The Vancouver Canucks (31-24-11) look for a third straight victory when they host the Utah Hockey Club (29-26-11) in a 5pm start at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks are coming off a 6-2 win over Chicago last night that vaulted them past Calgary and into the final playoff spot in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference. They are two points ahead of Calgary and St. Louis and four up on Utah.
What we know
With games on consecutive nights, the Canucks are not holding a morning skate so it will be mid-afternoon before the team’s lineup is known. Rick Tocchet is expected to meet with the media around 2:30pm this afternoon. After serving as the back-up in last night’s 6-2 win over Chicago, Kevin Lankinen is expected to get the start in goal. Lankinen had started six straight games including back to backs against Montreal and Calgary earlier in the week before getting the night off last night.
There is concern for Filip Chytil who left last night’s game late in the third period after a nasty blindside hit from the Blackhawks Jason Dickinson. If Chytil is unable to play tonight, Nils Aman will likely move to the middle and Jonathan Lekkerimäki will draw back into the line-up. The Canucks also have a decision to make on defence where rookie Elias Pettersson was a healthy scratch last night. He could return to the line-up in place of Victor Mancini.
Forward Elias Pettersson has scored in three straight games and four of his last five. He has had back to back two point games and has six points in his last five games.
Quinn Hughes opened the scoring last night with his 15th goal of the season. Tyler Myers, Conor Garland, Pius Suter and Nils Aman had the team’s other goals last night. It was the second time this season the Canucks have scored six in a game – and the first time on home ice. Both six-goal efforts have come against Chicago.
Last night snapped a run of 16 games where the Canucks had been held to three goals or fewer. All six of their goals were scored at even strength. The team scored six times on just 15 shots on goal. That was one off the team’s season low for shots in a game (14 in Carolina).
With a pair of helpers, Nils Höglander had his first multi-point game of the season last night and now has five assists in his last six games.
The opponent
The Utah Hockey Club is back in action after a 4-2 loss in Seattle on Friday night. It was a game UHC led 2-1 late in the second period. Nick Schmaltz and Kevin Stenlund scored the Utah goals while Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves. Utah has just one win, but also only one outright loss in its last four games (1-1-2).
Clayton Keller leads the team with 74 points. That is 23 more than second-place Schmaltz. Dylan Guenther is the team leader with 24 goals on the season including a team-best 11 on the power play. As a group, UHC has scored 12 power play goals in its last 12 games.
With Connor Ingram in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program, Vejmelka is being asked to shoulder a heavy workload in goal. Tonight will be his 10th straight start. His backup, Jaxson Stauber, has not played an NHL game since New Year’s Eve.
Mikhail Sergachev averages 25:25 of ice time per night. That is third in the NHL behind Norris candidates Cale Makar and Zack Werenski.
Utah has been to overtime in 19 of its 66 games. That is tied with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for the league lead. UHC is 7-8 in games decided in OT and 1-3 in shootouts. In the battle for the final wild card spot in the West, it’s interesting to note that all of Utah, Vancouver and Calgary have a league-high 11 losses beyond regulation time.
UHC has taken both meetings against the Canucks this season. They posted a 3-2 overtime win on December 18th and a 2-1 win on February 23rd. Both games were played at Delta Center. This is the team’s first visit to Vancouver since relocating to Salt Lake City.
Tonight’s referees: Kendrick Nicholson & Chris Schlenker
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson
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