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Ducks Visit Vancouver
This match-up is the third of the season between both clubs with the Canucks winning the home opener and are 1-1-0 against the Ducks this season.
The Canucks are currently on a 5 game winning streak which include having won the last 4 straight at home.
Both teams are playing the back-up in the game and for the Canucks Cory Schneider has played 15 games for a record of 9-2-2 and a SV% of .926.
Curtis McElhinney has also played 15 games for stats of 4-5-2 and a SV% of .916.
The Canucks are 2nd in the PK unit, while the Ducks have the 3rd best PP structure in the league. The Canucks have the highest team face-off % (55.4) and have had Malhotro sitting at 62.4% ranking 2nd in face-off %.
As of February 8th the Canucks have led the entire league with 79 points in only 54 games played, something the Canucks have never accomplished this fast in the season. In addition it is the fastest the team has ever reached 35 wins.
Vancouver enters the game with the NHL’s highest winning % on home ice which dates back to the start of the 09-10 season.
The Canucks have Cody Hodgson in the line-up (again) and he managed to grab his first NHL goal February 2nd in Phoenix, thus becoming the sixth Canuck this season to record his first NHL goal.
It is obvious that leaving him in Manitoba for a while has helped his career, which can only help out his career in the long-run. From the date the Canucks played the first NHL game, they have played a total of 3,171 (entering this game) and have amassed a total of 10,050 goals.
This includes a total of 1,285 wins. The Canucks have to start getting more production from the third and forth lines, rather than the first two.
President and GM Mike Gillis have managed to put together a group of talented players, which in all likely hood have the talent to extend the season as long as they want to play. I for one don’t really see them dropping out in the first two rounds and given a lucky bounce as well as staying healthy, plan on watching the Canucks till May or June.
Daniel Sedin has consecutive assists dating to January 18th, which only shows why he is such a strong asset for the club. While many came to watch the Canucks, some from Richmond came to watch Anaheim’s # 64 Brandon McMillan. Brandon played his minor in Richmond and his Junior with the Rockets in Kelowna in 2006-07.
After an impressive 25-goal, 67-point campaign in his 4th season he was named to the WHL East First All-Star Team. McMillan played 16 games for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, the Crunch prior to making his NHL debut November 21/10, suiting up with the Ducks for a home game loss against the visiting Oilers.
Duck’s Coach Randy Carlyle has 248 wins entering tonight’s game, the most in Ducks history.
The Canucks (down by two) pulled Schneider with 2:14 left in the third, seeing them get the third goal with 20.2 seconds left and no timeout. Kesler got credited with the goal and in the last 2 seconds they came close to tying the game.
Following the game I had the opportunity to talk to Brandon McMillan of South Delta who only had to buy 12 tickets for tonight’s game, where as last time he purchased over 20 for family and friends.
He thanks everyone with the South Delta Minor Hockey organization who helped him reach his dream. He told me “it took me over 2 years to score in Kelowna, so getting goals at this level early in my career is just great”.
Brandon played 20 shifts for a total time on-ice of 14:14 for an average shift time of 42 seconds.
He had 1 shot, 2 blocked shots, 3 face-off wins, 4 face-off loses for a % of 43. One scary moment in the game came when Ryan Getzlaf left his feet and hit Dan Hamhuis against the boards.
The check might be questionable, but if you see the replay notice how Hamhuis hit’s his head on the glass following the check. Following the game, no word was released on his condition.
No one just likes to see these type’s of hits on anyone and sooner or later it’s going to be a career ending hit, which is sad to state.
Final shots on goal Canucks 37 – Ducks 24.
Stars: 3rd # 22 Daniel Sedin
2nd # 8 Teemu Selanne
1st # 9 Bobby Ryan