By Andrew Phillip Chernoff CanucksBanter

March 26, 2023

Vancouver Canucks (33-34-5), 6th in the Pacific Division) visit the Chicago Blackhawks (24-42-6), 8th in the Central Division) in a Western Conference contest.

Chicago, Illinois; today at 3 p.m. PDT.

On The Road Some More

Vancouver plays the second game of its 3-game road trip today, concluding in St. Louis, Tuesday, March 28.

The Canucks enter the game riding a 2-game win streak, having defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

The Blackhawks host the Canucks in the midst of 4-game losing streak. On Saturday night, Minnesota Wild defeated Chicago 3-1 at Xcel Energy Center.

The Canucks can reach .500 on the season with a win over Chicago today.

Teams Having Different Seasons

Chicago has a 14-18-3 record on its home ice. The Blackhawks have gone 20-8-3 when scoring at least three goals.

Vancouver has a 16-16-4 record in road games. They have gone 26-6-2 when scoring 4+ goals in a game.

The matchup Sunday is the second time these teams meet this season. The Canucks won 5-2 in the previous matchup.

Team Highlights

Vancouver has a 23-14-3 record in Western Conference play; 9-8-3 against the Central Division. The Canucks have given up 263 goals while scoring 241 for a -22 scoring differential.

Chicago is 14-26-3 in Western Conference play; 8-10-2 against the Pacific Division. Blackhawks have given up 256 goals and scored 175 for a -81 scoring differential.

Players To Watch

Taylor Raddysh has 20 goals and 13 assists for the Blackhawks. Joey Anderson has scored 3 goals with 2 assists over the last 10 games.

Elias Pettersson has 33 goals and 58 assists for the Canucks. Pettersson is on a career-high 11-game points streak. J .T. Miller has scored 8 goals and added 8 assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES:

Blackhawks: 3-6-1, averaging 2.4 goals, 3.6 assists, 2.9 penalties, and 6.4 penalty minutes while giving up 3.0 goals per game.

Canucks: 8-2-0, averaging 3.5 goals, 6.0 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.0 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game.

Canucks – Blackhawks  NHL Rankings

Streaking Canucks

• Elias Pettersson is on a career-high 11 game point-streak and has 15 points (5+10=15 pts) in those games.
• J.T. Miller has 18 points (9+9=18 pts) in his last 11 games.
• Quinn Hughes has 14 points (0+14=14 pts) in his last 13 games.
• Rick Tocchet is 15-9-2 since taking over as Head Coach on January 22.
• Andrei Kuzmenko (1+2=3 pts / 2 Games)
• Dakota Joshua (2+1=3 pts/ 2 Games)
• J.T. Miller (4+6=10 pts/ 5 Games)
• Nils Aman (0+2=2 pts/ 2 Games)

Thatcher Demko Playing Like An All-Star

Since his return from injury, Demko has 8 wins in 11 games, a .922 SV% (save percentage), and a GAA (goals against average) of 2.28.

LAST 5 vs CHICAGO

• Jan. 24/23: VAN 5 vs CHI 2
• Jan. 31/22: VAN 3 at CHI 1
• Nov. 21/21: VAN 0 vs CHI 1
• Oct. 21/21: VAN 4 at CHI 1
• Feb. 12/20: VAN 3 vs CHI 0

INJURIES:

Blackhawks: Colin Blackwell: out for season (groin), Jonathan Toews: out (illness), Anders Bjork: out (undisclosed), Andreas Englund: out (hamstring), Cole Guttman: out for season (shoulder), Petr Mrazek: day to day (head).

Canucks: Oliver Ekman-Larsson: out (lower body), Noah Juulsen: day to day (lower body), Ilya Mikheyev: out for season (knee), Tanner Pearson: out for season (hand), Travis Dermott: out (undisclosed), Tucker Poolman: out (undisclosed).

Sources: nhl.com, Associated Press