After an exciting victory over the rejuvenated Colorado Avalanche, the Vancouver Canucks welcome an old foe in the Chicago Blackhawks. Here are three keys to victory over the surging Hawks.
After blowing a two goal lead against the Colorado Avalanche, the Vancouver Canucks showed off the mental fortitude necessary and found a way to win. More importantly, it was their top players like Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi who stepped up and lead the way.
Though this win has Canucks fans feeling good, history has shown that the after glow doesn’t last long. Just look at last week, where the Canucks had a fantastic victory against the Los Angleles Kings, then dropped an absolute stinker of a game against the lowly Buffalo Sabres. Consistency is an issue, and will continue to be for the rest of the season.
We simply don’t know which version of the Canucks will show up, and that is what makes this team so frustrating to watch.
The last time the Canucks faced the Blackhawks, Thomas Vanek had a five point night, while Brock Boeser played second fiddle with a four point night. It was good night that lead to a Canucks five game losing streak soon after (see what I mean about consistency).
The Hawks have also been Jekyll and Hyde this season currently winning their last two games by a combined score of 7-2. This is on the heels of a 4 game losing streak in which they were outscored 16-5. Even though they currently find themselves at the bottom of the Central Division, this Blackhawks team still has the top end talent to scare the living daylights of their opponents.
The Hawks also have some emerging talents in the likes of Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat.
Schmaltz (a former teammate of Boeser’s at the University of North Dakota), is currently in his sophomore season where he has been assigned to ride shotgun with Patrick Kane. He hasn’t disappointed, with 13 goals and 36 points, both of which are already career highs.
DeBrincat used to be Connor McDavid‘s running mate when both played for the Eerie Otters of the OHL. In 191 career OHL games, he scored 165 goals. This kid was put on this earth to score goals (he was also available to be selected with the 2016 second round pick the Canucks traded away in the Erik Gudbranson deal, just saying). In 50 games, he has 17 goals, which is good for second on the Hawks and in rookie goal scoring, behind Boeser.
With a plethora of young and upcoming talent on both sides this game has the potential to be very entertaining. Plus its the Canucks vs. the Blackhawks, how can you not get excited? They are rivals ,remember?
Here is what you need to know for tonight’s match, as well as the Canucks three keys to victory:
Vancouver Canucks
2017-18 record: 20-24-6 (28th overall)
Goals for: 131 (26th in the NHL)
Goals against: 162 (27th in the NHL)
Lineup notes
Erik Gudbranson (day-to-day; back)
*Injury report courtesy of Rotoworld
Chicago Blackhawks
2017-18 record: 24-19-7 (20th overall)
Goals for: 148 (13th in the NHL)
Goals against: 137 (9th in the NHL)
Lineup notes
Michal Rozsival (lower body, day-to-day), Corey Crawford (upper body, indefinitely)
*Injury report courtesy of Rotoworld
Use Boeser on the power play
You might be wondering, how on earth are the Canucks suppose to benefit from Boeser be covered? Well, while the penalty killers are all focused on him, this opens up space for the other Canucks shooters to take advantage.
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An example of this would be the tying goal last game where the Chicago players clogged the shooting lane when Boeser had the puck in the slot. This allowed Boeser (who is a very underrated playmaker) to make a nice saucer pass to Henrik Sedin, who then passed it to an open Daniel for an easy redirection goal.
With additional coverage on Boeser, this allows for the Sedins to make more creative plays on the side boards, which can lead to more slap pass goals or even rebound goals.
It will also allow Horvat more room to get rebounds since the two guys on the left flank will be more concerned with a Boeser shot.
Though it is unfortunate that Boeser’s shot will be limited due to such coverage, the positive is that coverage of other offensive minded players will be loosened, which is beneficial for them.
Defensive zone coverage
The Canucks defenceman have had a tough time being in the right spot at the right time. Even the unflappable Chris Tanev has had his struggles.
Case in point, tying goal last night showed this lack of execution. With Mikko Rantanen driving to the net, Troy Stecher was unable to gain inside positioning, which allowed for the puck to go off Rantanen and in. If Stecher was on the inside, Rantanen would not have been able to get good positioning.
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The other two goals can also be attributed to the Canucks lack of defensive zone coverage. If they can clear pucks out of lanes like they were all taught in bantam hockey, then maybe the Canucks would not have needed a comeback effort to beat the Avalanche.
With a Hawks team that is aggressive on pucks, it’ll be more important than ever for the Canucks to have solid positioning and clear the puck out of harms way.
Take advantage of Chicago’s depleted defence
With the exceptions of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, the Hawks defence has a lot of unfamiliar names like Jordan Oesterle, Erik Gustafsson, and Michal Kempny. The first two were playing in AHL for the majority of the season, while Kempny only played 50 NHL games where he accumulated 8 points.
Even the incumbents like Keith and Seabrook have not been good this year.
Keith does not have a single goal on the season, and he has played 50 games. While he is still effective, the fact that he has no goals to his name is extremely alarming, especially since he constantly in the Norris trophy conversation.
Seabrook has had his fair share of struggles. In fact, he was actually made a healthy scratch at one point in the season. With 14 points in 49 games, he (as well as his albatross of a contract) are not going to age well.
Additionally, the Blackhawks are also running with Anton Forsberg and Jeff Glass as their two goalies. They have a combined 37 career NHL starts. This should put a smile on Brock Boeser’s face.
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Basically, the Canucks need to take advantage of all these shortcomings, and take it to the Blackhawks like they did last time.