The Vancouver Canucks (14-7-4) play a rare matinee at Rogers Arena when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning (13-9-2) in a 1 pm face-off this afternoon. It’s the team’s annual Next Gen game, when youth are involved in many aspects of in arena game presentation.
The home team
Rick Tocchet met with the media on Sunday morning and declared Kevin Lankinen as his starter for a fifth straight game. As he did Friday, Thatcher Demko, who is celebrating his 29th birthday today, will once again serve as the back-up. However his first start of the season will have to wait.
Lankinen stopped 30 shots in the Canucks 5-2 win over Columbus on Friday. Pius Suter scored twice, while Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood had the other Vancouver goals as the Canucks overcame a 2-0 second-period deficit. The victory was the team’s third in four games (3-0-1) and fifth in seven outings (5-1-1).
With a goal and an assist on Friday, Boeser reached the 400-point mark in his NHL career. Later this week he’ll suit up for his 500th game. Today will be career game number 498.
DeBrusk’s first home goal of the season was his team-leading 12th of the year. He has scored in four straight games and has nine goals in his last seven outings. His goal on Friday came on a third period power play as the Canucks went one for two with the man advantage. The team has scored a power play goal in four straight games and six of its last seven.
With the power play marker and a perfect three-for-three night on the penalty kill, both Canucks special teams are now in the top 10 in the NHL. The power play is operating at 27.0% and ranks 10th in the league while the penalty kill has surged to 81.6% and sits tied for eighth in league rankings.
A number of Canucks are looking to snap out of scoring funks these days. Nils Höglander’s goal drought has now reached 20 games. Danton Heinen has gone 14 games without a goal, and Dakota Joshua has yet to score in his 11 games this season.
The opponent
The Lightning are here to open a four-game western road swing. They are coming in hot after lighting up the San Jose Sharks 8-1 at home in their last game on Thursday. Overall, they are 6-3-1 in their last 10 outings.
Brandon Hagel scored a pair of goals against the Sharks, while Brayden Point had four assists. Tampa jumped out to a 5-0 first period lead for the second time in two weeks after doing the same thing to the Colorado Avalanche on November 25th. They are the first NHL team to score eight or more goals three times in the first 25 games of the season since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Lightning is the second-highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 3.92 goals per game.
Despite missing the past two games with a lower-body injury, Nikita Kucherov still leads the Bolts with 34 points. Point, who leads the NHL with nine power play goals, leads the team with 16 goals and is one of five Tampa skaters in double-digits already this season. Overall, Tampa has six players with 24 or more points.
Against San Jose, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for his 11th victory of the season.
Tampa beat Vancouver 4-1 in their first meeting of the season on October 15th. The teams split their two-game season series last season, each winning at home.
The two head coaches in this game will be on opposite sides today, but in February Jon Cooper and Rick Tocchet will work together on Team Canada’s staff for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Cooper is the head coach, while Tocchet will be one of his three assistants.
Tonight’s referees: Graham Skilliter & Chris Lee
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson
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