Daily Picks: Streaking Canucks, Wings in Detroit
Can Ryan Miller and the Canucks keep up their impressive hot streak agaisnt the Red Wings? (USATSI)
Game of the Day: It may be the only game Sunday, but it’s a darn good one. Both the Canucks and Red Wings enter Sunday on three-game winning streaks. Both are 7-2-1 in their past 10 and are among the hottest teams in the NHL. They’ll be playing on an extra day’s rest as well, so the recipe is set for a really good one between two of the NHL’s better teams of late.
The Canucks have overtaken the lead in the Pacific Division with a 16-6-1 record thanks to a 9-3-1 mark throughout the month of November. Despite the current hot streak, head coach Willie Desjardins has been critical of his team as a whole while heaping praise on goaltender Ryan Miller, who has been particularly sensational over his past three starts.
Miller has allowed just one goal in his past three games and recorded shutouts in two straight. He is expected to be back between the pipes in his home state (and playing against his brother Drew Miller). He hasn’t fared particularly well against the Red Wings over his career with a 2-9-2 record, .897 save percentage and 3.37 goals-against average. This time, Miller comes in riding a hot streak, but he’ll also face an offense that has been hotter, perhaps.
The Red Wings have been rolling with 14 goals over their past four games. In fact, in each of Detroit’s seven wins in November, they have scored at least four goals. With top Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis out for an extended period, an offense firing like Detroit’s might have a bit of an easier time finding space on home ice. That’s especially true with Pavel Datsyuk healthy.
Datsyuk had two goals in his first game back from dealing with a groin issue and played over 20 minutes Friday against the Devils. Showing basically no signs for concern, this could be a good game for Datsyuk to get heavily involved and put some points on the board.
Both the Canucks and Red Wings have been rolling lately, but one of them is going to get stalled out Sunday. So which team has the advantage? It’s probably the one that hasn’t had to rely so heavily on goaltending as of late. Pick: Red Wings 4, Canucks 2
Three stars
1. Gustav Nyquist, Red Wings: Nyquist has been relatively quiet over the recent three-game winning streak with a goal and an assist. His speed could give the Canucks’ D corps, which lacks balance without Hamhuis, some trouble and wear them down.
2. Pavel Datsyuk, Red Wings: There’s a good chance Datsyuk is going to get put up with Henrik Zetterberg and the way those two have been playing this season, it will be a handful for the Canucks. Datsyuk looks to be back at full strength after missing about 10 days of action and when he has been at full strength, he has been great.
3. Radim Vrbata, Canucks: With five points over his past five games, Vrbata has been a pretty reliable source of offense. He also has 16 shots over that span and should get some good looks against Detroit.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
