Things could get hairy against Kadri and Leafs
The Vancouver Canucks, who will play their next seven NHL games on the road, open that challenging stretch today in chilly Toronto playing against the beard-ripping Nazem Kadri and his Maple Leafs:
THE BIG MATCHUP Auston Matthews vs. the Bottom Six
He has already been injured twice this season, but it hasn’t slowed him much.
Matthews is averaging more points per game this season than he did in his Calder Trophy-winning rookie campaign. He has five goals in his past six games and had five shots on net against San Jose in the Leafs’ 3-2 shootout win Thursday.
Toronto coach Mike Babcock loves to line match, so expect him to get Matthews on the ice a lot against the Canucks’ third and fourth lines.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Goaltending
Haunted by soft goals and a month-long slump by their goalies, the Canucks will turn to Jacob Markstrom again. He has been deployed as the team’s definitive No. 1 starter, but hasn’t yet proven he can effectively eat up games. It is why the Canucks need both goalies playing well. Anders Nilsson has been getting most of the heat lately, and he’s struggling, but Markstrom hasn’t been much better.
2. Brock Boeser
He’s human after all. Slumps will happen for the Canucks’ blossoming star and the way it’s been going lately, two games without a goal qualifies as one. Boeser has been getting chances and probably had Vancouver’s best two in Tuesday’s 5-0 loss to Anaheim. The season reaches its halfway point today, and Boeser has emerged, in this lineup, as the team’s most important player.
3. Nazem Kadri
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ twoway star is expected to shift his focus from the Sedin twins to Boeser. He has to be feeling it after a memorable fight that included him pulling Joe Thornton’s beard and officials subsequently scooping up facial hair off the ice. Kadri is physical, confident, fast and really good. Expect him to be sticking to Boeser often.
4. Canucks special teams
Canucks head coach Travis Green seems sure he can improve his team’s terrible penalty-killing unit. Hopefully he has a plan for the power play, too. The power play is on an 0-for-14 slide — but this is nothing compared to how bad things have been for the Canucks when short-handed. In the 12 games Bo Horvat has missed, the Canucks have been beaten for 13 power-play goals against. That’s not good.
5. Ben Hutton issue
The Canucks’ defence has been fading badly. Getting back on track may have to happen without Hutton, who likely isn’t playing even though he’s the Canucks’ defenceman with the most promise. He was skating on a fourth pair Friday and seems destined for his fourth healthy scratch in seven games. “I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Ben Hutton,” Green said. Sure hope not.