By Andrew Phillip Chernoff | CanucksBanter

November 19th, 2024

The New York Rangers (11-4-1, 4rth in Metropolitan Division) are set to visit the Vancouver Canucks (9-5-3, t-3rd Pacific Division) at Rogers Arena on November 19th.

Last Games

• The Canucks are coming off a tough 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators. They’ve had a mixed bag of results recently, going 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
• The Rangers enter this matchup with a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken. They are currently 11-4-1 on the season and have been playing well overall.

Key Players

• Conor Garland (4 goals and 9 assists) and J.T. Miller (6 goals and 10 assists) lead the Canucks offensively. Quinn Hughes is a crucial player on defense and offensively has 3 goals and 15 assists.
• Kevin Lankinen is the likely starting goaltender for Vancouver. He is 8-3-2 in 13 games with a goals against average of 2.71 and a save percentage of .902 this season.
• Artemi Panarin (10 goals and 14 assists), Alexis Lafrenière (7 goals and 7 assists) and Mika Zibanejad (3 goals and 9 assists) are the offensive stars for the Rangers. Adam Fox (0 goals and 13 assists) anchors the defense.
• Igor Shesterkin is expected to be in net for the Rangers. He’s has a 7-4-1 record in 12 games with a goals against average of 2.78 and a save percentage of .914 this season.

Team Stats

Matchup

• New York Rangers: The Rangers have a strong record of 11-4-1 overall and 6-1-0 on the road. They have a 3-0-1 record in games decided by a goal.
• Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks have a record of 9-5-3 overall and 3-4-3 at home. They have a 9-2-2 record in games where they score three or more goals.
• New York Rangers: The Rangers are 6-2-0 in their last 8 road games and are averaging 4.00 goals per game, 1.5 goals against.
• Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks have had a mixed performance recently, with a record of 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. They are averaging 3.18 goals per game and allowing 3.18 goals against per game.

Power Play and Penalty Kill

• New York Rangers: The Rangers have a 25.6% success rate on the power play and an 88.2% success rate on the penalty kill.
• Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks have a 22.0% success rate on the power play and an 80.4% success rate on the penalty kill.

Odds & Sods

The Canucks have 88 giveaways on their 6-game homestand with one game left.

Prediction

The Vancouver Canucks face a tough challenge against the New York Rangers tonight. To secure a win, they’ll need to focus on the following key areas:

1.Shutting down the Rangers’offensive threats

Panarin is on a hot streak, and the Canucks need to limit his time and space to prevent him from dictating the game.

The Rangers have a strong power play, so the Canucks must stay disciplined and avoid taking unnecessary penalties.

2. Exploiting the Rangers’ Weakness

The Canucks have the edge in expected goals at 54.21 percent for 4rth best in NHL. They need to capitalize on this advantage by controlling possession and generating scoring chances against the Rangers who are 13th in NHL at 51.71 percent.

3. Goaltending Performance

While the Canucks have struggled with goaltending lately, they need a strong performance from Kevin Lankinen to counter the Rangers’ offense.

4. Capitalizing on Special Teams

The Canucks also have a strong power play and need to convert their opportunities and continue to utilize their strong penalty kill to neutralize shorthanded opportunities.

5. A Big Game from J.T. Miller

After being benched in the previous game, J.T. Miller will be looking to make a statement against his former team. A strong performance from him could be a deciding factor.

6. Reducing Giveaways

The Canucks giveaways total is not good enough as stated earlier in this article. They need to capitalize on puck possession, not give up the puck carelessly.

Rangers average is worse at 15.19 per game while the Canucks average of 14.06 per game is t-7th best over all, 14.50 at home (13th best in NHL).

The Rangers have the 6th worst on the road at 16.57, Canucks 6th best at 13.43.

Source: nhl.com, espn.com, statmuse.com, naturalstattrick.com