The Vancouver Canucks enter tonight’s game at Minnesota owners of the NHL’s longest current win streak at seven games. Vancouver has outscored their opponents by a wide margin of 24-8 in the seven games.
When you go inside the numbers there are two things stand out during the streak. Giving up just over one goal a game is most impressive. Both Roberto Luongo and Eddie Lack each own a shutout (during the streak) and the offense has been carried not by the Sedin twins, but by the line of Ryan Kessler, Mike Santorelli and Chris Higgins. The trio have combined for nine goals and 13 assists. Daniel and Henrik have chipped in with three goals and six assists. It looks like the Canucks have finally found some secondary scoring.
A seven game win streak in the NHL definitely deserves to be acknowledged and praised but before we get too excited and say the Canucks deserve to be included in the discussion of the NHL’s elite, their win streak has come against teams with a combined record of 103 wins and 96 losses.
There is no question they manhandled one of the best teams in the East when they put a hurting on the Boston Bruins this past Saturday night, extending their win streak to seven games. Prior to that, they built this win streak with a pair of wins against the Hurricanes and wins against Nashville, Edmonton, Phoenix and an Avalanche team that has come back to earth after their great start to the season. Not exactly the NHL’s best.
The Canucks record against the top five teams in the Western Conference (Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Los Angeles and San Jose) is 2-5-2, having been outscored 27-15.
Tonight in Minnesota will be the first of three games on the road this week for the Canucks, who will also make stops in Dallas and Chicago. Vancouver can definitely make a case for stepping into the NHL elite category with road wins at Minnesota and Chicago. The two teams are a combined 25-5-6 at home.
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