Saturday November 7 - Vancouver Canucks at Buffalo Sabres - 10 a.m. - Sportsnet - TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 13 GP - 6-3-4 - 16 points - second in Pacific Division
Buffalo Sabres: 13 GP - 5-8-0 - 10 points - seventh in Atlantic Division
The Vancouver Canucks are kicking off their longest road trip of the year with an early game on Saturday morning against the Buffalo Sabres.
It's supposed to rain like crazy over the next couple of days, so what better way to pass the time than with 10 a.m. hockey? The game's on the national Sportsnet network.
Since I'm working tonight, I'll set the scene now, then do a postgame blog afterwards. Sound OK?
Two big storylines going into Saturday's game:
1) After Boston lost to Washington on Thursday night, the Canucks are now the only team in the NHL that hasn't been defeated in regulation on the road this season. How long can they keep that streak alive?
2) Ryan Miller missed last year's game in Buffalo due to his knee injury, which happened four days earlier. Saturday will be his first time back in the city where he spent 11 seasons, so you know this'll be a special game for him.
Miller's coming back at a high point in his goaltending career, too. He's boasting a .923 save percentage and 2.14 goals-against average so far this season: that's the best GAA he has ever posted, and the save percentage falls just a couple of points below the .929 that he logged when he won the Vezina Trophy with the Sabres in 2009-10.
Miller talked with Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun about his time in Buffalo and how he sees a parallel to his early time in Western New York here in Vancouver:
“The nice thing about coming to Vancouver is I feel like I’m kind of in that same space I was in Buffalo. We’re building something here, an identity. There’s an idea that we have to learn to play a certain way to be successful, and there’s great satisfaction when you start seeing results from that. There will be ups and downs. But having gone through this in Buffalo, there could be a tremendous upside when you get the confidence to go along with the buy-in.”
Miller's parents are making the five-hour drive from Michigan to see Ryan play on Saturday—just as they did when he was the Sabres starter. Though the Sabres are re-tooled on the ice, the game will probably be quite emotional for Miller.
Some of his old teammates are still around, carrying memories:
Mike Weber said his favorite moment of Ryan Miller with the #Sabres was this save vs. the Capitals. https://t.co/2ZeTgUgFqV
The Canucks will be carrying just one extra player on their roster heading into Saturday's game. Jacob Markstrom, Brendan Gaunce and Alex Biega were re-assigned to Utica—just a couple hours' drive from Buffalo—after the team charter touched down on Thursday.
Markstrom is expected to see his first regular-season action of the year in one or both of the Comets' weekend games, to help him get his timing back after his hamstring injury. The Comets host the Toronto Marlies on Friday night, then the Providence Bruins on Saturday.
No further information has been released about the nature of Luca Sbisa's injury or the estimated time for his recovery. All we know is that he's in a walking boot. I'm assuming that he and Brandon Prust have stayed back in Vancouver, which leaves Sven Baertschi as the lone extra man.
Baertschi's back in the mix at Friday's practice, with Chris Higgins down on the fourth line and Adam Cracknell as the scratch. That works for me.
As for the Sabres, they've worked their way out of the NHL basement but will come into Saturday's game off a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
Offensively, the Sabres are being led by new acquisition Ryan O'Reilly, whose 13 points in 13 games tie him for 13th in the NHL scoring race. Rookie Jack Eichel is also turning heads—he has five goals and is proving to be a fan favourite with his high-energy style. I'm looking forward to getting a chance to see him do his thing.
Buffalo's big trade with Winnipeg last year isn't yielding much production so far this season. Defenseman Zach Bogosian has yet to play this year after suffering a lower-body injury during training camp, and Evander Kane managed just three points in his first eight games as a Sabre before spraining his MCL on October 25.
Starting goaltender Robin Lehner, tough guy Cody McCormick and utility defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo are also on the shelf.
My latest piece for Canucks Army is now live. Click here for my general preview of the road trip, including the Canucks' upcoming visit with John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Our man Torts was up to his old tricks last night in L.A. Scrums galore, two fights, 26 minutes in penalties per side and the Blue Jackets didn't get a single shot in the second period, but still managed to hang on to beat the Kings 3-2. It brought back memories of the Canucks' "moral victory" game against the Kings when Tortortella was behind the bench here in Vancouver.
I'm very curious to see how the coach reacts to facing the Canucks—and equally curious to see how his whipping boys like Edler, Hansen and Burrows respond to seeing him again.
Though my eyes still glaze over when I look at Corsi graphs and charts, Davis does an admirable job of offering some context to the Canucks' advanced stats. Even the comment section of the article is insightful.
The bottom line for me? Corsi and Fenwick numbers can be useful as one evaluation tool in a tool box, but most of the numbers that we see and hear bandied about on a game-by-game basis don't have a whole lot of significance on their own. The Canucks are a poor Corsi team, but Davis demonstrates that it's pretty easy to filter out the situations that make their numbers look bad—and those situations aren't especially significant as far as influencing game results.
The numbers that are most interesting to me? Goals and points, baby. I'm sticking with that until the NHL announces the introduction of the new Corsi Cup.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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