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Canucks trying to build off Thursday's win as red-hot Penguins come to town |
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Saturday December 21 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins - 7 p.m. - CBC, Sportsnet, CityTV, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 36 GP, 17-15-4, 38 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Pittsburgh Penguins: 35 GP, 21-10-4, 46 pts, fourth in Metropolitan Division
On Thursday, the Vancouver Canucks avenged their embarrassing loss in Vegas four days earlier with a 5-4 overtime win. On Saturday, they'll get a chance to erase the memory of the third-period collapse that led to the 8-6 defeat last month in Pittsburgh when the face the Penguins for the second and final time this season.
The Penguins are in the midst of a four-game road trip but their holiday break starts after the game against Vancouver on Saturday. They'll then have a five-day break before getting back to work in Nashville on December 27. They're riding a four-game winning streak into Saturday's contest, recording a 1-0 overtime win over Columbus and a 5-4 shootout victory of L.A. at home last week before dispatching Calgary on Tuesday by a score of 4-1 and beating Edmonton 5-2 on Friday.
Tied for sixth overall in the NHL standings heading into Saturday's action, the Penguins are winning even though they've been hammered by injuries this season.
They're the big green bubble on the right side of the graph. The size of the bubble shows the importance of the players that they've lost — and really only compares to Colorado. But in terms of straight man-games lost, they're not all that far ahead of Vancouver.
Heading into Saturday's game, just six players have appeared in all 35 Pittsburgh games this season: Jake Guentzel, who leads the team in scoring with 36 points, plus Brandon Tanev (17 points), Dominik Simon (13 points), Marcus Pettersson (13 points), Teddy Blueger (10 points) and Zach Aston-Reese (9 points).
Currently on the shelf: Sidney Crosby, recovering from core-muscle surgery, plus forwards Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bjugstad, and defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz.
With those lineup holes, here's how they rolled in Edmonton on Friday.
Despite having recently won two Stanley Cups and making trades to boost their roster to stay competitive in the present, Jim Rutherford's Pens have an amazing knack for finding players who can elevate their games when they're forced into bigger roles. Jake Guentzel was that guy for awhile, but I think he's been doing it for so long that now he has to be considered a legitimate first-liner.
Here are four of this year's breakout players for Pittsburgh:
• Bryan Rust — who had 35 points last year and 38 the season before, but currently sits at 13-12-25 in 21 games and is on pace for 81 points this year.
• Brandon Tanev — who's building off his career high of 29 points with Winnipeg last season, on pace for close to 40 points this year. That's pretty good value for the $3.5 million a year that the Penguins gave him in free agency on July 1.
• John Marino — a sixth-round draft choice by Edmonton in 2015, Marino spent three years at Harvard before the Oilers — who are perpetually in need of defensemen — dumped him to the Penguins for a sixth-round pick in 2021.
Maybe Marino indicated that he was planning to play his fourth year of college hockey, then test NHL free agency? Whatever the reason, the cap-strapped Pens were able to sign him to a deal with a $925,000 cap hit and insert him straight into their lineup.
In 33 games, the 22-year-old righty has 15 points — second among Pittsburgh defensemen behind Kris Letang — and is a plus-14. He's playing 20:10 a night — the same as Cale Makar — and is fourth in scoring among rookie defenseman. Marino's strong early-season play is what make Erik Gudbransson expendable from Pittsburgh. If the Pens continue to play as well as they have, he might end up being a stealth candidate for the Calder.
• Jared McCann — who combined for 19 goals and 35 points between Florida and Pittsburgh last year. This season, he's at 10-10-20 in 33 games, which projects to 24-24-48 for the year.
As he returns to Vancouver, The Athletic's Rob Rossi wrote about how McCann, now 23, has grown as a player since getting a real opportunity to contribute offensively once he arrived in Pittsburgh.
FYI, McCann scored the game-winner on a breakaway in Edmonton on Friday — his third game-winning goal of the year.
Tristan Jarry got the win in Edmonton on Friday, so it's expected that Matt Murray will start against the Canucks. This season, Murray's 10-5-4, but has just an .897 save percentage and 2.85 goals-against average. In his career, he's 2-2-0 in five games played against the Canucks. He got the start in Pittsburgh last month, but was pulled after giving up four goals on 14 shots, leaving Jarry to come in and backstop the comeback for the win.
Jarry has basically taken over the No. 1 role through the Pens' recent hot streak. Murray's last start came two weeks ago, when the Pens beat the Red Wings 5-3.
As for the Canucks — it looks like Travis Green's only lineup change will be substituting Loui Eriksson in for the injured Josh Leivo.
No sign of Brandon Sutter, but both Alex Edler and Thatcher Demko are on the ice with the group.
That's the first Demko sighting since he suffered his concussion on December 12, so that's a great sign that he's making strides in his recovery. After the holiday, the Canucks play back-to-back games on December 28 — at home against the Kings — and on the road in the 29th, in Calgary. It'd be great if Demko's ready in time to take one of those contests.
Edler has also been skating for the better part of a week now, but it's unlikely that he'll draw back into the lineup until he's had a full practice — which should come on Sunday.
Here's the latest rundown of the walking wounded — including at least a couple of months on the shelf for Josh Leivo, who has now been diagnosed with a fractured kneecap.
That's a terrible blow for Leivo, who had been playing some great hockey lately, who had just hit a career high with his 19th point of the year against Vegas on Thursday, and who's on his way to unrestricted free agency on July 1.
One other note before I sign off today — I missed this report earlier in the week. Harman Dayal spoke to Russian hockey reporter Igor Eronko about Vasili Podkolzin — and to Podkolzin himself, with Eronko translating. He was told that the young Canucks prospect is determined to get to North America as soon as possible.
There has been plenty of frustration about Podkolzin's lack of quality playing time with SKA St. Petersburg this season, but he's keeping a positive attitude — on the surface, at least.
“I’m playing with men, and that changes a lot,” Podkolzin told The Athletic via Eronko, who acted as translator. “Adult league, no one will forgive you for any mistake you do. As I see it, I’m going forward to the (competition) level I have to be at. I know I only played some seconds in the KHL, but I practised with them. And that’s quite a team, it’s very useful.”
Eronko also told Dayal that Podkolzin is aspiring to be Team Russia's best defensive forward at the upcoming World Junior Championship — and that he rejected the five-year extension that was offered to him by SKA on draft day, less than an hour before his name was called.
“He doesn’t want to sign any extension, he wants to play for the Canucks,” Eronko said. “He’s excited to play with Elias Pettersson, but he knows he has to earn it to play with him. He knows a lot about the team.”
He still won't land until the fall of 2021, just in time for the Seattle rivalry to begin. But it'll be fun to see how he does for Russia starting next week, when World Juniors gets underway.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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