The Vancouver Canucks were The Hockey News’ pick to win the Stanley Cup this season. After a slow start, we’re seeing why.
Led by the Sedin Bros. (who have combined for 22 goals and 75 points), the Canucks have won three in a row and have lost just once in regulation time in their past 10 games. They don’t rely on their defensemen to do a lot of scoring – only two blueliners (Alex Edler and Christian Ehrhoff) are in their top 13 point-producers – but with talents such as Ryan Kesler (15 goals, 25 points) and Mason Raymond (seven goals, 18 points and three game-winning goals), they don’t need to.
And, of course, no mention of the Canucks would be complete without noting the contribution of goalie Roberto Luongo. The 31-year-old is rounding into form – going 2-0-0 with a 1.46 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage in his past two games.
The Nucks no longer have the league’s top power play – they’re now third overall at 23.8 percent, behind Chicago (24.0) and Colorado (23.9) – but that drop has been offset by a penalty kill that is ranked fifth (85.0). Although Vancouver is a somewhat pedestrian 6-2-2 against the weaker Eastern Conference, they’re 12-6-2 against tougher opponents in the West and 7-1-1 in their own division.
The Canucks won’t have a gigantic, Olympics-caused road trip to deal with this season. But they’re on the road this week for three games against Central Division teams: Monday at St. Louis, Wednesday at Detroit and Thursday at Columbus.
The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.
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