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Canucks return home after a pair of wins; World Junior prospect update |
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Saturday December 4 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins - 7 p.m.
Depending on your point of view, the Vancouver Canucks may have squandered their golden opportunity to clean house.
The Canucks closed out their latest road trip on a high note, building off a 2-1 win in Montreal on Monday by dusting the Ottawa Senators 6-2 on Wednesday night.
With four assists on the night, Quinn Hughes is up to 20 points in 23 games — one of seven defensemen in the league with 20 points or more. He's also at plus-four, which looks a lot better than the ugly minus number from last season which he was determined to put behind him.
Other players with strong nights in Ottawa included J.T. Miller, whose three points give him a team-leading 23 for the year, Conor Garland, who added two assists to move to 18 points, and Luke Schenn, who's taking advantage of his ice time with Hughes and picked up a goal and an assist.
And don't discount the win too much because it came against the NHL's last-place team. On Thursday, one night after getting blown out by Vancouver, the Sens rebounded to beat one of the league's best teams, the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2.
So, as the weather finally calms down for a minute in the lower mainland, so does the noise around the team. The question now is whether they'll be able to keep the good vibes going during their December schedule, which features 10 home games.
And the first opponent is a doozy — the Pittsburgh Penguins, who handed Vancouver a disheartening 4-1 road loss barely a week ago, on Nov. 24.
But while that game was part of a hot streak for the Penguins and Tristan Jarry, the club is 0-1-1 on their current road trip so far — dropping a 2-1 shootout decision in Calgary on Monday before getting blown out 5-2 in Edmonton on Wednesday, thanks to a four-point night from Connor McDavid.
Is that a turn of the tide that could mean a better outcome for the Canucks? Or was that just one of those 'McDavid will not be denied' events?
With any luck, the two wins for Vancouver have helped the team's collective confidence and will give players something to build off. Though they're still stuck in 28th place in the league standings as of Friday morning, a lot of teams are bunched quite closely together. This homestand does offer some opportunity for upward mobility if they can string some wins together.
I'm also starting to wonder if we're going to see more volatility in the standings than usual this year. The impact of Covid-19, in many ways, is even stronger than last year, with a near-daily churn of players and coaches being placed in protocol and not even a taxi squad available to help fill the holes.
The Sharks survived their outbreak unexpectedly well, and are continuing to play some pretty decent hockey. The Sens and the Islanders were not so lucky, but certainly aren't as bad as their recent records indicate. Now the Hurricanes have uncharacteristically lost three in a row, and it's probably no coincidence that this dip is happening while they have half their regular defense on the Covid list — Brett Pesce, Tony DeAngelo and Ethan Bear. Our old pal Jalen Chatfield has played second-pair minutes in Carolina's last two games.
Of course, Covid has not been a factor for the Canucks yet this season — knock on wood. And while we haven't seen much of a churn of injured players this season, Vancouver still occupies a prominent position on the Man Games Lost graph.
Here's how the Canucks are rolling at practice on Friday. Travis Green confirmed after the session that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is taking a maintenance day.
I suppose the Canucks' recent success also means that it's unlikely we'll see any call-ups from Abbotsford in the near future. I'd like to see Will Lockwood get a look at some point, now that he's back from injury. Skating as a fill-in on defense on Friday, Juho Lammikko could find himself earmarked for AHL assignment at some point.
Finally, a quick word about prospects, with World Junior camp rosters starting to be released.
The most intriguing name for Canucks fans is Jacob Truscott, the U.S. defenseman who has been skating as Luke Hughes' partner at Michigan this season.
Truscott had a good summer camp and I would think his regular partnership with Hughes — who got all the height in his family and is already 6'2" — should also help his chances.
Other names to keep an eye on:
Dmitry Zlodeyev - Russia - Vancouver's 2020 sixth-round pick, Zlodeyev has been shuffling between leagues, as one does in Russia, and has gotten into two KHL games with Spartak Moscow.
Joni Jurmo - Finland - I haven't seen a preliminary roster yet for Finland, but my understanding is that Jurmo will be on the bubble to make the team. He was not named to the Finns' squad for the Four Nations tournament in November, but did play three games for the U20 team in a series against the Czech Republic, where he picked up two points. Jurmo is having a better season this year in Finland's Liiga, with seven points in 23 games for Jukurit, which is in the middle of the league standings.
Out in Abbotsford, there's also more AHL action this weekend. Fresh off a pair of one-goal mid-week wins over the Ontario Reign, the Canucks will host the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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