The Vancouver Canucks (10-15-2) will try to sweep their two game series with the Toronto Maple Leafs (18-5-2) when the teams meet at Rogers Arena on Saturday afternoon. Corey Hirsch and I will bring you the play-by-play at 4:00pm on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network. Satiar Shah and Bik Nizzar will present the land Rover Pre-Game Show at 3:00pm. They’ll also provide instant coverage at the intermissions and on the Kintec Footwear and Orthotics Canucks Post-Game Show.
Listen to game day coverage on Sportsnet 650 AM or 96.9 HD channel 3. You can also listen online on Sportsnet.ca/650, through the Sportsnet app or stream the game on your smart speaker. Just say, “play Sportsnet 650.”
Head-to-Head
The Canucks are 1-3-0 against Toronto this year. The Leafs have outscored Vancouver 16-8 in the four meetings. Mitch Marner remains the leading scorer in the season series with seven points (one goal, six assists) in four games.
Stat Pack
The Canucks can win consecutive games for the first time since January 30th with a win over the Leafs on Saturday. Thursday’s victory was the second win of the season for Vancouver when scoring three or fewer goals. The Canucks are 8-0-0 when they score at least four goals in a game. Vancouver’s power play has scored in the last three straight games, going 3-for-5 (60%) in that stretch. Quinn Hughes leads NHL defensemen with 22 points and 20 assists while the Canucks lead all teams in points scored by their defensemen with 58. Thatcher Demko is 2-3-0 in his last five starts with an impressive 1.63 goals against average and 0.947 save percentage in those contests.
Thursday’s loss was just the second regulation time defeat for Toronto on the road this year and snapped a 10 game road point streak (9-0-1). The Maple Leafs are 18-1-2 when scoring at least two goals this year but are 0-4-0 when scoring one goal or fewer. Toronto is 14-1-2 when scoring a power play goal, and the Leafs have scored multiple power play goals in more games (7) than any other team in the league. Toronto has also spent more time leading (50.4%) than anyone else in the NHL. The Maple Leafs are 5-1-0 in their last six games against the Canucks but have only won twice in their last 13 visits to Rogers Arena (2-9-2).
Who’s Hot
Canucks winger Jake Virtanen is coming off his second career multi-goal game after scoring twice in Thursday’s win over the Leafs. Toronto’s Ilya Mikheyev is on a three game point streak (one goal, two assists).
Who’s Cold
Vancouver’s Tanner Pearson hasn’t registered a point in his last eight games and has one goal in his last 13 contests. Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot has gone the last six games without a point.
Key Quotes
[blockquote]”When we’ve had time to practice our systems, we’re playing with more structure and discipline in our game. We’ve been in all of the games the last couple of weeks. Maybe if we have some puck luck, we have two or three more wins in those 11 games. Travis is working with our group. We want our young players to continue to develop and get better.”[cite][/cite][/blockquote] – Canucks General Manager Jim Benning
[blockquote]”We just went through it in Edmonton. There’s some games where everything just kind of goes your way. (Thursday) was one of those games where everything went Vancouver’s way. They certainly played hard and deserved it. When you play like that, normally things do end up falling your way…We were unable to make good on the chances we did get, and we didn’t do enough to generate more chances.”[cite][/cite][/blockquote] – Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe
Canucks Friday Practice Lines
Hoglander-Miller-Boeser
Pearson-Horvat-Virtanen
Michaelis-Sutter-Gaudette
Roussel-Beagle-Hawryluk/MacEwen
Edler-Schmidt
Hughes-Hamonic
Benn-Myers
Demko
Holtby
Maple Leafs Thursday Lines
Thornton-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Mikheyev-Engvall-Hyman
Petan-Spezza-Vesey
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Bogosian
Hutchinson
Andersen