Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP
Vegas Golden Knights celebrate after a win over the Chicago Blackhawk in Game 5 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Golden Knights won the series.
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020 | 8:07 a.m.
The Golden Knights found out late Friday night the Vancouver Canucks would be their second-round opponent.
The Canucks eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in six games Friday, and don’t have much time to rest, starting a series with top-seeded Vegas at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The Golden Knights eliminated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games in the first round.
The first four games will all be televised on NBC Sports Network.
Here are five things to know about the Vancouver Canucks.
Two young superstars
Vancouver is the poster child for the level of young talent in the league. The Canucks have last year’s Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year at center, a finalist for this year’s award at defense, and neither have hit their 22nd birthday.
Last year’s winner was Elias Pettersson, the electrifying Swede who has recorded 66 points in both his regular seasons so far. He has become must-watch TV with not only the way he controls the puck as he smoothly skates around defenders, but also comes with a shot much harder than you’d expect from a 176-pound frame.
On the blue line is Quinn Hughes, who has found a home in the new wave of offensive defenseman. He had 45 assists this season and will either win the Calder or finish in second to Colorado’s stud defenseman Cale Makar.
Both have been terrific for Vancouver in the postseason, topping the Canucks’ leaderboard in expected-goals percentage against Minnesota and St. Louis. They also lead in points, where Pettersson has 13 points in 10 postseason games and Hughes is tied for second with 10 points.
Established veteran stalwarts
The Canucks’ strength is that they’re not just two young talents. Pettersson didn’t even lead the team in scoring this season. That was J.T. Miller, an offseason acquisition who fit in perfectly to the tune of 72 points in 69 games.
Miller, Pettersson and Brock Boeser form a rather terrifying line that Vegas will have to deal with. Miller is tied with Hughes for second on the team with 10 postseason points.
That doesn’t include Bo Horvat, the Canucks captain who has upped his game to a new level against the Blues. He’s tied for the NHL lead with six goals this postseason, four against St. Louis.
Vancouver is a top-heavy team, much like Chicago but to a less extreme. The Canucks’ top six can match Vegas’ in skill, but where the Golden Knights have a clear advantage is further down in the lineup, especially on the blue line.
Goalie playing hot
If Vegas thought it was going to get a reprieve from hot goalies after Chicago’s Corey Crawford, think again. Jacob Markstrom was tremendous in the regular season and has followed that up with one of the better postseasons so far by any netminder.
Markstrom was particularly goof against the Blues at 5-on-5, where he allowed 8 goals compared to more 12 expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Blues used a ferocious power play to fight their way back into the series, but at 5-on-5 Markstrom was a tick behind the Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov for the most goals saved above average this postseason. An all-strengths .930 save percentage doesn’t hurt either.
Markstrom has been great and also has a better supporting cast in front of him than Crawford did. Vegas was able to overwhelm a struggling Chicago defense, but Vancouver has a much stronger defense in front of a goalie making the most of his first taste of the playoffs.
Power play got the job done
There wasn’t a ton of action for either side on the power play in the Vegas-Chicago series, but there was more than anyone’s fair share in the Vancouver-St. Louis series. Among first-round series, the Canucks’ 28.6% success rate on the power play was second in the league, and the Blues’ 27.8% was third.
That says the Canucks were both able to score with the man advantage but gave up quite a few short-handed. The Canucks were either up a man or down a man 39 times in six games against St. Louis, and saw 11 special-teams goals. Vegas and Chicago meanwhile had 22 special-teams chances and just two goals.
That means Vegas will need to be ready to both defend a better power play than it saw in the first round and attack a weaker penalty kill. The Golden Knights didn’t need special teams to get through the Blackhawks, but may need it against the Canucks.
They’ve never beaten Vegas in regulation
The Canucks are the only team left in the league that has yet to beat the Golden Knights in a 60-minute hockey game in Vegas’ three seasons of existence. Vancouver does have two wins — a shootout victory in 2018 and an overtime win in December — but the Golden Knights have had no trouble with the Canucks in three years.
It’s more than just winning the games. Vegas has averaged 4.50 goals per game against Vancouver, tied with Florida for the most against any opponent, and has allowed 2.60, the seventh-fewest. The Golden Knights’ plus-19 goal differential against the Canucks is tied for second against any Vegas opponent. They have a .900 points percentage against Vancouver, the most against any team in the league.
This though, is the best Canucks team the Golden Knights have faced, riding high off a series win against the defending champion Blues. St. Louis, by the way, was the only team the Golden Knights had never beaten in regulation until they did in the round-robin.
Schedule:
Game 1 — 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Game 2 — 6:45 p.m. Tuesday
Game 3 — 6:45 p.m. Thursday
Game 4 — 5 p.m. Saturday
Game 5* — Aug. 31, TBD
Game 6* — Sept. 1, TBD
Game 7* — Sept 3, TBD
*if necessary
Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.
