Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Islanders - Monday March 10 - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, MSG Plus
Vancouver Canucks: 29-27-10, 68 points, 10th in Western Conference
New York Islanders: 24-33-9, 57 points, 14th in Eastern Conference
The Vancouver Canucks will be looking to try to string together two wins in a row for the first time since mid-January when they take on the New York Islanders on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
The last time the team accomplished this feat was actually the last time it faced Calgary: after John Tortorella's suspension, the team went into Edmonton and won 2-1 before falling into its pre-Olympic swoon.
Lately, the only teams the Canucks can beat are the ones they always beat: Calgary and St. Louis. The good news is that the Islanders also fall into this category. The Canucks squeaked out a 5-4 overtime win in an entertaining bout on Long Island during that first long eastern road trip back in October.
Another wide-open game like that would be welcomed by both the Canucks and their fans. The good news is that the Islanders are last in the league in goals against, allowing an average of 3.33 per game.
The Islanders haven't played since Friday night and are coming off losses to Calgary (4-3 in regulation) and Edmonton (3-2 in overtime).
It's disappointing that we won't get a chance to see John Tavares, who suffered a knee injury in Sochi, but we will see ex-Canuck Michael Grabner on the Isles' top line alongside Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo, who has 62 points in 65 games. Grabner's numbers aren't so lofty: he has 12 goals and 25 points in 62 games.
Zack Kassian will be out of the lineup as he serves the second game of his three-game suspension. A couple of other Canucks were shaken up during the Calgary game:
Burrows took a shot off his foot during one of the Canucks' late third-period penalty kills. I watched him rocking back and forth in pain on the bench, but he took a spin on the ice during the final TV timeout and was able to finish the game.
Torts has said that Burrows will play tonight, and that Eddie Lack will start in goal. Another chance for Burr to try to break his goose egg:
In another mark of stunning futility, Alex Edler is now minus-27 on the season. He's tied with Steve Ott for the second-worst ranking in the entire league, ahead only of Edmonton's Nail Yakupov at minus-30.
While we're on the topic of awful numbers, how 'bout this one:
So far this season, the Canucks have scored 150 goals in 66 games—29th in the league at an average of 2.27 goals per game.
In the team's entire 45-year franchise history, the lowest number of goals ever scored in a full season was 192 in 1998-99—the heart of the dead puck era and the rock bottom point after the 1994 team fell apart. The team finished with just 58 points that year—the last season before overtime points were introduced.
That rate of 192 goals over 82 games is equivalent to 2.34 goals per game—better than the scoring rate of our current team. This group is going to need to score 43 goals in its last 16 games—2.69 goals per game—if it wants to avoid being the Canucks' worst offensive group of all time.
There's no better place to start digging their way out of this hole than tonight against the Islanders.
General Managers Meetings:
Mike Gillis is probably glad to get out of town and spend a few days in Boca Raton at the annual General Managers' meetings. I wonder if Francesco's along on that trip as well?
The big topics for discussion this time around are ways to change overtime in hopes of ending more games before the shootout and increasing video review to include more game situations. Goalies will also get some attention, both in terms of tightening up goaltender interference calls and possibly adding a rule that would prohibit goalie fights such as Ray Emery's attack on Braden Holtby earlier this season.
Finally, the group will look at how the declining Canadian dollar will affect next season's salary cap. Losing 10 percent of the real value of Canadian income will have a definite effect on overall league revenues, which could mean that teams won't have as much cap space next season as had originally been projected.
Click here for more on the meetings, from TSN.ca.
The New HNIC Takes Shape:
Rogers Communications made its first big announcement about how it'll be assigning broadcast duties when it takes over national NHL coverage in Canada in 2014-15.
George Stromboulopoulos will be taking over the hosting duties on Hockey Night in Canada, while Ron MacLean will continue to work in concert with Don Cherry on Coach's Corner. Darren Millard and Jeff Marek have also been announced as cornerstones of Rogers coverage.
I'm surprised not to see Elliotte Friedman's name in this mix. Where will he end up?
Click here for the details of the announcement. You can also watch the live press conference on sportsnet.ca at 11 a.m. PT.
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