Vancouver Canucks Gameday Preview #45: Two Of The NHL’s Top Rookies Duel In A Match Against The Montréal Canadiens

Two of the NHL’s most exciting rookies will face off when the Vancouver Canucks take on the Montréal Canadiens later today. The Canucks and up-and-comer Zeev Buium are coming off an uninspired 5–0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, with this being their sixth-straight defeat. Montréal and the NHL’s rookie points leader, Ivan Demidov, were also shut out in their last game, facing a 4–0 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings. 

When it comes to points leaders on the season, Montréal and Vancouver both rely on a couple of defencemen to collect points for the team. Lane Hutson ranks second on the Canadiens in points with eight goals and 36 assists, while Noah Dobson ranks sixth with eight goals and 20 assists. For Vancouver, Filip Hronek is tied with Elias Pettersson for first on the team with 26 points. Their next highest-scoring defenceman is Buium, who ranks eighth on the Canucks with four goals and 14 assists.  

Tonight will be an interesting matchup between two teams that were shut out in their last game. Montréal has been shut out twice within the past five games, as they also lost 2–0 to the St. Louis Blues on January 3. Between these two shutouts, however, Montréal had no issues finding the back of the net, as they scored 14 goals over the span of their three previous games. Somehow, despite being tied with the New York Rangers in shots per game with 25.9 (26th in the NHL), the Canadiens still rank within the NHL’s top-10 in overall goals-for with 149 in 45 games. 

While Montréal’s lack of shots is an issue the Canucks can try to combat, it will be hard considering that Vancouver hasn’t quite been able to generate the type of quality shots that would get them more goals. Vancouver’s goal-scoring stats have slowly started to depreciate, going from three goals scored against the Buffalo Sabres, to one against the Detroit Red Wings, to none against Toronto. In all three of these games, the Canucks surrendered five goals against. To bump their current six-game slump, Vancouver will want to take advantage of Montréal’s low-shot hockey and generate good chances of their own. 

Zeev Buium 

Buium made his Canucks debut in electric fashion, scoring the eventual game-winner and adding an assist against the New Jersey Devils on December 14. The defenceman’s offence has cooled, as he has only registered two points since then. As a rookie, it’s not a surprise that Buium is still figuring out the NHL, especially as a defender on a team that’s been at the bottom of the standings. Regardless of whether Vancouver has been winning or not, these games will provide good experience for Buium as his NHL career progresses. With that being said, Buium’s last point came against the Boston Bruins on January 3. Tonight’s game would be a good occasion for him to provide a little more offence, especially against one of his fellow NHL rookies. 

Ivan Demidov

The NHL’s rookie scoring race has been a close battle between players like Matthew Schaefer, Beckett Sennecke, and Demidov. However, Demidov managed to pull away from the group after putting together a five-game point streak that saw him put up two points in four of these five matches. Interestingly enough, since then, he has only recorded one assist in his past five games. Like with Buium, tonight feels like the night that two of the NHL’s most prolific rookies could find the scoresheet after minor dry spells.

Vancouver Canucks (16–23–5): 

Points: 

Elias Pettersson: 11–15–26

Filip Hronek: 3–23–26

Kiefer Sherwood: 17–6–23

Jake DeBrusk: 12–10–22

Conor Garland: 7–15–22

Goaltenders: 

Thatcher Demko: 8–10–1

Kevin Lankinen: 6–11–4

Nikita Tolopilo: 2–1–0

Jiří Patera: 0–1–0

Montréal Canadiens (25–14–6): 

Points: 

Nick Suzuki: 14–34–48

Lane Hutson: 8–36–44

Cole Caufield: 21–21–42

Ivan Demidov: 10–26–36

Juraj Slafkovský: 16–19–35

Goaltenders: 

Jakub Dobeš: 13–5–3

Samuel Montembault: 8–6–1

Jacob Fowler: 4–3–2 

Game Information: 

Start time: 4:30 pm PT 

Venue: Centre Bell 

Television: Amazon Prime

Radio: Sportsnet 650

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