By Andrew Chernoff

December 11, 2016

Game Time: 2:00 PM PST
Location: Verizon Center
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: TSN 1040

Vancouver (12-14-2=26 pts) play the 4th game of a 5 game road trip tonight at BB&T Center against Eastern conference rivals, Washington Capitals (16-7-3=35 pts).

Hansen Probable, Markstrom Likely To Start

Jannik Hansen is expected to be back in the lineup against the Capitals after missing five weeks with a rib injury.

Expect Jacob Markstrom to get the game start against Washington, with Thatcher Demko the backup goalie.

The Canucks conclude their 7th of 16 back-to-back series this season with tonight’s visit to Washington. They are 4-8-1 in back-to-backs thus far this season.

The Capitals are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games overall; and 5-2-0 in their last 7 games at Verizon Center.

The Canucks are 3-3-0 in their last 6 road games; 6-4-1 in their last 11 games overall.

The Capitals and Canucks are playing their second and last of two meetings this season; their only meeting at BB&T Center. Washington visited Vancouver on Oct 29 defeating Vancouver 5-2.

Vancouver is 6-4-0 in their last 10 games versus Washington (10-5-0 in their last 15).

After tonight, Canucks play: Carolina, Dec 13; before returning to Vancouver for 6 of the 8 remaining games in December, at Rogers Arena.

Vancouver is 1-2-0 on the trip so far.

In the Canucks last game, the Florida Panthers defeated Vancouver last night, 4-2, holding on after building up a 3-0 lead on the Canucks early in the 3rd period.

Jack Skille scored his third goal in the last two games to make it 3-1; Daniel Sedin scored his 9th goal of the season on the power play, to pull the Canucks within a goal at 3-2.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 38 of 41 shots, and registered his 5th loss of the season, to go with 6 wins and 2 overtime losses.

Other notes from last nights game:

• Daniel Sedin extended his points streak to 4 games (3-2=5 pts).
• Jack Skille has a two game points streak (3-0=3 pts).
• Troy Stecher contributed with his 6th assist of the season, and had 8 shots on net; 1 attempted shot blocked; and 1 missed shot. He also had 2 hits.
• Henrik Sedin, with his 11 assist; and Michael Chaput, with his 3rd, picked up points as well.

Canucks In Brief:

Canucks, continue to be in 6th place in the Pacific division; 3 points in front of Arizona; 7 points behind 2nd, 3rd and 4th place, San Jose, Anaheim and Edmonton.

Record By Five Game Segment:

Game Segment      1-5       6-10     11-15     16-20   21-25   26-30
W-L-T                        4-0-1     0-5-0     1-4-0      3-1-1      3-2-0     1-2-0
Goals For/GP             2.6        0.8         2.2          3.4          2.2          3.0
Goals Against/GP      2.0        3.4         3.4          3.6          2.6          2.7
PP%                             13.0       0.0         7.7         23.1        23.1        20.0
PK%                            86.7       77.8      95.0        75.0        91.7        85.7

Vancouver’s goaltender tandem of Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom are 24th in the NHL, with a 2.84 GAA and a .904 SV%:

• Jacob Markstrom is 6-5-2, with a 2.76 GAA (26th), and a .903 Sv% (31st)*  * At least 12 GP
• Ryan Miller is 6-9-0, with a 2.63 GAA (23rd), and a .916 Sv% (18th)*

Leading scorers:

• Daniel Sedin (9-10=19 pts)
• Henrik Sedin (7-11=18 pts)
• Bo Horvat (8-8=16 pts)
• Brandon Sutter (6-8=14 pts)
• Loui Eriksson (6-5=11 pts)
• Sven Baertschi (4-7=11 pts)
• Markus Granlund (5-5=10 pts)
• Alex Burrows (4-6=10 pts)

Scratches:  #29-Andrey Pedan; #47-Baertschi; #62-LaBate;

Canucks injured:

• Anton Rodin; 28 games missed
• Chris Tanev; 18 games missed
• Derek Dorsett; 10 games missed
• Alex Edler; 4 games missed
• Philip Larsen; 2 games missed
• Ryan Miller; 1 game missed

Total Man Games Lost: 122

Points streaks:

• DANIEL SEDIN (2-2=4 pts / 3 Games)
• JACK SKILLE (3-0=3 pts /2 Games)

Vancouver special teams are:

• 12 for 82: 14.6 percent on the power play overall (26th in the NHL)
• 11 for 75: 85.3 percent on the penalty kill overall (5th best in NHL)

Canucks have allowed 82 goals against (t-23rd in NHL), and have scored 64 goals (27th in NHL).

Canucks Notables:

• Troy Stecher:
  • ranks 4th in rookie TOI/game with 21:04; 76th overall in NHL
  • ranks 9th in rookie shots on goal with 59 and 7th in rookie defencemen assists with 6
  • ranks 3rd among all defensemen in Shots/60 (All Situations) at 8.84 (min 300 minutes)
  • ranks 58th overall in Shots/60 (All Situations) at 8.84
  • ranks 9th among all defensemen in Shots/60 (5-on-5) at 6.89 (min 300 minutes)
  • ranks 110nd overall in Shots/60 (5-on-5) at 6.89 (min 300 minutes)
  • ranks 1st among rookie defensemen, 2nd among all rookies, in Shots/G average at 3.1; tied for 22nd overall in NHL
• Jack Skille has 3 goals in the past 2 games. He last had 3 goals over 2 straight games on Dec. 19 (1 goal) and Dec. 21/15 (2 goals) as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Skille has never scored a goal in 3 or more consecutive games in his NHL career.
• Through 28 games, Bo Horvat currently ranks t-2nd on the team in goals (8) and third in points (16). He recently posted a five-game point streak (3-4-7) from Nov. 19-29. He has registered 46 points in 72 games during the calendar year.
• Nikita Tryamkin ranks second among NHL rookies in hits per game with 2.9 (min. 10 games played).
• Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter are t-19th in the NHL in faceoff wins with 253 each.
  • Bo Horvat won 24 face-offs on Dec. 3 vs TOR. According to Elias Sports Bureau, this matches the single-game high in the NHL
    this season.
  • Only two other Canucks have won 24 face-offs in a game since the NHL started officially tracking the stat in 1999-00:
    • Ryan Kesler on Feb. 22, 2011 vs MTL and Mark Messier on Jan. 19, 2000 vs DET.
• Henrik Sedin leads the team in assists with 11. Since entering the League in 2000.01, Henrik has the second most assists with 759 (only Joe Thornton has more).
• The Canucks penalty kill ranks 5th at 85.3%. The Canucks have killed off 23 of 26 opposing power plays over the past 11 games (88.5%).
• The Canucks rank 6th with 886 total faceoff wins and 6th with 722 even-strength faceoff wins. Vancouver ranks 11th in faceoff win at 51.0% and 6th in OZ faceoff win percentage at 53.6%; in 2015.16, the Canucks’ 45.4% faceoff win percentage ranked 30th.
• 7 of the Canucks’ 12 victories this season have come either in OT (4-1 in OT games) or the shootout (3-1 in SO games; Vancouver is t-2nd in the NHL with 3 shootout victories).

Capitals In Brief:

Washington have 35 points and are in 5th place in the Atlantic division, 3 points behind 3rd place Columbus; 4 points behind 1st place New York Rangers and 2nd place Pittsburgh; 5 points ahead of New Jersey.

In their last game,  Washington defeated Buffalo 4-1 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Friday night.

Jakub Vrana scored his first NHL goal, at 12:39 in the second period to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead, which turned out to be the game-winner.

T.J. Oshie gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead 6:43 into the second period;  John Carlson scored a power-play goal for his first goal of the season to make it 3-1. Marcus Johansson scored an empty net goal with 1:12 left in the third period, to finish off the scoring.

Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 of 28 shots to pick up the win.

Capitals have the 4th best goaltending in the NHL, with Braden Holtby, and Philipp Grubauer, with a 2.16 GAA, and .923 SV%.

Holtby is 12-6-2, with a 2.18 GAA, and a .923 SV%. Grubauer is 4-1-1, with a 1.67 GAA, and a .940 SV%.

Washington leading scorers:

• Nicklas Backstrom (8-16=24 pts)
• Marcus Johansson (12-9=21 pts)
• Alex Ovechkin (12-7=19 pts)
• T.J. Oshie (9-5=14 pts)

Capitals injured:

• T.J. Oshie, missed seven games
• Lars Eller, missed one game
• Matt Niskanen, missed one game

Total Man Games Lost: 9

Points streaks: 

• JAY BEAGLE (1-2=3 pts / 3 Games)
• MARCUS JOHANSSON (3-3=6 pts / 4 Games)
• NICKLAS BACKSTROM (1-2=3 pts / 2 Games)
• EVGENY KUZNETSOV (0-4=4 pts / 3 Games)

Washington special teams are:

• 14 for 84: 16.7 percent on the power play overall (t-16th in the NHL)
• 15 for 85: 82.3 percent on the penalty kill overall (16th in the NHL)

Capitals have surrendered 57 goals (3rd in NHL), and have scored 69 goals (17th in NHL).

Capitals Notables:

• Evgeny Kuznetsov sits one assist shy of 100 NHL/Capitals assists and T.J. Oshie is scheduled to play in his 100th Capitals game on Sunday against Vancouver.
• The Capitals have won three consecutive games against the Canucks (10/22/15-10/29/16), marking their longest winning streak against Vancouver since they won five straight games from March 12, 1996 to March 28, 1998.
• The Capitals scored two power-play goals on Friday at Buffalo, marking the third time this season they have scored two power-play goals in a game (10/18 vs. COL, 11/16 vs. PIT).
• Washington has scored nine power-play goals in its last nine games
  (11/16-12/9) and is 9-1-1 this season in games when it scored a power-play goal.
• Nicklas Backstrom leads the team in power-play points (10) this season and ranks second in the NHL in power-play points (280) since he entered the NHL in 2007-08, trailing Alex Ovechkin (296).
• Nicklas Backstrom earned two assists on Friday at Buffalo, marking his fourth multi-assist game of the season and his 114th career multi-assist game.
• The Capitals have posted a 4-2-0 record against Canadian teams this season.
• The Capitals have posted a 10-4-0 record at home this season and have won two straight home games (12/5-12/7).
• Washington ranks second in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals against (34), fourth in goals against per game (2.19) and sixth in shots against per game (28.4) this season.
• The Capitals have allowed two goals or fewer in 16 of their 26 games this season and have posted a 13-0-3 record in those games.

VS WASHINGTON NOTES:

• Loui Eriksson has 7 points (3-4-7) in 14 career games versus Washington.
• Bo Horvat has 3 points (1-2-3) in 4 career games versus the Capitals.
• Ryan Miller’s single game career high for both shots faced (50) and saves (49) came in a game versus the Capitals on Dec. 29/13.
• Daniel Sedin has 13 points (7-6-13) in 17 career games versus Washington.
• Henrik Sedin has 14 points (3-11-14) in 18 career games versus the Capitals.

Pregame Stats

Regular Season Game 29, Road Game 15

Records:
Van: 12-14-2 (Road: 4-9-1)
Wash: 16-7-3 (Home: 10-4-0)

Team    SF    SA     PP        PK     PIM   HITS   GF   GA
Van         827   852   12-82    11-75    291     545       64     82
Wash      790   739   14-84   15-85    207     517        69     57

Team        CF               CA            SCF          SCA       CF60%   CA60%   CF%
Van      1451(1149)  1480(1195)   769(593)   847(661)    52.0          54.1         49.0
Wash   1506(1143)  1352(1048)  749(553)   714(542)    55.8          51.2          52.2

Note: 5v5 stats in parenthesis for CF & CA, SCF & SCA ,
CF60%, CA60% & CF% are 5v5
SCF=scoring chances for; SCA=scoring chances against.

Potential Canucks Lineup:

#22D. Sedin-#33H.Sedin-#36Hansen
#60Granlund-#20Sutter-#21Ericksson
#9Skille-#53Horvat-#14Burrows
#50Gaunce-#45Chaput-#46Megna

#27Hutton-#44Gudbranson
#5Sbisa-#51Stecher
#88Tryamkin-#55Biega

#25Markstrom
#35Demko