The Vancouver Canucks face the Calgary Flames with both teams looking to improve from rocky starts to the season. The Canucks have a 12-13-3 record and are near the bottom of the Pacific Division. The Flames have a 13-11-5 record and with back-to-back overtime losses, have fallen to the bottom of the Pacific Division. Both teams are looking to improve within the division and the Western Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Canucks are having a rough season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.46 goals per game with 16 goals in the last four games. Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Bo Horvat have scored 44 goals and 45 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has stepped up. Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Mikheyev, and Brock Boeser have combined for 26 goals and 31 assists while defensemen Quinn Hughes and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have added a goal and 38 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has been awful this season, allowing 3.86 goals per game. Luke Schenn and Tyler Myers have combined for 2.4 defensive point shares but the rest of the unit has played poorly and allowed opponents to find open shots on the net at will. In addition, goaltender Spencer Martin has struggled in the net with a .891 save percentage and a 3.45 goals-against a verage on 414 shots.