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Canucks will be without Quinn Hughes, Matthew Highmore as they resume play |
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Tuesday, February 8 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Arizona Coyotes - 7 p.m. PT
Wednesday, February 9 - Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Islanders - 7:30 p.m. PT
The Vancouver Canucks will be without Quinn Hughes and Matthew Highmore as they get back to work after the All-Star break, hosting the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night and the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
Both Hughes and Highmore are in Covid protocol. Apparently Hughes tested positive while he was in the U.S. — so he'll likely be unavailable for all three home games this week. I imagine the team will be able to collect him when heading down to San Jose for their road game against the Sharks on the 17th.
Noah Juulsen and Ashton Sautner were officially recalled from Abbotsford on Monday. And Kyle Burroughs is back from injury! So here's how the lines shook out at Tuesday's morning skate:
In other blue-line news, Travis Hamonic was also on the ice with the team on Tuesday, and Bruce Boudreau indicated to the media that he might be ready for game action in a week's time. Tucker Poolman's timeline is more nebulous. Apparently he's dealing with headaches and will be seeing a specialist.
Tuesday's game will be the first in a week for the Canucks, who closed out their five-game road trip on Feb. 1 with a 4-2 loss in Nashville.
As for Arizona, they're still in last place in the Western Conference standings and 31st overall (ahead of Montreal), and have lost seven of their last eight games. But their win came in the shootout against the mighty Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 1, and rookie Czech goalie Karel Vejmelka, who's expected to start against the Canucks, has been doing a pretty good job of keeping the puck out of the net, considering the team that he's on.
The Coyotes have been keeping a lot of their games pretty close. So this is far from a slam dunk for Vancouver — although having Thatcher Demko back in net certainly helps.
Arizona is last in the league in scoring, averaging just 2.18 goals per game, and last on the power play with a 12.6% conversion rate. But All-Star Clayton Keller had a fun weekend in Vegas, playing on a strong Central Division line with Kyle Connor and Jordan Kyrou. With 17 goals and 38 points in 45 games, Keller is having a career year, set to beat his 65-point high from his rookie season.
Of course, this will be the first time Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland face off against their old team. Both were drafted by the Coyotes — OEL, sixth overall in 2009 and Garland in the fifth round, at No. 123, in 2015.
Offensively, Ekman-Larsson's production is down from last season. After scoring in Nashville last week, he has matched his three goals in 46 games from last season. But he had 21 assists last year, compared to just six in 43 games so far this season. It'll be interesting to see if he's able to produce a bit more while Hughes is away from the team.
And Ekman-Larsson's value to the Canucks has come in other areas. His ice time is up by nearly two minutes a game, to an average of 22:46. He has already blocked more shots this year (41) than he did all of last season (26). His takeaways are up, his giveaways are down, his hits are also down a bit, and his penalty minutes are about the same.
As for Garland, his time in Vancouver got off to a good start, but he has tapered off since Boudreau came on the scene. He's pointless in his last six games, but got significant ice time in the last two games before the break — playing 17:06 in Chicago and 17:51 in Nashville when his full-season average is 16:19. His ice time this season has dropped by almost the same amount that OEL's has gone up — he was at 17:55 last year in Arizona.
With the Coyotes, he had 12 goals and 39 points in 49 games last year. This season, he's at 10 goals and 24 points so far, in 41 games. His last goal came on New Year's Day, in the 5-2 win over Seattle.
On the other side of the ledger, former Canuck Travis Boyd is having a good year with the Coyotes — fifth in team scoring with 10 goals and 20 points. Boyd signed a one-year free-agent deal in Arizona, worth $750,000, and often lines up as the team's first-line center.
Antoine Roussel is tracking pretty close to last season, still averaging just over 11 and a half minutes a game, and with three goals and five points in 37 games.
Loui Eriksson, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been less impactful. Playing out the last year of that monster contract he signed with Vancouver, he has one goal and nine points in 36 games. He's averaging 12:30 of ice time a game, but has been healthy scratched for seven of the Coyotes' last 14 games.
Jay Beagle had one goal in 21 games. He suffered a lower-body injury in late November, which has kept him out of all but two games since then. Beagle underwent core muscle surgery in early January, and is expected to be sidelined for at least two months.
Now, a quick look at the Islanders before I sign off for today. Their horrendous start still has them well outside the playoff picture — 17 points behind the Bruins, who are in the second wild-card spot in the East, although the Islanders do hold four games in hand.
And with all the game cancellations they've gone through, the Islanders are quite busy over the next three weeks. Their game in Vancouver on Wednesday night kicks off a three-in-four through Western Canada. All told, they'll play 10 games in 19 days starting Wednesday — five of which will be in the Pacific time zone, part of two separate road trips, and just two of which are at home.
The Islanders have made up some ground since they finally snapped their horrible losing streak in early December. Over their last 19 games, they're 11-7-1. They're another one of the four teams that scores less the Vancouver — averaging 2.36 goals per game, compared to the Canucks' 2.43. But true to their reputation, their defense is also a bit better, at 2.62 goals against compared to 2.67 for the Canucks.
Not surprisingly, Mat Barzal is their leading scorer, with 28 points. But Brock Nelson actually leads the Islanders with 14 goals and captain Anders Lee has 11, compared to Barzal's 10.
For the moment, the Islanders are pretty healthy. They're only missing Kyle Palmieri, who was also been added to the Covid protocol list after the All-Star break. He hasn't had a big impact on the team this season, with just seven points in 29 games.
Ilya Sorokin has been starting about two-third of the Islanders' games this year, so it's likely that he'll get the nod against Vancouver. His numbers are good — 13-8-5, with a .924 save percentage, 2.31 goals-against average, and four shutouts in his 26 starts.
Also — note the later start time. Wednesday's game is the back half of TNT's double-header coverage, so puck drop is set for 7:30.
That should get you up to date as we roll back into NHL game mode.
Enjoy the games!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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