet this season but we haven’t really spent much time talking about his faceoff prowess. He’s now up to seventh in the league for faceoff attempts and holds a 54.9% winning percentage in the dot.

 

Quietly, over his past 10 games, Sam Lafferty has been effective in his own zone. Lafferty has not been on the ice for a five-on-five goal against in 10 games and his fourth-line linemate Nils Aman has only been on the ice for one goal against over his last 10. The fourth line is doing their job of winning the night at five-on-five over the last few weeks.

 

Canucks’ Top Performers over Last Five:

 

Elias Pettersson: 1g-6a-7p

Filip Hronek: 1g-4a-5p

Conor Garland: 3g-1a-4p

Nils Höglander: 3g-1a-4p

Elias Lindholm: 2g-1a-3p

 

Monday’s 11:00 am start will be the second-last early start for the Canucks this season. They will have a 12:30 pm PT start on Sunday, March 31st but aside from that game, the earliest remaining start of the season will be 4:00 pm PT.

 

Both games can be viewed on Sportsnet or listened to on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.

 

A final friendly reminder for times before we get out of here:

 

Monday is an 11:00 am PT start.

Tuesday is a 6:00 pm PT start.

 

[Jaimito]

Batch is on paternity leave. 

 

 

[Rip The Mesh]

 

       

                                          Round Two ?                             

[canuck73_3]

Hopefully the new addition brings good luck 

 

 

[Bure10Kuzmenko96]

Just win these next two games please!

[27 Percent]

Need the power play to do something for a change.

[Rip The Mesh]

The Vancouver Canucks open a quick three game road trip with a matinee in Minnesota when they face the Wild in an 11am Pacific time puck drop. The President’s Day holiday in the United States is the reason for the early start.

The Canucks will be looking to rebound from a 4-2 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday. Noah Juulsen and Tyler Myers scored the Vancouver goals. The Canucks remain atop the overall standings, but have won five of their last nine games (5-2-2) and are 4-2-1 in seven games since the All Star break.

Many of the players that represented the team at the All Star weekend in Toronto have struggled to find their offensive form since the break. Brock Boeser has gone seven games without a goal, JT Miller has gone seven games without an assist, Elias Pettersson has one goal in his last seven games and Quinn Hughes has just two assists in his last six games

The Vancouver Canucks open a quick three game road trip with a matinee in Minnesota when they face the Wild in an 11am Pacific time puck drop. The President’s Day holiday in the United States is the reason for the early start.

The Canucks will be looking to rebound from a 4-2 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday. Noah Juulsen and Tyler Myers scored the Vancouver goals. The Canucks remain atop the overall standings, but have won five of their last nine games (5-2-2) and are 4-2-1 in seven games since the All Star break.

Many of the players that represented the team at the All Star weekend in Toronto have struggled to find their offensive form since the break. Brock Boeser has gone seven games without a goal, JT Miller has gone seven games without an assist, Elias Pettersson has one goal in his last seven games and Quinn Hughes has just two assists in his last six games. /

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[HKSR]

8 hours ago, Rip The Mesh said:

 

       

                                          Round Two ?                             

Yup, could really use Maroon to help us into round 2.

[Jim McMahon]

Can’t wait for a 2-1 SOL. I hate matinees.  Canucks need to go back to the basics. Injuries suck right now as our most important depth pieces are out for a while. Last game the Canucks got waaaayy ahead of themselves and got caught chasing the play towards the end of the 3rd. Big hits are nice and all, but if you get caught out of position to make a big hit, your ass is on the bench. I want to say it’s gonna be a 5-1 Vancouver win but the Canucks always seem to struggle in early morning games . 

[Reg]

it's easy to say this is an important game, so I'll say it, this is an important game. Because the boys haven't been playing as well as they can winning today will be a key to regain momentum. It seems some players haven't found consistency in their game and that is critical for a long run in the playoffs. GCG!

[Rip The Mesh]

Chief among the players that are helping make Tocchet look good is J.T. Miller, who has 24 goals and 70 points in 56 games with the Canucks so far. At the moment, he is tied for ninth in the league in points.

The two threads that tie each other together are their fiery personalities and desire to win. Both Tocchet and Miller aren’t afraid to let people know what they really think and it’s this dynamic that makes them an interesting pair.

Miller appeared on Hockey Night in Canada’s After Hours segment with Scott Oake following Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets where he opened up about his relationship with Tocchet.

“[Tocchet] has done so much for me,” Miller started. “Toch and I, we have a really honest relationship. Sometimes it’s not pretty but I’m okay and comfortable in that environment and I’m still learning.

 

Edited February 19, 2024 by Rip The Mesh

[gwarrior]

At least I'm not working today, but another early start? Whoever made this schedule needs to be slapped upside the head.

[Captain Hughes]

4-2 canucks. I score the winner 

[Canuck You]

[-dlc-]

10 hours ago, Jaimito said:

Batch is on paternity leave. 

 

 

I really enjoy Dan and the others at 650 (Sat's my favourite).

 

Looking forward to it. 

 

Morning games are great for me (get stuff done afterward) but we'll see how the team fares. Hoping they get a better set of officials and a fair shake at things. Last game messed with them mentally and they bought in and lost focus. 

 

All business this game.

[Nucker67]

25 minutes ago, Jim McMahon said:

Can’t wait for a 2-1 SOL. I hate matinees.  Canucks need to go back to the basics. Injuries suck right now as our most important depth pieces are out for a while. Last game the Canucks got waaaayy ahead of themselves and got caught chasing the play towards the end of the 3rd. Big hits are nice and all, but if you get caught out of position to make a big hit, your ass is on the bench. I want to say it’s gonna be a 5-1 Vancouver win but the Canucks always seem to struggle in early morning games . 

 

Yes, but the L will be a learning experience, as they like to say  

 

 

[-dlc-]

31 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

Chief among the players that are helping make Tocchet look good is J.T. Miller, who has 24 goals and 70 points in 56 games with the Canucks so far. At the moment, he is tied for ninth in the league in points.

The two threads that tie each other together are their fiery personalities and desire to win. Both Tocchet and Miller aren’t afraid to let people know what they really think and it’s this dynamic that makes them an interesting pair.

Miller appeared on Hockey Night in Canada’s After Hours segment with Scott Oake following Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets where he opened up about his relationship with Tocchet.

“[Tocchet] has done so much for me,” Miller started. “Toch and I, we have a really honest relationship. Sometimes it’s not pretty but I’m okay and comfortable in that environment and I’m still learning.

 

I really like the raw honesty that both of these guys bring.

 

No beating around the bush, just straight up good communication. 

Love Tocchet, he brings a good balance of coaching and listening....gets feedback and info from his players that helps him do his job. Not all coaches are open to that. Ego can get in the way..."I'm the coach" stuff of authority (mongering). Bruce was maybe too good a guy....less coach, more friend. Loved him, but Tocch's giving them some good structure and tools for the toolbox.

[Breadnbutta]

Another early game.

 

Go Canucks Go!!

[-dlc-]

So I think I told y'all that I sent a Karen email about how they treated my friend in a wheelchair and I.

 

I said (and meant) I didn't want anything...tickets, etc. Just to bring it to their attention to clean this stuff up. They still responded with "we want to give you a g/c for food and drink at your next game". I just got it....$25. OK, we'll split a beer, thanks. LOL

 

 

[Canuck You]

[Rip The Mesh]

 

[-dlc-]

Too bad, I feel we really need 7 and 81 to be the best we can be.

 

Joshua's a real heart and soul player...quickly becoming a favourite.

[Canuckfanforlife82]

Man this is a terrible schedule. I didn’t realize we play tomorrow against a rested Colorado team. We almost have to win today because I can’t see them winning being tired tomorrow. At least it’s early today and later tomorrow but come on NHL. Do you actually like your players this year?

[Canuckfanforlife82]

51 minutes ago, gwarrior said:

At least I'm not working today, but another early start? Whoever made this schedule needs to be slapped upside the head.

Yep it’s not good. This after a two game homestand and the team was excited to be back. lol. Hi and bye to families. At least they have a nine game homestand coming up.

Edited February 19, 2024 by Canuckfanforlife82

[Rip The Mesh]