The Vancouver Canucks face the Edmonton Oilers with both teams looking to improve in the Pacific Division. The Canucks have a 13-15-3 record and are near the bottom of the division while the Oilers have an 18-14-2 record and are in the middle of the division. Both teams are looking to improve in 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 3.29 goals per game. Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat have scored 35 goals and 30 assists to lead the top line but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. J.T. Miller, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Ilya Mikheyev have combined for 34 goals and 36 assists while defenseman Quinn Hughes is adding 27 assists from the blue line to help open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has been awful, allowing 3.90 goals per game. Luke Schenn and Tyler Myers have combined for 2.6 defensive point shares but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offensive zone and find open shots on the net. In addition, goaltender Spencer Martin has struggled in the net with a .885 save percentage and a 3.59 goals-against average on 506 shots.