Share this Story: Canucks week ahead: Here's looking at home cooking
Canucks week ahead: Here's looking at home cooking
The Vancouver Canucks' playoff hopes are flickering. They play almost exclusively at home between now and Christmas, so it's now or never to make up ground in any post-season pursuit
Patrick Johnston
Dec 02, 2021 • December 2, 2021 • 4 minute read • Join the conversation
Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes, who is the third highest scoring defenceman in the NHL, will get a chance to wheel and deal against the Pittsburgh Penguins again when they come calling on Saturday at Rogers Arena. Photo by Charles LeClaire /USA TODAY Sports files
After winning the last two games of their recent road trip — albeit against two poor opponents in the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators — the Vancouver Canucks are now home for a long stretch, with just two games on the road, both single games in San Jose, between now and Christmas.
Here's a look at the week to come:
Canucks week ahead: Here's looking at home cooking Back to video
The players still believe. Of course they do. What else are they going to do? Getting two wins this week will surely boost their confidence, though it's hard to ignore that the Canadiens and Senators are two of the league's worst teams.
On the whole, the Canucks have been defending better but still aren't creating a whole lot on offence. They're in with a chance to win most nights, but when you're playing break-even hockey, rarely are they going to be the favourites, even at home. One-goal games have been proven to be equivalent to coin flips, so you could go on a run but it's most likely an illusion in the big picture. You'll see those consecutive wins get balanced out by a run of losses at some point.
That said, their playoff chances are still faintly alive: HockeyViz.com says they have an 8.4 per cent chance of making the dance.
To get there, they need to go on a run and sustain it, not just backslide into a string of losses.
The opponents
After two days off to recuperate from their five-game road trip, the Canucks get back into action Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins .
The Canucks, you remember, put in a miserable performance in Pittsburgh last week, one of their weakest of the season.
Pittsburgh has, however, lost three straight and are back to the struggles that have plagued them at times this season.
Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers lays the lumber on Boston Bruin Tomas Nosek during last Sunday's game in Boston. The Bruins visit Rogers Arena on Wednesday. Photo by Michael Dwyer /The Associated Press files
Then on Monday, the Canucks will host the Los Angeles Kings , who got off to a surprising start but have, as of this writing, lost six of their last seven. L.A. hosts the Flames Thursday night, then heads to Edmonton for a game Sunday before playing the Canucks in Vancouver a night later.
A couple weeks ago this looked like a much tougher test. The Kings have a lot of interesting young players, but Anze Kopitar remains their engine. Oh, and this will be the first time Alex Edler faces his old team — and the veteran defenceman is still searching for his 100th career NHL goal.
Then next Wednesday the Canucks host the Boston Bruins , who they collapsed against in the third period last Sunday in a 3-2 loss. The Bruins will come into that game relatively rested, as they don't have a game between this coming Saturday — at home vs. Tampa Bay — and their first visit to Rogers Arena since the Canucks hammered them 9-3 in February 2020.
Stock rising
Quinn Hughes : The Canucks' No. 1 defenceman may not have a regular, reliable partner — where are you, Travis Hamonic? — but he's been excellent of late.
Early in the year he was having defensive issues, but for the last month the Canucks have been dominating play while he's on the ice. It's a small bright spot in what's been a dark time so far.
Hughes is the third-highest scoring defenceman in the league right now, with 20 points in 23 games, behind only Adam Fox and John Carlson.
Juho Lammikko, acquired just before the season started in part to help address the penalty kill, has been consigned to the press box of late. Photo by Rich Lam /Getty Images files
Stock falling
Juho Lammikko: Honourable mention goes to Elias Pettersson here, who has played third-line minutes in four of his last five games. But we picked Pettersson in this space last week and he did score on Monday in Montreal. Lammikko, on the other hand, isn't even playing, as head coach Travis Green has opted to shift J.T. Miller back to centre and deploy Jason Dickinson as his fourth centre.
The lanky Finn was acquired for busted prospect Olli Juolevi on the eve of the season and was meant to help the penalty kill, but we've seen how badly that's gone and he has no offensive influence to speak of, so to the rafters he's gone.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vancouver Canucks
7 p.m., Rogers Arena, TV: CBC, Sportsnet Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650
"Will Boeser see his ice time decreased like Pettersson has?" — Andy P., Burnaby.
It's been remarkable to see Pettersson leaned on way less than in the past, with obvious intent. It's both about Travis Green going with the hot hands in Miller and Horvat — also that they're much better at faceoffs — as it is about simply trying to get Pettersson out of the spotlight and let him find his game with less pressure placed upon him.
As for Boeser, a week ago he was in a real rough patch. Not much positive was happening with him on the ice. But over the past four games, he's back to creating things.
You'd still like to see more, but it's progress.
And in the end that's what counts. He's very much in a trust-the-process mode at the moment. The goals should come; if they don't, it will be time to really worry.
pjohnston@postmedia.com
twitter.com/risingaction
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