The Vancouver Canucks have picked up a pair of wins to begin their first lengthy road trip of the season and now set their sights on the Washington Capitals for a Sunday morning matchup.
Note Sunday’s early game time of 9:30 a.m. PT.
Conor Garland collected three points over the team’s back-to-back on Thursday and Friday. Garland has been on the ice for four goals scored and two against in his 66:18 of five-on-five ice time. The Canucks have had 38 scoring chances for and 29 against when Garland is on the ice at five-on-five.
Max Sasson has only played in two NHL games this season and has scored in each of those outings. He is playing on a line with fellow Calder Cup winners, Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson. These three have spent a ton of time together in Abbotsford (AHL), and their chemistry is continuing to show up at the NHL level.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- The Caps are on a four-game winning streak after losing their first game of the season.
- They have been playing good defence through the first five games, only allowing eight goals so far this season.
- Aliaksei Protas leads his team with four goals in five games.
- Tom Wilson leads them in points with seven (3g-4a).
- The Caps have the best goal share percentage at five-on-five in the league. They have controlled 78.6% of the goals scored through 245 minutes of five-on-five play (11GF-3GA).
- Alex Ovechkin is still producing at age 40. He has a goal and three assists and has not been on the ice for a goal against in 58:58 of five-on-five ice time, during which his Caps have scored five goals.
- On the backend, veteran John Carlson is still eating up a ton of minutes. He has averaged 23:48 of ice time per game.
- The goalies are both off to a great start this season, with their team’s save percentage at .944% through five games. Charlie Lindgren had a 35-save shutout last week against the New York Rangers.
The Story: Back-to-Back Wins
There will be 13 sets of back-to-backs this season, and the Canucks came away with a clean sweep of their first one after getting wins in Dallas and Chicago.
Head Coach Adam Foote was pleased with the team’s ability to fight back in each of those two games, as the Canucks trailed 2-0 after the first period in both of their first two games of the trip.
The team saw Teddy Blueger return to the lineup on his day after missing the opening four games of the season.
“He was over pucks, he didn’t try to do too much coming back from an injury,” said Foote. “He gave us some good minutes.”
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Conor Garland: 1g-3a-4p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-3a-4p
Kiefer Sherwood: 3g-0a-3p
Brock Boeser: 3g-0a-3p
Filip Chytil: 3g-0a-3p
When and Where to Watch
Sunday’s game is a 9:30 a.m. PT start time, and you can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen to Brendan Batchelor’s radio call on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
