Saturday November 5 - Nashville Predators 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3 (S/O)
Tuesday November 8 - Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators (4 p.m. PT)
Perhaps the most convincing moment yet that the Hockey Gods are determined to put the Vancouver Canucks in the running for Connor Bedard next spring came in Saturday's shootout against the Nashville Predators.
Shooting first, Elias Pettersson inexplicably missed a wide-open net after doing his dekes. Then, in the third spot and with the game on the line, Bo Horvat left the puck behind and failed to get a shot away at all.
After building a dominating 3-0 first-period lead and outshooting their opponents 45-30 in the game, the Canucks were left to settle for a single point in front of their biggest home crowd of the year, reported at 18,855.
Now, they head out onto a five-game road trip sitting sixth in the Pacific Division with nine points and a .375 points percentage. But if there's a sliver of good news, it's that teams are still pretty bunched up in the Western Conference. Just over two weeks out from U.S. Thanksgiving, Vancouver is just three points out of the second wild-card spot in the west, which is surprisingly held down for the moment by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Elsewhere in the standings, Winnipeg and Seattle are also off to hot starts, and Los Angeles has been wildly inconsistent but winning enough to hold down third place in the Pacific. Meanwhile, four 2022 playoff teams are currently on the outside looking in: Calgary, Minnesota, Nashville and St. Louis.
I noticed over the weekend that the Flames are in a particularly difficult spot. Despite playing nine of their first 10 games at home, they're 0-3-1 in their last four games and dealing with injuries on defence, including Chris Tanev, as they enter a tough stretch of their schedule.
Travel-wise, the Flames get a bit of a head start over the Canucks when they head east. But where Vancouver at least gets a practice day in Ottawa on Monday before facing the Senators on Tuesday, Calgary jumps straight into the fire with a back-to-back set against the Islanders and Rangers on Monday and Tuesday. They're in Boston on Thursday, come home for two games, then head straight back out for another six-gamer that has been, shall we say, creatively routed: Tampa, Florida, Philly, Pittsburgh, Washington, Carolina.
The Canucks will go back-to-back in Ottawa on Tuesday and Montreal on Wednesday, then get two days off before facing off against Toronto on Saturday as part of the Hall of Fame weekend celebrations for the Sedins and Roberto Luongo.
Kevin Bieksa also mentioned the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends Classic game, which will take place Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
Click here for the rosters.
The Sedins, along with Cammi Granato and Brendan Morrison, will be skating on Team Sundin, while Bieksa joins Roberto Luongo — playing defence — as well as Dan Hamhuis and Cory Schneider on Team Lindros.
But while the Hall of Famers and Alumni are having fun in Toronto, the current Canucks will be hard at work — finishing off their second back-to-back on this trip against the Bruins in Boston, with a start time of 6 p.m. Eastern / 3 p.m. Pacific.
Finally, the trip wraps up next Tuesday in Buffalo, for a rematch against those powerhouse Sabres.
To help adjust across three time zones, the Canucks travelled on Sunday and are practicing Monday at the Canadian Tire Centre. Here's how the lines are rolling:
I've been happy to see that the Ethan Bear appreciation squad is starting to gain steam. To my eyes, he has looked steady in his three games since joining the team, and is helping to stabilize the right side of the roster.
And while Kyle Burroughs remains on the outside looking in, he also seems to be getting some support from the media and the fanbase. I've said it before, I'd like to see him back in the lineup — and that's more because I like what Burroughs brings than because of any perceived deficiencies in Riley Stillman's game.
Up front, we've got Brock Boeser taking regular line rushes, and Vasily Podkolzin back in the mix after being healthy scratched on Saturday night. Nils Hoglander falls back out of the top-12 mix, as does Sheldon Dries, with J.T. Miller moving back into the middle.
The Canucks had a 1-for-5 night on their penalty kill on Saturday, which means they've still only had one game this season where they haven't given up a power-play goal. But at least they've got their PK percentage for the season back into the sixties, at 60.5%.
The power play went 1-for-4, and sits third in the NHL at 30.2%.
As for the Senators, they've now lost their last five games and are sitting at 4-7-0 for the season, stuck in last place in the tough Atlantic Division. They have perhaps deserved some better fortune: five of their seven losses this season have been by one goal, including the first two games of this homestand, where they fell 5-4 to Vegas on Thursday and 2-1 to Philadelphia on Saturday, with former Flyer Claude Giroux scoring the only Ottawa goal.
At age 34, Giroux is delivering everything the Senators could have asked for — except the wins, I guess. He has 10 points in 11 games and his six goals tie him for the team lead with Brady Tkachuk and Shane Pinto, yet another young offensive talent who was named Rookie of the Month for October.
The Sens have identical goals-for and goals-against numbers, averaging 3.45 per game in both categories, and Cam Talbot has been excellent since returning to action from a lower-body injury. He stopped all 13 Vegas shots he faced over 27:59 as the Senators attempted to mount their comeback against the Golden Knights on Thursday, and gave up two goals on 28 shots to the Flyers on Saturday, giving him a 1.40 goals-against average and .951 save percentage so far this season.
Ottawa's schedule is nicely spaced out for the rest of this month, so I don't see any reason why Talbot won't play Tuesday, and get a lot of ice over the next few weeks.
And very quickly, I want to finish off today with an update on Abbotsford. After splitting their series with the San Diego Gulls last week, the Baby Canucks did the same in a home-ice weekend against the Coachella Valley Firebirds this weekend, winning 5-2 on Friday and falling 3-1 on Saturday. With a 4-3-0-1 record, Abbotsford is tied with the San Jose Barracuda for fifth place in the 10-team AHL Pacific Division.
Linus Karlsson's adjustment to North American hockey is going just fine so far. He leads the team with 10 points in eight games. With six points, Will Lockwood is tied for second in scoring with veteran Justin Dowling.
Abbotsford finishes off its homestand this week with games on Thursday and Saturday against the Henderson Silver Knights. Then, they'll head east for an all-Canadian six-game road trip.
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