Howlin' Hockey
Fansided

Arizona Coyotes: Previewing The Vancouver Canucks

By Brendan Cullen

VANCOUVER, BC - JANUARY 16: Arizona Coyotes Goalie Adin Hill (31) reaches for the puck after a shot from Vancouver Canucks Right Wing Brandon Sutter (20) during their NHL game at Rogers Arena on January 16, 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.(Photo by Devin Manky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - JANUARY 16: Arizona Coyotes Goalie Adin Hill (31) reaches for the puck after a shot from Vancouver Canucks Right Wing Brandon Sutter (20) during their NHL game at Rogers Arena on January 16, 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.(Photo by Devin Manky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

I write this preview the night before game day. As the Arizona Coyotes travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks. This article will be what to expect from the game and the Canucks. If you don’t know enough about the Canucks.

At this moment, the Canucks are depleted by injuries, those injuries? They’re missing Brock Boeser, Michael Ferland, Josh Leivo, and Jacob Markstrom.  And those injuries are showing in their performance. The Canucks are coming off a bit of a nightmare road trip where they went 1-3-0.

And in their last four third periods, the Canucks have given up a goal within a minute into the first minute of the period times. The one-third period where they didn’t, the Canucks gave up four goals. So the Canucks haven’t been able to a complete game in a really long time.

Tonight, I decided to listen to a Vancouver Canucks podcast, that I will endorse. It’s called Pucks On Net, I’m listening to them, and well, they don’t seem to feel they’re gonna the playoffs. They say things like they don’t see the Canucks playing with fire. Also, they feel a big key to beating the Canucks, that is that they see teams doing a good job of shutting doing is down Elias Pettersson.

More from Howlin' Hockey

And after shutting down Pettersson, there are fewer guys to rely on. Yes, they have Quinn Hughes, and Tyler Toffoli is averaging a point per game since joining the Canucks, but there aren’t any more heavyweights.

Now, this is a big game. The Canucks have a goalie problem, they’ve given up at least three goals in their last six games. Specifically, Thatcher Demko has a lot of pressure on him. Vancouver is very tough on goalies. So the Coyotes have an opportunity to really shatter the confidence of a team’s goalie who they’re chasing in the standings. The Canucks are also a bottom 10 Corsi team, so they’ll have a good opportunity to pounce.

So for the Coyotes to win, I feel, to reiterate the Coyotes need to shutdown Pettersson. And I feel the Coyotes could do that if they put out the Niklas Hjalmarsson pairing when he’s on the ice. Statistics indicate that not defensemen on the Coyotes suppresses more shots the Hjalmarsson.

Prediction. I see the Coyotes who are starting to heat up to pull off the win in regulation. I predict the Arizona Coyotes winning by the final score, 3-2 The Coyotes are starting to heat up with five wins in their last 10 games, I feel they match up well with subpar puck possession teams. Clayton Keller has multiple-goal games recently and is heating up. I see him at least contributing one point.

Home/Coyotes News