Canucks gameday: The power play needs to be better

The Vancouver Canucks meet the St. Louis Blues tonight for the fifth time of the series with a chance to go up 3-2. Here’s the gameday preview.

From being one shot away from a 3-0 stranglehold over the defending Stanley Cup champions to being deadlocked at two, the Vancouver Canucks now look to regroup and get a leg up on the competition. But nobody said it’s going to be easy.

With a necessary goaltending change after a God awful performance from last year’s best goaltender, Jake Allen has taken over for Jordan Binnington and helped his team crawl right back into this series. Some may say the tides have turned, and that wouldn’t be wrong. The Blues have turned their game around in a big way and are looking like the champions they can be. It’s not just the goaltending change that’s made the difference.

The Canucks — who rely on strong special teams to earn big wins — have been completely shut down by St. Louis thanks to Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, and some grade-A penalty killers. At both the power play and the penalty kill, the Blues have completely outplayed the Canucks. Lighting the lamp last game at 5-on-3, and shutting down Vancouver’s PP1 seven different times.

If the Canucks can’t get it done when playing the man-advantage they may as well throw in the towel. Vancouver is being dominated at even strength, being badly outshot on a nightly basis, and without Tyler Myers‘ exceptional breakout game they have been completely hemmed in their own end. The Canucks need to get under the skin of their opponents and convert on the power play.

Players to watch

Elias Pettersson: He won’t be happy about giving up a 2-0 series lead and that’ll be the fuel added to his already scorching fire. With nine points (4 goals, 5 assists) through his first eight NHL playoff games, Petey has shown he can handle the pressure but unfortunately the Canucks need to ask even more of their superstar. He needs to bring his absolute best performance in order for this team to be successful. He’ll be a man on a mission when the puck drops tonight.

Brayden Schenn: He was the difference-maker in Game 3 and he can’t be underestimated as an excellent two-way player. He has all the tools. From clutch goals to devastating hits, the man knows how to play good hockey. The Blues will be looking for him to bring his physical play to breakdown the Canucks and gain the lead in this series. He has 26 hits through seven games.

Brock Boeser: Scoreless through the first four games of this series, Boeser hasn’t bulged twine since playing the Minnesota Wild. The Lotto Line has been brutal at even strength and Boeser needs to find a way to get his shot on target. This series can’t be won by the Canucks if their star players aren’t bringing their best, and that includes “The Flow”. He’ll be hungry to score tonight.

Jake Allen: Talk about a brick wall. Despite playing the backup role, he was the better goalie of the two this season and now he’s proving to be the better goalie of the playoffs. He’s holding a 0.961 Save Percentage with a 1.20 Goals Against Average. You can’t ask for anything more than that if you’re Craig Berube. The Canucks need to put pucks on net, put traffic out in front of him, and cause absolute mayhem.

Prediction

They’ll have to scratch and claw their way to victory, but I believe Vancouver has what it takes to get the job done tonight. Their star players need big-time performances, but the Canucks have talent at each major position. You can count on some monster stops from Jacob Markstrom, a ton of talented minutes from Quinn Hughes, and the absolute best from EP40. 4-2 Vancouver and the power play strikes more than once.

The puck drops at 7:30 PM Pacific time. Go Canucks go!