Let's see if this helps....
For what I believe is the first time this season, the Vancouver Canucks will be the more rested team as they open their four-game homestand against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena on Thursday.
The Canucks have come home after losing the last five games of their Eastern road trip — definitely a disappointing outcome after such a promising start in Winnipeg. For what I know is the first time this season, they have two days off between games. Tuesday was a full day of rest for the organization, and the team is on the ice for practice on Wednesday.
Monday night's effort against Toronto was better. The Canucks outshot the Leafs 32-19 — just the fourth game all season where they've outshot their opponents. And while they still didn't hold a lead at any point, they went into the third period in a 1-1 tie before being undone by two Toronto goals in the span of 11 seconds, midway through the final frame.
Auston Matthews gets so much hype that I tend to tune out the minute I hear his name, but I did wonder during this series whether the 23-year-old might be playing the best hockey of his career? I know you've heard about what's now an eight-game goal-scoring streak. He had five in three games against the Canucks, giving him a two-goal lead over McDavid, Toffoli ... and Boeser ... in the Rocket Richard race. He also scored the game winner in the last two games against the Canucks, giving him a ridiculous FIVE on the year already. That's two ahead of McDavid, Draisaitl and John Anderson, who are tied for second.
Keep in mind, the Canucks have only won six games in total so far this year. They're coming into this series against the Flames four games under .500 with a .375 points percentage, currently tied with L.A. for 28th overall in the NHL. Ugh.
The Canucks did a bit of housekeeping on Wednesday morning, putting Loui Eriksson back on waivers. His first waiver assignment came on Jan. 11, so I believe the 30-day exemption window has now expired and he needs to clear again in order to be assigned to the taxi squad – or, potentially, to Utica. Though he has only played in one game this season — last Saturday in Toronto — he has been on the main roster as a healthy scratch in 12 games so far.
Here's how the lines are rolling at Wednesday's practice. Looks like Eriksson has been assigned to skate with the taxi squadders:
The other roster item to note: tough as nails as always, Tyler Motte finished Saturday's game after getting tangled up with William Nylander, but didn't play Monday after being added to IR with a lower-body injury.
The play is in the second half of this GIF:
Injuries are part of the game in hockey, and that's especially true when you play like Motte. His 70 hits in 15 games lead the league — nine more than second-place Brady Tkachuk — and his five goals this season had him easily on pace to hit double-digits in scoring for the first time in his NHL career, picking up where he left off in the playoffs when he had four goals in 17 games.
It looks like his absence will give Justin Bailey a longer opportunity to stay in the main lineup. On Monday, he led all Canucks with five shots on goal and nine shot attempts, in 11:04 of ice time. That's exactly what the team needs out of him.
As far as what ails the Canucks and what they might do about it, Elliotte Friedman has some tidbits in Wednesday's new
31 Thoughts.
On the player front:
Sounds like Nashville is one of the teams interested in Vancouver’s Adam Gaudette. Boston was checking out Jake Virtanen, but I’m not sure where that stands. The Sharks poked around during the off-season.
After a bit of a slow start, Boston is now playing well. But Nashville and San Jose could certainly be looking to shake up their lineups. The Preds are right above the Canucks in the league standings with a 5-8-0 record, and general manager David Poile has been pretty open about the fact that he's hearing the fan unrest and knows that his job could be in jeopardy. The Sharks are at .500, with a 5-5-1 record, tied with Buffalo and Pittsburgh. That's, maybe, not too bad, considering how they finished last season. But they're currently seventh in the West Division by points percentage and sixth by actual points, so they're going to need to pick up the pace if they hope to make the playoffs.
Elliotte also floats some ideas about why the Canucks aren't clicking. I'm not sure I buy the notion that the players are put out that Travis Green doesn't have a new contract: If they want Green to be their coach going forward, playing terribly for him doesn't exactly help that cause.
I do think all the changes in personnel are a factor. And the combination of such a heavy schedule and a lack of opportunity to do the usual team-bonding things on the road due to Covid could also be issues.
Nashville has already had a closed-door team meeting. I wonder if something like that could help the Canucks.
As for the Vancouver's next opponents: the Flames knocked off the Jets in regulation on Tuesday night, so they're coming into Vancouver on a two-game winning streak — fourth in the North Division by points percentage and fifth by actual points, since they've only played 12 games.
The Flames aren't scoring a whole lot — they're just behind Vancouver in 16th place, at 2.92 goals per game. But they've gotta be happy that Johnny Gaudreau is tied with Elias Lindholm for the team scoring lead with 13 points — back to better than a point per game after a disappointing 2019-20 season that saw him finish with just 58 points in 70 games.
Defensively, they're also middle-of-the-pack, giving up 2.75 goals against per game while Vancouver ranks 30th at 3.94. Considering they play in the high-flying North Division, though, the Flames are doing pretty well defensively. Only Montreal and Toronto are better.
Of course, Calgary fans are quickly learning what we already knew — that Jacob Markstrom can be a difference maker. He has gone the distance in 10 of the Flames' 12 games so far, putting up a 6-3-1 record with a 2.50 GAA. That's better than the 2.75 he recorded in Vancouver last season, but his save percentage last year was .918 as a Canuck. It's a little lower so far in Calgary, at .916.
As for Chris Tanev, he and his defense partner Noah Hanifin lead the Flames in plus-minus at plus-four and plus-five, respectively. And while Tanev leads his team with 24 blocked shots, that's barely half of league leader Adam Larsson's 46 with Edmonton. Heck, even Tyler Myers has him beat at 28.
We shall see if a bit of a chance to re-set and spend time with family helps the Canucks get back onto a better track as the 2020-21 NHL season enters Month 2.
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