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Vancouver Canucks send Gaudette to Utica as they prepare to face Capitals |
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Friday October 25 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Washington Capitals - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360
Through Wednesday, October 23)
Vancouver Canucks: 9 GP, 6-3-0, 12 pts, third in Pacific Division
Washington Capitals: 11 GP, 7-2-2, 16 pts, first in Metropolitan Division
I'm on my way to Regina for the Heritage Classic game at Mosaic Stadium this weekend between the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames, so my regular blogging schedule is going to be disrupted a bit.
The Canucks are now back in Vancouver and will play two games at Rogers Arena before heading back out on the road — Friday against the Washington Capitals, then Monday against the Florida Panthers.
The Capitals are heading into the back part of a four-in-six Western road trip that sees them in Edmonton on Thursday night, then in Vancouver on Friday. So even though the Canucks have had a long trip home from Detroit, they'll be the more rested squad for Friday's game.
Washington's season started out on a rather controversial note, with Evgeny Kuznetsov suspended for three games by the NHL after receiving a four-year ban from the IIHF due to his positive drug test for cocaine at the World Championship last May. The Caps started the season 2-0-1 while Kuznetsov was away from the club, and have now gone 5-2-1 since he returned to action. They're currently riding a four-game win streak, averaging 4.75 goals a game in wins over Toronto, the Rangers, Chicago and Calgary.
Kuznetsov has seven points in those eight games, and Alex Ovechkin's seven goals so far are three back of league leader David Pastrnak, but the real story offensively in the early going has been defenseman John Carlson. He currently leads the entire NHL with 20 points in 11 games, a pace of 1.82 points per game that has him on pace for 149 points for the year — which would set a record if he can sustain this. Bobby Orr was the most productive defenseman ever, with 139 points in 1970-71. He and Paul Coffey are the only defensemen in NHL history ever to have scored more than 110 points in a season — each did it five times.
Heading into Edmonton on Thursday, Carlson's riding an eight-game point streak that has seen him put up five goals and 12 assists.
Here's how the Oilers looked at their pregame skate in Edmonton on Thursday.
If Braden Holtby starts against the Oilers, the Canucks will probably see Ilya Samsonov. The 22-year-old rookie, drafted in the first round by the Caps in 2015, is off to a great start in his NHL career. He's 3-1-0 so far this season, with a 1.84 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.
As for the Canucks, they got back to work on Thursday with a practice at Rogers Arena.
The big lineup tweak sees Micheal Ferland up with Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen, with Tanner Pearson dropping down to the third line.
Oscar Fantenberg is back on the ice after his week on injured reserve.
The Canucks also announced on Thursday that Adam Gaudette has been re-assigned to the Utica Comets. That'll put the team one player below the roster limit for now, which saves them a bit of cap space. It also leaves Fantenberg and Loui Eriksson as the only extras who'd be available if an injury cropped up.
I was in favour of getting Gaudette some ice time in Utica last week rather than just sitting him in the press box. Here's Travis Green's explanation on the timing.
The unbeaten Utica Comets are also in action at home on Friday night, and play in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
I'll leave it there for now. I have a busy couple of days planned in Regina, but I'll try to loop back around on Saturday to recap the Canucks and Comets games and talk about any other interesting goings-on that pop up.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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