The Vancouver Canucks face the Boston Bruins with both teams on opposite directions of the standings to start the season. The Canucks have a 4-8-3 record while the Bruins have a 13-2 record which is the best in the Eastern Conference. The Canucks are looking to make up ground in the Pacific Division while the Bruins hope to remain in first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Canucks are having a rough start to the season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.50 goals per game. Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, and J.T. Miller have scored 27 goals and 22 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. Andrei Kuzmenko, Conor Garland, and Ilya Mikheyev have combined for 14 goals and 13 assists while defensemen Quinn Hughes and Luke Schenn have added a goal and 19 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has looked great but the defense is one of the worst in the league, allowing 4.07 goals per game. While Hughes and Schenn have combined for 1.1 defensive point shares but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. In addition, goaltender Thatcher Demko has struggled in the net with a .874 save percentage and a 4.01 goals-against average on 318 shots.