Canucks at Coyotes
The Vancouver Canucks have lost a little steam in their building process this month and hope to begin moving forward again when they continue their three-game road trip Sunday against the suddenly red-hot Arizona Coyotes. The Canucks showed plenty of promise early on as they started the campaign 14-10-4, but they have posted only two victories in February (2-7-1) after suffering a 6-3 loss at Vegas on Friday.
Vancouver played a strong first period against the Golden Knights but was outscored 4-1 over the final two sessions, leading defenseman Alex Edler to tell Sportsnet: “That’s been the problem we’ve had all year, inconsistency. … We have to play 60 minutes of good hockey.” Sunday's game will feature two of the top rookies in the league as Vancouver’s Brock Boeser (27 goals, 51 points) takes on Clayton Keller of Arizona (17, 44) in the first of four matchups between the Pacific Division rivals over the remainder of the season. The Coyotes are close to climbing out of the bottom spot in the league after earning points in seven of their last eight contests (6-1-1). Arizona, which has allowed fewer than two goals in four of its last five victories, received a 26-save performance from Antti Raanta in Saturday's 2-0 triumph over Anaheim to climb within one point of Eastern Conference-worst Buffalo (47)
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), FS Arizona
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (23-31-7): Boeser has notched an assist in each of his last two games while Thomas Vanek, who could be on the move before Monday's trade deadline, has recorded three points in his last four contests. Daniel Sedin is trying to finish the season strong, registering three goals and four assists over his last six games, while Bo Horvat has collected six points in the same span. Jacob Markstrom could make his first start in five games as Anders Nilsson has allowed 10 goals in his last two starts and 15 over his last four.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (18-33-10): Keller has been kept off the scoresheet in three straight games, but the 19-year-old registered three goals and five assists in his previous five contests to rank fourth in the league in points among rookies. Derek Stepan also was blanked on Saturday but has recorded eight points in his last nine games and is two shy of 400 for his career. Defenseman Jason Demers and Max Domi, who has registered five points in his last seven games, each scored their fifth goal of the season in the win over Anaheim.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona 19-year-old D Jakob Chychrun, who has recorded 10 points in 31 contests this season, is slated to play in his 100th NHL game on Sunday.
2. Vancouver LW Sven Baertschi has registered two goals and three assists in his last four contests.
3. The Canucks won their first three matchups against the Coyotes in 2016-17 before dropping the last two in Arizona.