WELL-RESTED CANUCKS AIM TO REIGNITE POST-SEASON PUSH AGAINST THE FLAMES
THE BIG MATCHUP
Elias Pettersson vs. Johnny Gaudreau
Saturday’s tilt features the Calder Trophy favourite as rookie of the year versus a leading contender for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
The Flames are playing winning hockey for a lot of reasons and Gaudreau’s dazzling play is a major one. The Canucks are a wildly different team with and without Pettersson. With him, they’re in the playoff discussion. Without him, they’d be in the Jack Hughes discussion.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME 1.
Home for a rest
After an intense four-game road trip — four games in six nights over three time zones — the Canucks arrived home early Friday from Chicago and had the day off. They’re home until Tuesday, when they jet off to California for another three-game road trip. Will home cooking be the key ingredient to end a three-game losing streak?
2.
Burning hot — or not
Despite Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Sharks, the Flames remain first in the Pacific and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
The Canucks are back chasing a playoff berth, having fallen behind St. Louis and Minnesota for the two wild-card spots in the West. The Canucks are still up on Colorado — on a four-game skid of their own — and then there’s the who-knows squads in Edmonton and Chicago. Everyone but Chicago holds games in hand on Vancouver.
3.
Depth on defence
What the Flames have on defence is something the Canucks don’t: depth.
This has never been more evident than this week’s performance by the Canucks during the concussion-caused absence of Alex Edler. Chris Tanev is playing out of position and the struggling Erik Gudbranson is being pressed into top-pairing duty.
The Flames, in comparison, are debating things such as, “Why does Mark Giordano have so many points?”
4.
Hamonic’s hand
Flames blue-liner Travis Hamonic hurt his hand/wrist near the end of Thursday’s game against the Sharks, but was practising Friday with his teammates and looks good to go for Saturday.
5.
Sputtering power play
The Canucks’ power play, with Brock Boeser and Pettersson firing from opposite wings, should be an elite weapon in the Canucks’ thin arsenal. But they’re sitting just 21st in the league, scoring on 16.8 per cent of their opportunities. They’ve scored 29 times, 15 fewer goals than the Flames have managed on the man advantage.