The rumor: The Canucks had not lost in regulation in their previous twelve games, despite their dreadful performance in Boston on Thursday. They are still the NHL’s top team. Similar to the Canucks, the Red Wings have finished the season with amazing skill, but unlike the Canucks, they have mostly been a mess on their own end. This one has countless potential goals. Detroit has won six of their previous ten games and, interestingly, has scored 3.2 goals per game over that time, compared to Vancouver’s 2.9.
The past: This season, these two teams have not faced each other. (But they’ll get together again on Thursday of next week!) They also squared off twice in February of last year.
The optimism is that while the Canucks have scored a lot of goals this season, their ability to play strong defense has probably been even more crucial to their success. They should win on Saturday thanks to that combination.
The worry: In the last two games, their top six forwards have combined for only nine shots on goal. They require more from them, but what happens if they are stuck? Alex Lyon, the goalie for Detroit, has also been excellent lately. What if he falls on his head?
The best players: Although Elias Pettersson won NHL star of the month award in January, he hasn’t scored an even-strength goal in over a month. Similar to Pettersson, J.T. Miller had a terrible performance on Thursday in Boston despite scoring the game-winning basket on Tuesday in Carolina and having 19 points in January. Dylan Larkin, who has nine goals in ten games, is still Detroit’s Mr. Everything.
The injured are three Canucks: Guillaume Brisebois (indefinitely), Phil Di Giuseppe (lower body, IR), and Carson Soucy (broken hand, six to eight weeks). Red Wings: Matt Luff (upper-body, week-to-week), Patrick Kane (lower-body, day-to-day), Ville Husso (undisclosed, day-to-day), Ben Chiarot (upper-body, day-to-day).
The remark reads, “Obviously, I want to score. It’s frustrating when you get a chance like that and you miss the net, but you have to keep working on it as long as you’re getting those chances.” – Brock Boeser, after hooking a shot in front of an open net during the previous game, on gazing aloft. Despite having 27 goals this season, Boeser has not scored in six games.
The order of play:
Moving Forward
Boeser, Miller, and Suter
Mikheyev-Lindholm-Pettersson
Blueger-Garland Joshua
Åman-Hoglander-Lafferty
defense
Hughes-Myers
Zadorov-Hronek
Juulsen Cole
Goalie
Demko Thatcher
The pick: The Canucks should win easily, 5–4. This game has all the makings of a wild one.
