Canucks Army GDT #16 – Canucks vs Senators

After escaping California with a well-earned two points and a stolen two more, Vancouver is back in the friendly confines of Rogers Arena this evening to take on the visiting Ottawa Senators. A lot has changed since these two teams last played one another – most notably neither of them are that good any more. Still, a valuable two points are on the line tonight, and the Canucks are looking to build on a successful road swing, and continue holding a top position in the NHL standings.

Read past the jump for a preview of tonight’s game.

Puck Drop: 7:00 PM PST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: TSN 1040

Craig Anderson will start in goal.

The last time Ottawa faced the Canucks, it was on March 2nd of last season at the Heritage Classic in B.C. Place. There, the Sens beat the Canucks by a 4-2 score, but that was hardly the story of the game. Eddie Lack had been playing some excellent hockey, so John Tortorella started Lack in place of Roberto Luongo, kicking off a series of events that would see Jim Benning sign Ryan Miller to a 3-year to play goal for Vancouver just a few short months later.

The offseason changes for Vancouver were pretty dramatic, but the Sens underwent a serious summer facelift too. Gone is team captain Jason Spezza as well as trade deadline pickup Ales Hemsky, and in their places are David Legwand, Alex Chiasson, and a host of other young players you’ve never heard of unless you either played a ton of NHL 14 or remember World Junior Championship rosters from about half a decade ago.

For Ottawa, these moves seemed less like a reset and more like compulsively shedding excess salary. The Sens can’t be talked about these days without talking about Eugene Melnyk, internal budgets, “Cost-Per-Point,” and hiring Ukranian hackers to erase an overly-inquisitive blogger from the internet – and yes, that actually happened. The crashing to the absolute salary cap floor has left the Sens in a bit of a mess. They carry a 47.3% Corsi, which is awful, and the 5th lowest FenwickTied of any team since ’07-08.

The only reason why Ottawa isn’t in the thick of the Connor McDavid sweepstakes right now is because Craig Anderson has been out-of-his-mind good. Anderson is currently sporting a 0.951 save percentage on the year while facing an average of 36 shots per game. Those are some pretty remarkable numbers, but they’re bound to regress.

Vancouver should be able to get a lot of shots tonight, and plenty of chances to score. Still, while Ottawa is really not a good team, Vancouver’s 48.4% Corsi isn’t at all impressive either. These teams may be fairly evenly matched, especially with the Canucks hobbled lineup, which is concerning for anyone expecting the Canucks to possibly win a playoff round in the Pacific.

Vancouver is still second in their division, but they’ll need all the points they can get to keep pace. With a strong effort, they should come out on top tonight and build on their successful, if not fortuitous, California road trip.