The Vancouver Canucks continue down the road of their seven-game trip with a matchup against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
All-Star Quinn Hughes will get another crack as his brothers’ team as the Canucks play in New Jersey for the one and only time this season. Quinn Hughes is leading the way on the ice for the Canucks and in the Hughes’ point totals. Quinn has 46 points on the season while bro-Jack is sitting at 45 and the youngest Hughes, Luke is sitting at 22 in his rookie season.
Jack Hughes is the leading man for the Devils but is followed closely by his linemate Jesper Bratt, who has 14 goals and 29 assists for 43 points. After Hughes and Bratt, there’s a significant drop-off in terms of individual production. Bratt and Hughes are in the mid-forties while third on the team in scoring is former Canuck Tyler Toffoli with 27 points in 36 games.
Toffoli, Bratt and Hughes will play on the Devils’ top line on Saturday night and the trio has been a driving cause in their team's strong play of late. The Devils have picked up four wins over their last five games and are averaging over four goals a game in that stretch.
The Canucks and Devils played one month ago in a game that saw the Canucks storm back with three goals in the third period to tie the game up at 5-5 before Bratt spoiled the comeback on a goal with just 34 seconds remaining in the third period to give the Devils a 6-5 win.
Jonas Siegenthaler led that game in ice time, sporting a heavy 26:55 night. Siegenthaler will play on the Devils' top defence pairing alongside youngster Simon Nemec, who was selected second overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and has skyrocketed up into the NHL by coming over to North America after he was drafted and playing his way up from the AHL.
The 19-year-old Nemec has averaged 20:49 of ice time this season and has picked up a goal and four assists through 15 games. He is just one of the young stars on this Devils team that is packed full of 23 and under players in their everyday lineup.
Some other youngsters you will see on Saturday night include Quinn’s younger brothers Luke Hughes (20), and Jack Hughes (22), as well as Alex Holtz (22), Dawson Mercer (22), and Kevin Bahl (23). We will likely see Nico Daws (23) in net as their starter Vitek Vanecek got the start on Friday night.
If you’re a big fan of the World Junior Championships, there’s probably a handful of names we just listed that you’ll remember. If you’re not a fan of the WJC, just trust that these are some talented young NHLers.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- The Devils currently sit with a 20-14-2 record and will be on the second night of back-to-backs in their home barn.
- Michael McLeod has been excellent in the faceoff dot this season – he has won 66.4% of his 509 faceoffs. McLeod is projected to centre the third line but will also see time on the penalty kill.
- Timo Meier did not play on Friday night and is not expected to be in the lineup for New Jersey on Saturday night.
- Projected starter Nico Daws has a total of 27 starts in his NHL career and sports a 12-11-1 record with a .894% save percentage over his young career.
As for our Canucks, they are looking to get back on track with the second game of this road trip. The Canucks fell 2-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night and will look to spark some offence while staying in their system in New Jersey.
J.T. Miller is currently leading the team with 50 points in 38 games.
You can vote him into the All-Star Game.
Elias Pettersson has 45 points in 38 games this season.
You can vote him into the All-Star Game.
Brock Boeser has 24 goals in 38 games this season and leads the team.
You can vote him into the All-Star Game
Filip Hronek is 10th in the league for scoring from a defenceman with 29 points in 38 games.
You can vote him into the All-Star Game
Thatcher Demko has an 18-8-1 record with a .918% save percentage on the season.
You can vote him into the All-Star Game
Pius Suter has not been on the ice for an even-strength goal-against since October 21st and due to an injury that kept him out of the lineup for 14 games, that means he has not been on the ice for an even-strength goal-against in his last 19 games.
Since the streak that Suter has been on began, the closest player with the lowest goals-against and a minimum of 200 minutes played is Gabe Vilardi, who has been on the ice for four even-strength goals-against in that time. Suter is playing some strong defence of late and seems to trigger his goaltenders to play like Martin Brodeur when he is literally on fire in NHL Hitz 2003.
The Canucks have two players who are just one goal away from joining Boeser, Miller, Pettersson, Hughes, Ilya Mikheyev, and Nils Höglander in the double-digit goals club. Dakota Joshua and Sam Lafferty are both sitting on nine goals and will look to get around the net and find their 10th on Saturday night.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five:
Teddy Blueger: 1g-5a-6p
Dakota Joshua: 2g-3a-5p
Conor Garland: 2g-3a-5p
J.T. Miller: 1g-4a-5p
Quinn Hughes: 1g-4a-5p
You can watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada and because of the Eastern time zone, the game is a 4 pm PT start time here in Vancouver. You can listen to the radio broadcast with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650.
