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Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils

Sat Oct 103:30 PM ETESPN+Newark, NJ
By JR·2 min read
Canucks(2-2-0)
Devils(1-2-0)
Saturday 10/103:30 PM

TLDR: The Canucks keep giving up goals and the Devils keep not scoring them. Something has to give Saturday afternoon in Newark.

10/10, 3:30 PMESPN+
Canucks
(2-2-0)
LWLW
Devils
(1-2-0)
LLW

Two clubs off to bumpy starts. The Devils are 1-2-0, struggling to score and losing defensemen, with Siegenthaler day-to-day after leaving the Utah game. The Canucks can score but are playing without Demko, and Lankinen and Merilainen have been leaky. Vancouver plays in Carolina first, so the goalie picture could change before the board opens.

Vancouver Canucks
  • 19 goals in 4 games as of Wednesday
  • 4 unanswered third-period goals to beat Calgary
  • Facing a Devils blue line missing 3 regulars
  • Lankinen and Merilainen allowed 14 on 68 vs Edmonton
  • Demko on IR, Chytil out, DeBrusk ill
  • Plays Carolina 2 days before this one
New Jersey Devils
  • Facing goalies who have been leaky all week
  • Home ice after hosting all but 1 game so far
  • 6 goals in 3 games, shut out by Islanders
  • Lost the special-teams battle against Utah
  • Siegenthaler day-to-day, Casey and Kovacevic out

New Jersey is 1-2-0 and has scored 6 goals in 3 games. The 3-2 opening win over the Flyers looked fine. Then the Islanders shut them out 6-0, a game where the power play and the 5-on-5 scoring both went nowhere. Back home against Utah they lost 5-3, and the Mammoth went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Devils went 1-for-5. Sheldon Keefe didn't put the 5 goals on Jake Allen. He called it a group effort, and he had a point.

The bigger worry is the blue line. Jonas Siegenthaler left the Utah game early in the third with an apparent injury and didn't return, and he's listed day-to-day. Seamus Casey is out 6-8 weeks after a knee procedure, and Johnathan Kovacevic opened the season on the injured non-roster list. Connor Brown is out up front too. That's a lot of missing depth in front of the goalie for a team that already can't win the special-teams battle.

Vancouver has the opposite problem. The Canucks can score: 19 goals in 4 games as of Wednesday. They also give them up. Thatcher Demko is on injured reserve after last February's double hip surgery, and Henrik Sedin is only hoping he's back before Christmas. That leaves Kevin Lankinen and waiver pickup Leevi Merilainen in net, and the pair allowed 14 goals on 68 shots across the home-and-home with Edmonton.

Vancouver Canucks
(2-2-0)
10/05LvsGolden Knights2-3
10/04WvsFlames4-1
10/02LvsOilers7-9
09/30W@Oilers6-5
New Jersey Devils
(1-2-0)
10/06LvsMammoth3-5
10/03L@Islanders0-6
10/01WvsFlyers3-2

Vancouver's 4-1 win over Calgary shows both sides of this team. The Flames led through 2 periods before the Canucks scored 4 unanswered in the third. That's a group that can bury you late, and also one that spent 40 minutes chasing Calgary. Vancouver isn't done with this road trip yet: it plays in Carolina on Thursday, October 8, before this one. How the goalies handle the Hurricanes, and who gets the Newark start after that, will tell you plenty about Saturday.

The Canucks are thin down the middle too. Filip Chytil is on IR with a shoulder injury, and Jake DeBrusk has been dealing with an illness. Still, the matchup comes down to this: a Devils offense that has gone quiet against a Canucks crease that hasn't stopped much. Puck drop is 3:30 PM ET Saturday. Whichever slump breaks first probably decides it.