The Vancouver Canucks are back on the road as they look to pick up points against Central Division foes. They begin with a trip to St. Louis to face the Blues.
Let’s get to where you can watch the game right off the top. Monday’s game is a 4:30 p.m. PT start time, and it is available on Amazon Prime.
Elias Pettersson has put up 21 points (6g-15a) over 15 career games against the Blues. He recorded his first five-point game in the NHL against the Blues on November 2nd, 2018. Pettersson has six multi-point games against the Blues in his career.
Quinn Hughes sits second in the league for points from a defenceman (54) and has played six fewer games than Zach Werenski (54 points) and seven fewer than Cale Makar (56 points). Hughes is tied with Adam Fox for the league lead in primary assists from a defenceman with 22.
Hughes leads all defenceman with 1.23 points per game and Mondays have been his best day of the week for points per game as he has seven points through four games played on the day that kicks off the work week.
St. Louis won the last matchup between these two clubs on an overtime goal from Dylan Holloway. It was Holloway’s first overtime goal in the NHL, and he is currently second on the Blues with 37 points through 50 games played.
The Blues are in their third consecutive game on home ice and are seeking their first win of this three-game homestand. They lost 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday and 2-0 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- St. Louis sits fifth in the Central Division and are two points back of the Canucks in the wild card race. They are 23-23-4 on the year.
- Scoring first is massively important for the Blues on home ice. They are 8-2-0 when they score first but 3-10-1 when the opposition scores first in their barn.
- Blues defenceman Ryan Suter has played 63 games against the Canucks over his 20-year NHL career. Suter has eight goals and 21 assists through his 63 games against Vancouver.
- On home ice, they’ve outscored their opponents 22-20 in first periods and 19-16 in second periods but have been outscored 31-19 in third periods.
- Defenceman Colton Parayko has played in all 50 games this season and leads the Blues with an average ice time of 24:21. Parayko has 10 goals and 17 assists on the season and has scored eight of his 10 goals at even-strength.
- Jordan Binnington has started 34 of the Blues’ 50 games this season. The Canadian netminder has a 13-18-3 record with an .898% save percentage, a 2.84 goals-against average and three shutouts.
- Jordan Kyrou is the only 20-goal scorer on the Blues’ roster. Kyrou is tied with Pavel Buchnevich for the team lead in power play goals with six on the year.
- The Blues power play ranks 25th in the league and is clicking at 18.8%.
- On the penalty kill, they rank 28th and are killing off 18.8% of their penalties. Parayko and Suter are the team leaders in shorthanded ice time. The defence pairing is typically first over the boards and will eat up a lot of shorthanded ice time every game.
The Story: An important road trip and some roster updates from the coach
Vancouver hits the road to battle three Central Division teams and are looking to build up some points and gain a spot or two in the standings.
“They're four-point games if you want to call them that,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “I don't even care who we play. These are games [where] we got to put some wins together. I mean, it's time. So, we’ve got to find some traction, and need to find some good stuff for our team. We need to string some good days along."
Tocchet said that he liked Dakota Joshua getting in for a full practice on Sunday and said that his team has a lot of game-time decisions to make on Monday.
Conor Garland was given a maintenance day and the coach said that Noah Juulsen skated well.
As for defenceman Elias Pettersson, he skated on a pairing with Carson Soucy on Sunday and the coach spoke on his situation before the team flew off to St. Louis.
“I'll talk to Patrik again. I felt that we needed to get him in a regular pair for practice and get [him] reps. It's hard to evaluate a guy who gets one game and then you don't put him in,” said Tocchet. “We like what he brings. So, whether he plays tomorrow or now, I don't know. That’s roster stuff, me and Patrik will talk about that, but he's definitely a guy that is a sponge. He's big, he wants to hit, he wants to box out, and he wants to learn. So, we really enjoy that about him.”
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Quinn Hughes: 5g-2a-7p
Brock Boeser: 1g-4a-5p
Filip Hronek: 1g-3a-4p
J.T. Miller: 0g-4a-4p
Phil Di Giuseppe: 1g-1a-2p
When and Where to Watch
Monday’s game is a 4:30 p.m. PT start, and you can watch it on Amazon Prime or listen along to the radio call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
