NHL Grind Down: Friday, January 20th - Page Two
Jump to Page 1 2
Florida Panthers at Vancouver Canucks
| Florida Panthers | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Roberto Luongo |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 20-18-9 | 21-19-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.30 | 2.68 | 15.00% | 83.90% | Team Stats | 2.35 | 2.78 | 13.30% | 80.00% |
Both teams come into this one just an eyelash away from qualifying for the end of the season tournament. Florida’s 49 points has the team just a single point behind the Flyers and Senators for the last spot in the Eastern Conference going into last ni8ght’s action. Vincent Trocheck should probably be considered for all formats tonight as his 11 points is tied for third in the league since the calendar flipped to 2017. Jaromir Jagr and Jared McCaan skate with him at even strength but it’s probably best to use him as a one off here on the road. Jagr leads the team in assists with 28 and has registered five of his 28 points over the last nine games. Jonathan Marchessault is another candidate to fly solo tonight as he skates on the second line with Jussi Jokinen and Reilly Smith. Jokinen and Smith have each posted three points over the last nine games while Marchessault hasn’t been much better with two goals and two assists over that same time frame. Marchessault is tied for second on the team in points however as he has racked up 13 goals and 15 assists in the 40 game he has suite up for. Keith Yandle is the play on the back line as he gets the first shot on the team’s top power play unit. A case could be made for Aaron Ekblad as well as both players have tallied five points in the last nine games with Ekblad firing a team high 25 shots on goal over that time frame.
The Canucks are tied with the Los Angeles Kings for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson and Henrik Sedin are usually the players to target on home ice. To dive deeper into these numbers we must first establish that Vancouver has played 46 games so far this season with 25 of them being in front of the home crowd and the other 21 games played on the road. Eriksson has registered 15 of his 21 points on home ice while Henrik Sedin grabbed 18 of his 29 points in front of the home crowd. Yes, Vancouver has played four more games at home but still these are pretty big number swings. Daniel Sedin is the closest to having even splits as he has recorded 14 points at home while adding 11 more on the road. Vancouver doesn’t score much which brings us to the team leader in scoring, Bo Horvat. His 30 points tops the list as he plays on a line with Sven Baertschi and Alexandre Burrows. Baertschi is a few spots down in the pecking order as he has lit the lamp 11 times while adding 13 assists. Markus Granlund and Brandon Sutter can also be used here in tournament play as Granlund leads they both lead the team with Horvat and Henrik with five points over the last eight games. Troy Stecher and Alexandre Edler are basically the choices on the back line and neither one ios that appealing. Stecher has 13 points in 37 games while Edler has managed just eight points in the 32 games he has suited up for this season. I wouldn’t expect a lot of goals tonight from this group so not going overboard may be the play of the night.
Elite Plays
FLA: Vincent Trocheck
VAN: None
Secondary Plays
FLA: Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Marchessault, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Loui Eriksson, Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, Daniel Sedin