TLDR: Vancouver hasn't won since October 3, and the next team through the door at Rogers Arena has spent the last week coming back from multi-goal deficits. Thursday, October 22 is about whether the Canucks can finally hold a lead, or even get one.
The Detroit Red Wings visit a Vancouver Canucks team that is 2-8-1, 0-5 in its last 5 and winless since October 3, with Thatcher Demko and Marco Rossi both out. Detroit stops in Vancouver between Seattle and Calgary and has spent its last 2 games coming back from 3-1 and 3-0 deficits. The game likely turns on whether Vancouver can finally hold a lead through the 3rd period, which has been the problem during this skid.
Start with the hosts, because they're the story. The Canucks sit at 2-8-1 and are 0-5 in their last 5, and the last of those was the worst kind. Carolina came into Rogers Arena without Hall, Staal, Jarvis and Jankowski, the game was tied 3-3 after 2 periods, and the Hurricanes scored the last 3. The rested home team was the one that ran out of legs. That's not bad luck. Something is wrong with how this team finishes games.
Detroit gets here on a short trip from Seattle, where it nearly pulled off its second straight multi-goal comeback. The Wings were down 3-0 after 2, then Viktor Arvidsson and Alex DeBrincat led a 3-goal 3rd period, and Philipp Grubauer stopping Dylan Larkin in the shootout was all that kept it from being a win. They'd done the same thing against San Jose the game before, erasing a 3-1 deficit with DeBrincat's tying goal at 1:33 of the 3rd before Lucas Raymond won it in the shootout. Detroit was 3-3-2 heading into Seattle and still took a point there.
The catch is that the Wings keep needing those rallies. Todd McLellan said before the trip that Detroit wants to "establish our game on the road" and hadn't had a chance to do that all season. Falling behind 3-0 in the first road game of a 4-stop swing is the opposite of establishing anything. Vancouver is the 2nd stop, with Calgary and Edmonton still to come.
Vancouver's injury list is where the losing gets easier to explain. Thatcher Demko is on IR with a hip injury, and Henrik Sedin has said only that he hopes Demko is back before Christmas. That leaves the crease to Kevin Lankinen and Arturs Meriläinen, which The Hockey Writers framed as an open battle heading into this week. Marco Rossi is also out at center, a hole that's been on the report since mid-October, and Jack Thompson, Akil Thomas and Mackenzie MacEachern are all on IR.
So the matchup is pretty simple: a Detroit team that has shown it can score late against a Vancouver team that has shown it can't hold on late. If the Canucks are going to end this skid, they probably need to do it early, while the Wings are still in the slow-start habit they've shown on this trip, and then actually close out a 3rd period. Puck drop is 7:00 PM PT.
Red Wings vs. Canucks: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 22) — Red Wings Hop the Border to Face a Canucks Team Still Searching · Barstool Bush
