Road Trip Round-Up (The Stats)

The Canucks are home in Vancouver now after playing an NHL-record 14 straight games on the road. Now that they’re back, we can look at some interesting stats that we’ve rounded up.

The Vancouver Canucks finished their record road trip at 8-5-1, starting with a shocking comeback victory in Toronto, ending with a shootout loss in Phoenix.

The Canucks played in front of a recorded 242,218 NHL fans. The biggest crowd (22,235) saw the Canucks lose handily to the Chicago Backhawks at the United Center, while the smallest crowd (12,861) saw the Canucks improbable comeback from a 3-goal deficit in Denver.

Vancouver scored a blistering 47 goals over 14 games, an average of 3.36 goals per game. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they allowed 45 goals (3.21 GAA). The Canucks fired 469 shots on net during their 14 games away, and absorbed 420. On average, the Canucks outshot their opponent 33.5-30, and outshot their opponent 10 out of 14 games.

One of the keys to the Canucks’ success over this road trip was a reasonable amount of discipline. The Canucks took an average of 15 PIMs per game, while their opponent took 14 PIM. Essentially, it’s a push. The Canucks did, however, allow 13 SHG in 14 games. That sounds bad, but 6 of those 13 SHG were scored in only 2 games.

Here are some individual player stats from Canucks.com:

Ryan Kesler lead all Canuck skaters with 15 total points (6-9-15) on the trip and the most points on the first eight games of the trip at seven (3-4-7). Henrik Sedin had the most post-Olympic points with 10 (2-8-10).

Mikael Samuelsson had the most goals with 10 goals in 14 games that included a hat trick against Colorado Tuesday night. He also had the most goals post-Olympic break with seven in six games. Alex Burrows and Kesler both scored three goals pre-Olympics.

Kesler (15), the Sedins (14), Samuelsson (13), Burrows (11), and Christian Ehrhoff (10) all earned double digit points. Mason Raymond and Pavol Demitra were right behind with nine and eight points.

All that being said, the most important stat is 8-5-1. The Canucks opened up additional space atop the Northwest Division during their 14 games away. Ask any fan and they’ll tell you that the Canucks exceeded expectations.

And now, the boys are home again… where they play REALLY well. Can the Canucks maintai their momentum and keep up their winning ways back at the friendly confines of GM Place? Will the Canucks remain on top of their division? Could the Canucks overtake the Blackhawks or Sharks for 2nd or even 1st place in the West?

We’ll find out in the last 15 games. It’s the race to the playoffs, and the Canucks are in a podium position so far. Keep it up, boys.