Last minute Canucks News, reports, updates heading into Canucks Vs. Oilers

Connor McDavid has played in 17 games this season, and he has a point in every single one. 10 goals, 34 assists for 44 points, and tonight he gets the worst penalty kill in the league, almost. Here's the gap. Edmonton scores 4.12 goals a game and allows 3. Vancouver scores 2.94 and allows 4.61. The gap is almost 1.5 goals on defense, so that's the mountain we have to climb. The Canucks are 3, 14, and 1. They have lost 4 in a row, all in regulation, and they are 8th out of 8 in the Pacific Division. So is there any version of the Canucks tonight that gets to stay in this game? First, who's in the lineup? The Canucks' latest lines, as of the Winnipeg game, have Jake DeBrusk, Pedersen, and Brock Besser together on the first line. Line 2 is Liam Övgren, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Marco Rossi. And Liam Övgren is the one to watch with the story. He was a healthy scratch earlier this season, and he has four goals in his last six games. That is not nothing for a team that scores 2.94 goals a game. Line three and four are Drew O'Connor, Quillen, and Linus Carlson. Then Paul Cotter, Max Sasson, and Brennan Gallagher. And that Carlson name matters in a second. On defense, D. Petey with Filip Pironk. Breezeball with Zee Boyum, and Jamie Oletziak with Victor Mancini. Look at Petzer's plus minus. He's a minus nine, the worst on the team, but he also has 15 points and a point in each of his last three games. Hronik leads the defense with 12 points and 11 of them assists. If the Canucks get anything going from the back end, it's going to run through him. And one of the biggest stories, Jonathan Lekkerimäki has six goals and eight assists for 14 points, tied with Besser for the team leading goals. I'd watch his line tonight for sure. Tom Vilander is day-to-day with a lower body injury, Filippito is on injured reserves, and so is Thatcher Demko, who of course had his hip surgery. Now, the Canucks didn't hold a full team practice. They did have an optional one today, so there's not a lot of quotes coming out from Manny Malhotra, but I'm sure there's going to be a lot of expectations coming from the coach after the Canucks' recent slide. Now the part that everyone's going to look at, and that's the starting goaltender for the Canucks tonight. Now, Meri Leinen has started four of the last five games, and when playing and practicing with the optional skate, he was the first goaltender off the ice, so seems like it's very likely we get another Meri Leinen game. He is 2-6-1 this season, with a 3.56 goals against average and an 8.89 save percentage. Kevin Lankinen, on the other hand, he is 1-8 with a 6.03 goals against average. That is the number that keeps Miller and Cal easy. For Edmonton, the projected is Devon Levi. Tristan Jarry is the backup because he's day-to-day with an illness. And that matters because the Canucks goalies have been busy. Miller faced 29 shots in Winnipeg and let in 6. And Lankinen faced 22 against Anaheim and let in 5. The numbers that decide this game are a couple. The penalty kill. The Canucks kill 63.3% of their penalties, that is 31st out of 32 teams, and Edmonton's power play is clicking at 33.9%, that is 3rd in the league, and McDavid has 18 power play points. So the rule tonight is simple, DO NOT take any dumb penalties, and a lot of people are talking about maybe Carlson sliding in on the penalty kill. Now the good news, and it is real, the Oilers penalty kill is 74.1%, that is 22nd in the league, so they take penalties too, and they don't always kill them. And the Canucks power play percentage sits at 21.4%, which is 17th in the NHL. Not the best, but hey, if they get three penalties taken with the Edmonton Oilers, there's a chance they score one. Number two is how the Canucks have been on the road They are 2-7-1 away from home, and at home 1-7. The Oilers are 7-0-1 on the road. Here's the twist. At home, they're only 4-3-2. These two teams have already met twice to open up the season. The Canucks won 6-5 in overtime in Edmonton on September 29th. Then the Oilers won 9-7 in Vancouver on October 1st. That is 27 goals over the two games to start this season. And if this game plays out like that again, it's going to come down to a goalie duel. So let's talk about who can hurt them. Start with the obvious one. Connor McDavid has 44 points in 17 games, which is 2.59 points a game. 18 of those 44 points came on the power play. So 41% of his production is the exact thing the Canucks are worse at stopping. Second is Drysdale. 14 goals in 17 games. He has a point in each of his last four games and a goal in each of his last two. Third is a defenseman. The most overrated one in the NHL is Evan Bouchard, who has 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points and a point in each of his last five games. A defenseman, he's the level with Connor McDavid on goals. Add that up, those three have 105 points in 17 games. That is more than the Canucks' top three scorers have put together. 47 points. The one thing that gives me hope is the Canucks had the Oilers numbers to start the year, and the Oilers have not been perfect as of late, so this could be another one of those games where it's a bit of a barn burner, but I feel like the Canucks come out victorious in a lot of those. So of course with the Canucks going into this game, they need to not take stupid penalties because they're bad at killing them and the Oilers are good at scoring on them. This is going to come down to Marline having a big performance yet again for the Canucks and scoring first where the Oilers have allowed quite a few of those over the past couple weeks. Streaks. The Canucks have lost four straight. All in regulation. October 29th at San Jose, 3-2. October 31st against Toronto 4-2, November 3rd against Anaheim 5-4, and November 5th at Winnipeg 6-2. That four game skid is not all blowouts. Two of the four were by one goal, 3-2 at San Jose, and 5-4 against Anaheim. The other two were by two and four. Before the run, the last win was October 27th at Anaheim, 6-5 in overtime. In their last 10 games, they're 1-8-1. Now the Oilers, they've lost two in a row too. A shootout loss at New Jersey on November 3rd. And 5-4 loss to Anaheim on October 5th in regulation. And look at who is hot on their side. Leon Draisaitl has four game point streak. He has 14 goals and 31 points. Evan Bouchard, a defenseman, has a five-game point streak. But on the Canucks side, Brock Besser has a point in each of his last three games. Pedersen leads the team with 18 points in 18 games, but has no points on October 31st or November 5th. So who am I looking at for this game? Of course, Connor McDavid sadly has a point in every single one of his games to start the year, which is 17, but I also want to keep an eye on Jonathan Lekkerimaki, a overtime hero just a couple of games ago. Versus the Ducks, but this is a guy that does have six goals. One more streak that matters. The Canucks have won only one of their last eight games at home this season. They were 1-7 at home, so their own building is not helping them out right now. The Oilers are 7-0-1 on the road, but 4-3-2 at home. This is an Oilers team that is not perfect at home and not getting that home ice advantage either. So that's a crack for the Canucks to really go in and steal with, which is not going to be easy. Because of course, the Canucks, a rebuilding team, have lost four straight and they have the 31st ranked penalty kill faced off tonight against the third best power play. But I do truly think if the Canucks can go into Edmonton and take a lead early in that first 10 minutes, this is going to be a game where the Canucks can make the Oilers really feel uncomfortable and maybe play in a different way they want to. But of course, they cannot give the Oilers any stupid penalties where they can work with it and go on to the man advantage, but I think this is a game where the Canucks have a couple underrated players. Liam O'Brien, who's playing very well recently, and Marulin can truly probably steal one of these on the road. But hey, if you made it this far, hit that free subscribe button. We're so close to a goal of 10,000 subscribers. I want to give a sincere thank you to everyone watching, and again, Completely free. But my prediction, and of course, we hate the Edmonton Oilers over here in Vancouver, which is pretty much justified with unlikable players, but this is a team where I think the Vancouver Canucks have shown their best offensive games versus the Edmonton Oilers. And with Miro Nen starting in this game and having some decent games as of late, this is a Canucks game that I genuinely think they're not only going to come out with a win in, but also send Edmonton fans into a panic. For the second, actually third time this season, but let me know your thoughts on the scores down below. Who do you think opens up the score and do the Canucks win this game? Or does this get stretched to a five-game losing streak? Because, hey, we know at the end of the day, we're looking at one thing, and that one thing is the first overall pick. But, hey, beating the Oilers feels a lot better than losing to them. I've been your host, Mark Pye. Take care, Canucks fans. I'll see you in the next one.