Game 27 Preview: Ottawa Senators Vs. Vancouver Canucks

Saying that the Ottawa Senators have struggling as of late would be an understatement, as they’ve lost their past 5 games. Things aren’t getting easier, with the Vancouver Canucks in town.

Ottawa Senators (10-11-5)

VS

Vancouver Canucks (18-8-1)

Canadian Tire Centre, 7:00PM

TV: City   Radio: TSN1200

MATCHUP HISTORY

This is the second game between these two this season. The first was won by Vancouver in OT, back on November 11th. The Senators haven’t been very successful against the Canucks, winning just a single game in their last 8 meetings.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Radim Vrbata, VAN – Vrbata leads the Canucks in goals, as well as shots. He’s the best winger the team has had to play with the Sedin twins in I don’t know how long, and has made the Canucks’ top line a real threat. The fact that he’s just about as dangerous as either Sedin is terrifying for the opposition.

Mika Zibanejad, OTT – Zibanejad has struggled early on, but has started to look better. He’s on a 3 game point streak, and has 5 points in his last 7 games. He has looked much more confident in the past few games, and there’s no reason to believe that things will slow down, especially when playing parts of the last game with Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan.

TOP 3 STORYLINES

1. Surprise Canucks – After only 36 wins last year, the Canucks have already half of that in just 27 games. This seems like a totally different team, which it somewhat is. The additions of Ryan Miller and Vrbata were huge for the team, and Nick Bonino isn’t doing half bad either.

2. Sens’ Defense… Even Worse? – While Marc Methot has looked surprisingly good since his return from injury (not sure if it’s because he has actually been good, or he just looks good compared to the rest), but there were a couple times the team looked like they forgot how to defend against the Penguins, especially on Christian Ehrhoff‘s goal. While Methot is a much needed piece of the puzzle, it’s no use if the others keep playing the way they are.

3. Goaltending Opposites – Everything about Craig Anderson and Ryan Miller has been different this season. Miller has a fantastic record of 16-5-3, while Anderson has a record of 5-7-6, including 5 straight losses. But, Anderson has the better GAA by 0.13, and the better SV% by a substantial 0.25, which shows just how much better the offense for the Canucks is than that of the Senators.