The Vancouver Canucks hit the second half of their eight-game homestand with the Tampa Bay Lightning coming to town for a Thursday night game at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks showed well on Tuesday with the Florida Panthers in town. The home team put up five goals in a commanding 5-2 victory. Elias Pettersson opened the scoring on Tuesday and picked up a pair of goals in the win.
Marco Rossi scored a goal on Tuesday, giving him a three-game goal-scoring streak – the third of his career. Speaking of three, Brock Boeser had three assists on Tuesday night.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have a strong hold on a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting second in the Atlantic Division with a 41-21-4 record this season.
- They are one of the better road teams in the league, posting a 21-9-4 record.
- The Lightning began a four-game road trip on Tuesday with a 6-2 win over the Seattle Kraken. They will play back-to-backs over the weekend against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.
- Tampa is 13-1-1 when scoring the first goal of the game on the road this season.
- Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning with 37 goals and 111 points in 62 games played. Kucherov’s 111 points is second in the league to Connor McDavid, who has 115.
- Tampa’s power play ranks 12th in the league with a 22.1% conversion rate.
- They rank 8th on the penalty kill, killing off 81.9% of their penalties.
- Zemgus Girgensons leads the Lightning with 164 hits this season.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy has started 46 games this season and is on pace to make another run at the Vezina Trophy with his 31-12-3 record, .913% save percentage, 2.30 goals-against average, and two shutouts.
The Story: Milestones for Petey
Elias Pettersson’s two goals on Tuesday gave him 200 in his career. He has spent his entire career with the Vancouver Canucks and became the 10th player in franchise history to score 200 goals.
“That means a lot. It’s a cool milestone to hit, and hopefully I get to reach more,” said Pettersson.
Pettersson also moved into 11th in franchise history with his 62nd power play goal.
The next milestone for Pettersson is 500 points. He currently sits at 497 in his career. Only six players have accomplished the 500-point feat in a Canucks jersey.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Marco Rossi: 3g-4a-7p
Brock Boeser: 1g-5a-6p
Linus Karlsson: 1g-2a-3p
Liam Öhgren: 1g-2a-3p
Elias Pettersson: 2g-0a-2p
When and Where to Watch
Thursday’s game is at 7:00 p.m. PT, and you can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen to Brendan Batchelor’s radio call on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
