Vancouver Canucks Week #14 Outlook: Running Low
By David Joun
vs. Arizona Coyotes (18-16-3) Monday, January 4th
Leading scorer: Mikael Boedker (12 goals, 30 points)
Keys to the game
- Shut down the Kids
- Play Louis Domingue tough
- Don’t let Shane Doan repeat Jaromir Jagr‘s feat
Evidently, this is a “four-point game” for Vancouver.
The Arizona Coyotes are playing without Mike Smith — good news for the Canucks who are just behind the Coyotes in the Pacific Division standings. The Canucks will have to shut down the kids — Max Domi and Anthony Duclair — and the blueline, namely Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
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Arizona’s offence has an insanely high shooting percentage. Despite putting the second-least number of shots on net, the Coyotes have managed to become the eighth most successful offence in the league. In simple terms, that says the Coyotes have capitalized on their high-danger chances.
When you have Ekman-Larsson, Domi, Duclair, and Boedker all orchestrated by veteran Doan, you will create high-danger chances and bury most odd-man rushes and breakaways. Also, the blueline can score some timely goals when the team is second best in the league in faceoffs.
On the other hand, losing Smith and having Domingue in net is somewhat of good news for the Canucks — until you realize that Domingue’s numbers surpass Smith’s by a mile. Domingue’s .922 save percentage and 2.53 goals against average are certainly nothing to laugh about. But he is still a newbie to the league. The Canucks need to play him tough and grind the defence down.
That being said, Vancouver’s own defence has to be aware of another ancient scorer in Doan, after letting Jagr dominate them a few games ago in Florida.
Next: vs. Hurricanes