The Vancouver Canucks begin a three-game homestand against Pacific Division foes on Wednesday night with a battle against their fellow Pacific Northwest club, the Seattle Kraken.
The Canucks wrapped up their six-game road trip with a 2-2-2 record and now get set to face the Kraken on Wednesday before having a back-to-back over the weekend with the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights.
Pius Suter was the leading scorer for the Canucks on their six-game road trip. Suter scored a pair of goals and added six assists for eight points on the trip. Brock Boeser scored four goals while Kiefer Sherwood and Aatu Räty each had three tucks.
Jake DeBrusk had one goal on the trip but led the Canucks with 19 scoring chances. The odds are in his favour of breaking through and scoring some goals in the coming games.
Seattle comes into the Wednesday game after two consecutive home-ice losses against the Dallas Stars, in which they were held to a single goal scored in each game. The Kraken have lost five of their last six games but had a commanding 6-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers during that stretch.
The Kraken are led by their big three defencemen: Brandon Montour, Vince Dunn, and Adam Larsson. Montour averages 23:01 of ice time, Dunn plays 22:05, and Larsson plays 21:14 per game.
Montour has potted 16 goals this season while Dunn has 11 of his own. Larsson is a force in the defensive zone, and he slots onto the top pairing with Dunn.
Quick Hits on the Competition
- Jaden Schwartz (23) and Eeli Tolvanen (22) are the only 20+ goal scorers on the Kraken.
- Jared McCann leads with 52 points (18g-34) through 75 games. McCann is one of six Kraken players who have played in all 75 games this season.
- Montour leads his team with 215 shots on net.
- Joey Daccord’s next start between the pipes will be his 50th of the season. He holds a 24-20-5 record through 49 starts this season and has a .907% save percentage, a 2.72 goals-against average, and one shutout.
- The Kraken’s power play ranks 23rd in the league, operating with an 18.9% success rate. Their leading power play scorer is Shane Wright, who has seven goals on the man-advantage. Chandler Stephenson leads with 17 assists on the power play.
- They are tied with the Edmonton Oilers for 20th in the league on the penalty kill, with a 76.9% kill rate.
- The Kraken are 7-6-0 when they score the first goal on the road this season.
- They are 17-0-1 when taking a lead into the third period.
- The Kraken’s best period has been the third period; they have outscored their opposition 88-66 in the final regulation frame but have been outscored 173-130 through the opening two periods of play this season.
The Story: Pacific Northwest Play
Through 14 games against the Kraken, the Canucks have an 8-5-1 record. Those games against the Kraken were exciting, and we’ve seen an average output of 7.6 total goals between the two teams in their 14 matchups.
Conor Garland has played in all 14 of those games against the Kraken and has been a point-per-game player with six goals and eight assists.
Brock Boeser and Nils Höglander have three goals apiece in their careers against the Kraken.
Thatcher Demko is 5-2-1 all-time against Seattle.
Canucks’ Top Performers over the Last Five Games
Pius Suter: 2g-6a-8p
Kiefer Sherwood: 2g-4a-6p
Jake DeBrusk: 1g-4a-5p
Quinn Hughes: 0g-4a-4p
Aatu Räty: 3g-0a-3p
When and Where to Watch
Wednesday’s game is a 7:30 p.m. PT start, and if you can’t make it down to Rogers Arena, you can watch it on Sportsnet or listen along to the radio call with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.
