Road swing provides an early test
Canucks running a gauntlet of contenders after opening season with convincing win
It took Odysseus 10 years to get home from Troy. Remember the Iliad? In 2010, the Vancouver Canucks were away from home for 14 straight games over 44 days. Remember the Winter Olympics?
Now, eight years later, the Canucks have embarked on a two-week road trip. (And they’ve got another like this next month!) It may not be Homeric.
It may not be Olympic ... but it sure seems like a long time.
If the Canucks can find three wins on this six-game trip — which opened Saturday night in Calgary — they’ll be laughing. Three wins won’t come easy, of course. First of all, despite the opening night heroics of Elias Pettersson, the Canucks remain an offensively challenged bunch.
Last year, the Canucks tied for the fourth fewest goals in the NHL. And that was with the Sedins. Pettersson looks like a candidate to replace some of those goals, but remember the bar the Canucks are hoping to match is already set low. In the modern NHL, a team must score three goals to win a typical game. In 2017-18, the Canucks averaged just 2.66.
Here’s a look at the remaining five games on this early-season road swing.
STOP 2: CAROLINA
(Tuesday, SNETV, 4 p.m.)
In a curious twist, the Canucks head east from Calgary to face the team Bill Peters used to coach, the Hurricanes. This is a squad that did plenty of good things over the last couple seasons but suffered from poor goaltending and some rotten luck when it came to shooting.
They have a several interesting young players and have dominated opponents in the shot battle. Can they put it all together this year?
STOP 3: TAMPA BAY (Thursday, SN360, 4:30 p.m.)
The Lightning are a Stanley Cup contender. Stars include Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. The Bolts advanced to the Eastern Conference Final in three of the last four seasons, scoring 3.54 goals per game last year, best in the NHL.
If the Lightning have one flaw, it’s their penalty killing, which was among the league’s worst last season.
The Canucks have a power play they hope will take them places. Will that be a great equalizer?
When the Canucks roll into Florida next Wednesday, they’ll get a day off before facing the Lightning.
STOP 4: FLORIDA (Saturday, SNET 1, 4 p.m.)
In the midst of turmoil over the past two years, one guy has been a steady hand: Roberto Luongo.
The former Canucks’ goalie is 39 but you wouldn’t know it by his performances in the Panthers’ crease. Since returning to Florida from the Canucks in 2014, he’s posted a 93.0 even strength save percentage. That’s outstanding.
Oh, and this Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.? There’s a pregame ceremony to honour Luongo for playing 1,000 games in the NHL. How’s that for buzz and timing?
STOP 5: PITTSBURGH (Tuesday, Oct. 16, SNET 1, 4 p.m.)
There are no easy games on this trip. Did you forget the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017? Yeah, right, them!
The Penguins are a powerhouse. They’ll present as difficult a challenge as it gets on this trip.
The Canucks will be a dozen days into their trek by then. Will they be sick of the road?
STOP 6: WINNIPEG (Thursday, Oct. 18, TSN3, 5 p.m.)
Finally, nearly two weeks from now, the Canucks will arrive in the Gateway to the West to face yet another Cup contender.
The Jets remain, big, fast, skilled and mean. The Canucks will say they’re ready for every test, every night, but after such a long time on the road, how worn out will they be? How much will their minds be on just getting home?
It might be good to remind them that Jets’ sniper Patrick Laine mocked them during the recent Fortnite ban discussion. You know, a bad team full of excuses. Those are fightin’ words.