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Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks
By Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter
Tues., March 5, 2019
ROGERS ARENA
FACEOFF: 9 p.m.
Wednesday NHL game preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks | The Star
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/sports/leafs/2019/03/05/wednesday-nhl-game-preview-toronto-maple-leafs-at-vancouver-canucks/pettersson.jpg)
Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson continues to lead all NHL rookies with 26 goals and 56 points. (DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
TV: Sportsnet
RADIO: TSN 1050
KEY PLAYERS
Pettersson/Nylander
Two of the best young Swedish forwards in game, but both need to get back on the scoreboard. Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson has not scored in his last seven games, and has one goal in his last ten. William Nylander has performed well enough as the Leafs’ third-line centre with Nazem Kadri nursing a concussion, but he has just five goals in 38 games.
NEED TO KNOW
It looks like the Canucks will miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year; they have lost six of their last seven games, and 11 of their last 14. The franchise wanted to play meaningful games in the second half of the season, and did that in February. But Vancouver is now eight points behind Minnesota for final wild card spot in the West ... Vancouver has played 32 one-goal games, going 12-20 … Pettersson (26 goals), Bo Horvat (23) and Brock Boeser (21) carry the offensive load. The only other Canuck in double figures in goals is Jake Virtanen, with 12.
UP NEXT Saturday at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Canucks Game Day: Can fading hosts find re-Leaf tonight against surging Toronto?
Ben Kuzma More from Ben Kuzmahttps://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/canucks-game-day-can-fading-hosts-find-re-leaf-tonight-against-surging-toronto
It's look-in-the-mirror time for the Canucks who are all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive season.
NEXT GAME: WEDNESDAY
Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks
6 p.m., Rogers Arena, TV: Sportsnet; Radio: Sportsnet 650 AM
THE BIG MATCHUP
The compete level vs. The Globetrotters
Their warm-up music could be Sweet Georgia Brown because the Maple Leafs can display a dazzling and deadly balance of quick-strike scoring and depth, with the NHL’s second-ranked offence that is tops at even strength and seventh on the power play.
The Leafs are coming off Monday’s 6-2 dousing of the Flames in Calgary, in which Tyler Ennis recorded his first hat trick to overshadow Mitch Marner becoming the first Leaf to hit the 80-point plateau since Phil Kessel in 2013-14.
What does this all mean for the Canucks, who on Jan. 5 were blanked 5-0 in Toronto? After a 0-2-1 road trip dropped the club eight points below the wild-card playoff bar with five teams to pass — and the collective compete level called into question Sunday after an embarrassing 3-0 loss in Las Vegas in which the Golden Knights held a 48-19 shot advantage — it’s look-in-the-mirror time.
If Minnesota, which holds the final wild-card spot, goes a reachable 9-7 in its final 16 games, the Canucks would have to reel off a ridiculous 13-3 run. Their longest win streak is three and they reached it three times in 2018. All but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive season, the mantra of meaningful games in March has become audition season for next fall.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. The Big Three requires big support
Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson are the future, but it’s the present that’s the problem.
Horvat has shouldered a massive load and three goals in his last nine games speaks to tenacity. But Boeser hasn’t scored in six and the two goals he managed in the past 10 games were off a fluttering release and a tap-in. And an increasingly frustrated Pettersson hasn’t scored in seven games and has one goal in his last 10.
It speaks to time and space being taken away from the ultra-creative Pettersson and how much the intensity has ramped up in the second half of the season. Pettersson has 26 goals, Horvat has 23 and Boeser 21. The drop-off is severe after The Big Three. The injured Jake Virtanen has 12 goals and a trio has but nine.
2. Is something bugging Boeser?
It’s natural to assume a year after a back injury shut down his season — and a groin strain that morphed into an adductor irritation in November sidelined the right-winger for 13 games — that it was going to have some effect this season.
However, 10 goals in a 14-game spurt following the latest injury were encouraging. Still, the stride doesn’t quite seem the same and his release isn’t as heavy or accurate.
Boeser is second on the team in shots and had a six-shot outing Thursday in Arizona. General manager Jim Benning said the restricted free agent isn’t having back issues, and those close to the winger say he’s only having minor issues most players experience.
3. Roussel keeps setting example
It’s not always pretty with Antoine Roussel. Sometimes you wonder how the league’s second-ranked penalty-minute man goes about his business to drag the Canucks into the fight. But you can’t argue with the bottom line.
With everything that’s amiss on left wing — indifferent play, injuries and newcomers — the gritty veteran has been beyond a pleasant surprise. He scored twice on the last road trip and his 29 points (9-20) equal the career high he reached in Dallas in 2013-14 and 2015-16.
4. No shooting gallery for Markstrom
Goalies like a lot of shots to get in a rhythm. What Jacob Markstrom saw on the last road trip was ridiculous. He faced 48 shots Sunday in Las Vegas and 45 Wednesday in Denver.
He was the only reason the Canucks were even in those games and the one big takeaway from this season is those doubts about his ability to handle the physical and mental strain of being a starter have even erased with a .914 saves percentage.
5. How long until the Mix-Master?
Coach Travis Green mixes his lines to try to find symmetry at even strength and even the pitiful power play. With the 27th-ranked offence and 29th-rated power play, it might not take long to go away from starting lines tonight or even PP units. Part of it is necessity and part of that is to see who wants to push the pace.
Tanner Pearson figures to play with centre Bo Horvat and winger Nikolay Goldobin. Christian Petersen / Getty Images
CANUCKS’ LINES
Forwards
Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Nikolay Goldobin
Josh Leivo — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel — Adam Gaudette — Markus Granlund
Loui Eriksson — Jay Beagle — Tyler Motte
Defence
Alex Edler — Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot — Alex Biega
Ashton Sautner — Luke Schenn
Goalies: Jacob Markstrom, Thatcher Demko
LEAFS’ LINES
Forwards
Zach Hyman — John Tavares — Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson — Auston Matthews — Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau — William Nylander — Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis — Frederik Gauthier — Trevor Moore
Defence
Morgan Reilly — Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin — Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin — Igor Ozhiganov
Goalies: Frederik Andersen, Garret Sparks
SICK BAY
Canucks: Ryan Spooner (groin, day-to-day), Ben Hutton (shot block, game-time decision), Chris Tanev, (ankle, IR), Brandon Sutter (sports hernia, surgery), Jake Virtanen (rib fracture, IR)
Leafs: Nazem Kadri (concussion, day-to-day), Jake Gardiner (back, day-to-day), Travis Dermott (shoulder, day-to-day)
SPECIAL TEAM
POWER PLAY
Canucks: 29th (15%)
Leafs: 7th (22.7%)
PENALTY KILL
Canucks: 16th (80.2%)
Leafs: 20th (79.9%)
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