Vancouver Looks For Win In Tampa Bay In Final Game Of Road Trip

CANUCKS BANTER  By Andrew Chernoff  December 22, 2015 

Updated:  2:37 pm PST

Henrik Sedin To Play

Vancouver (12-14-9) plays the last game of their six game road trip, when they face-off against Tampa Bay (17-14-3) tonight.

The Canucks will try to get on the winning track after a 5-4 shoot out loss to Florida on Sunday afternoon.

The Canucks did not lack offense with Jannnick Hansen, Sven Baertschi, Derek Dorsett and Daniel Sedin all scoring. Ryan Miller allowed four goals on 42 shots and left the game because of cramps in favor of Jacob Markstrom who took the loss in the shoot out.

Henrik Sedin will be in the lineup tonight as he was cleared after practice to play.

Sedin has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury but was a full participant in the Canucks’ optional morning skate and said he’s ready to go.

“[The injury is] much better and I should be good tonight,” Sedin said. “You never want to test something in a game. I’m going in there feeling 100 percent.”

Sedin said he should record his normal minutes and will have his usual role on his line and on the power play.

Vancouver recalled  goalie Joe Cannata from Utica Comets as Ryan Miller will not back-up tonight, coach Willie Desjardins told reporters today.

Jacob Markstrom will in net tonight, with Cannata as his backup.

Markstrom has been in 9 games this seasons and has a record of 1-1-3 with a 2.76 GAA and a .911 Sv%.

Chris Higgins did not skate today, and will not be in the lineup tonight.

Vancouver sits in 3rd place in the Pacific division of the Western Conference with 33 points, a point behind San Jose in 2nd spot, and a single points ahead of Arizona, Calgary and Edmonton. Anaheim is 4 points out of a playoff spots.

Five points separate Nos. 2-7 in the Pacific division.

Tampa Bay enters the game after a 5-2 win at Amalie Arena against the Ottawa Senators, their third win in a row. Steven Stamkos scored two times while Mike Angelidis, Nikita Nesterov and Alex Killorn also scored. Ben Bishop put in a 23 save effort for the win.

Tampa Bay occupies 6th in the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference, with 37 points, four points behind Detroit in 3rd spot and a playoff position.

Five points separate Nos. 2-6 in the Atlantic position.

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

• Point Streaks going into the game tonight:
  JARED MCCANN (1-1-2 / 2 Games)
  JANNIK HANSEN (1-2-3 / 2 Games)                                                                                  BO HORVAT (0-2-2/ 2 Games)
  SVEN BAERTSCHI (2-1-3 / 2 Games)
• Sven Baertschi has goals in consecutive games for the first time this season. He last had a goal in consecutive games from Apr. 13-15/13. His
  longest goal streak is three games from Mar. 11-15/12.
• Bo Horvat has recorded an assist in consecutive games for the second time this season (he previously had an assist in consecutive games from Nov. 21-22/15). Last season, Horvat had an assist in two consecutive games on three separate occasions.
• Jared McCann has two points (1-1-2) over the past two games. It is the first time he has recorded at least a point in consecutive games in his career.
• Ryan Miller earned his 54th career shootout victory on Dec. 18 at DET. It is the most by any goaltender in NHL history.
• Daniel Sedin has 17 points (8-9-17) in his last 15 games played. He currently leads the team in points (35), goals (15), ppg (5) and ppp (13), gwg (3), shots (129) and is second in assists (20).
• The Canucks have gone two straight games where they have scored three or more goals (first time since Nov. 8-10)
• Vancouver has a .667 win percentage when scoring three or more goals (10-1-4)
• Vancouver has had 121 power play opportunities to date, the second most of any team in the League; 68 of these opportunities have been drawn on the road
• The Canucks are 15th in the League in blocked shots with 469 and sixth in shots for with 1043

Here are the projected lineups:

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Alexandre Burrows

Ronalds Kenins – Jared McCann – Radim Vrbata

Derek Dorsett – Adam Cracknell – Brandon Prust

Alexander Edler – Christopher Tanev

Yannick Weber – Ben Hutton

Alex Biega – Matt Bartkowski

Jacob Markstrom

Joe Cannata

Injured: Chris Higgins (undisclosed), Ryan Miller (cramps), Luca Sbisa (hand), Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture)

Scratched: Andrey Pedan

LIGHTNING

Vladislav Namestnikov – Steven Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula – Ryan Callahan

Jonathan Marchessault – Cedric Paquette – Erik Condra

Mike Angelidis – Mike Blunden

Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman

Jason Garrison – Andrej Sustr

Matthew Carle – Braydon Coburn

Nikita Nesterov

Ben Bishop

Kristers Gudlevskis

Injured: Ondrej Palat (undisclosed), Tyler Johnson (undisclosed), Jonathan Drouin (lower body), Joel Vermin (hand surgery), Brian Boyle (upper body)

Scratched: Tanner Richard

SEASON SNAPSHOT

CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS

LIGHTNING PLAYERS STATS

CANUCKS-LIGHTNING AT A GLANCE

 

Statistics courtesy of NHL, Vancouver Canucks and SportingCharts, with thanks.