Thursday December 19 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 35 GP, 16-15-4, 36 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Vegas Golden Knights: 37 GP, 19-13-5, second in Pacific Division
Just four days after their 6-3 loss in Las Vegas on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks will be looking for the first win of their holiday homestand when they host the Golden Knights on Thursday night at Rogers Arena.
The busiest part of their December schedule is now in the books, but Travis Green is letting his team breathe a bit before the game. Thursday's game-day skate is optional.
Nice to see Alex Edler back with the group, one day after he took to the ice on his own. Hopefully that upper-body injury won't keep him sidelined too much longer.
The Canucks are now 3-5-0 in the eight games that Edler has been out of the lineup. His replacement, Oscar Fantenberg, is a plus-three since stepping in for his first action in a Canucks uniform. He had his first minus game against Montreal on Tuesday, on the ice for the Habs' one even-strength goal, and saw his ice time drop to 14:50. He has been just fine while Edler has been out, but the overall trickle-down effect on the defense has been noticeable, as everybody has to do more when Edler is absent.
Even though he plays on the opposite side, Tyler Myers has seen his ice time tick up, particularly since he's filling Edler's role on the second power-play unit. He has had some noticeable defensive gaffes, but has also seen his offense increase. Four of his eight points this season have come since Edler went down, and he's riding a two-game power-play point streak into Thursday's contest.
Over on the left side, Quinn Hughes has also seen his minutes increase. He played a career-high 28:04 against Montreal on Tuesday — just three days after setting his previous high of 27:00 in San Jose. Hughes is averaging 21:15 for the season but since Edler went down, he's at 24:11 in the month of December — easily leading all rookies and all Canucks, and 14th in the entire NHL, ahead of defensive stalwarts like Alex Pietrangelo (23:57), John Carlson (23:44) and Victor Hedman (23:42). As usual, Ryan Suter leads the race with an average of 27:11 per game.
Hughes was also pressed into service as the elf at the Canucks' annual family skate on Wednesday, while Mikey DiPietro got to decide who's been naughty and nice.
World Junior foes here in Vancouver last year, I wonder if these two ever imagined this is where they'd be, just one year later?
With no new line rushes to work off, here's a reminder of how the lines looked at practice on Wednesday, when Green went back to a more typical deployment after his juggling act against Montreal.
Though Jacob Markstrom didn't practice Wednesday or hit the ice on Thursday morning, that was about getting him some rest. He will start against Vegas.
Three games after returning to the lineup from his groin injury, Brandon Sutter is also back on the shelf. Tim Schaller will bring some fresh legs, drawing in after being scratched for the last two games.
As for Vegas, after easily dispatching the Canucks on Sunday, they went on to beat Minnesota 3-2 on Tuesday and extend their current winning streak to three games. After Thursday's game, they'll have two days off before finishing their holiday schedule with two tough games — a visit to their rivals in San Jose on Sunday, then hosting Colorado on Monday.
After his four-point night against Vancouver on Sunday, Max Pacioretty was named the NHL's First Star for the week ending December 15, as he led all skaters with eight points in four games. He added another assist against Minnesota, so with 35 points in 37 games, he's now tied with Elias Pettersson, Andrei Svechnikov and Nikita Kucherov for 14th place in the NHL scoring race — although Petey has played two fewer games.
Pacioretty (5-4-9) and his teammate Mark Stone (1-7-8) are both currently riding five-game point streaks.
Once again, expect to see Marc-Andre Fleury in net for the Golden Knights. Here's a sobering stat about 35-year-old Flower, who is now in his 16th NHL season:
Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650 pointed out on Twitter on Wednesday that Vancouver hasn't gotten a regulation win off Fleury since January 16, 2006 — when Alex Auld earned the win for the Canucks.
All time, Fleury is a very impressive 15-2-1 against Vancouver.
There's nothing comfortable about asking hockey players about losing streaks — although, in 28 years on the Canucks beat, Iain MacIntyre has certainly been down this road more than once.
Chris Tanev tries to sound a note of optimism:
Not sure I've ever heard a response like Quinn Hughes' before:
It'll be interesting to see how that determination translates on the ice against Vegas.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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