Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators: Game-Day Notes and Predictions

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The Canucks three game winning streak happens to coincide with Mason Raymond's return from the broken back he suffered in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  

Coincidence? 

Raymond has a goal and an assist in his three games back. His goal was a short handed effort against the Montreal Canadiens that started the Canucks comeback from down 3-0 to eventually prevail 4-3. 

On the Canucks second goal that night, Raymond created the opportunity by driving hard to the net and taking the Habs defenders with him, and then his shot ricocheted to Cody Hodgson, who snapped it home.  

Raymond clearly should have had an assist, since no Hab had control of the puck, but the official scorers missed it.  

Still, several goalscoring chances have been created by Raymond's speed in recent games, and he is only getting better as he rounds back into game form. 

Tonight the Canucks play Ottawa, and the Senators have several problems on defence with Filip Kuba and Sergei Gonchar both out with injury.  

Can Raymond use his blazing speed to burn a slow and inexperienced Ottawa defence tonight?

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Cody Hodgson returns tonight to Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, the site of his greatest triumph, as the Vancouver Canucks play the Ottawa Senators on Hockey Night in Canada.

Well, I don't know if he actually considers the 2009 World Junior Championships as the highpoint of his young career, but I'd say a Gold Medal for Team Canada on Canadian soil should rank right up there.

In 2009, Cody Hodgson was a part of a Team Canada roster that included future NHL'ers such Tylers Myers and PK Subban on defence, and Jordan Eberle, John Tavares and Evander Kane up front.  

However, it was Hodgson who led the team in points, scoring five goals and picking up 11 assists in only six games. 

In the Gold Medal game against Sweden, Hodgson would lead by example with a pair of goals and an assist in a 5-1 victory. Hodgson was also named as the top centre for the tournament's all star team. 

Fast forward a few years and almost two seasons of development lost to a back injury, and Hodgson is just starting his first full season, where as his teammates from that edition of Team Canada are on their second or third NHL seasons.

Still, Hodgson is now healthy, having fun, and being a productive member of the Canucks, providing crucial secondary scoring behind the Sedins and Ryan Kesler. 

In the Canucks last game, Hodgson scored a nice goal as the Canucks came back from 3-0 against the Habs, and then he fooled Carey Price and buried the puck during the shootout. Hodgson would be named the first star. 

Can Hodgson carry that momentum into Ottawa, and maybe channel some of the magic he had during the World Juniors?

Canucks fans certainly hope so, although the fans in Ottawa might not be quite as appreciative this time around if he does.

Check out more on Cody Hodgson's rookie season... Vancouver Canucks: Evaluating Cody Hodgson's Rookie Season to Date

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Ottawa (13-12-4) is currently 10th in the Eastern Conference and 4th in the Northeast Division with 30 points. 4-3-3 in their last 10 games. The Senators lost their last  two games, most recently dropping a 5-4 OT decision to the Devils. 

Vancouver (17-10-1) is currently 6th in the Western Conference and 2nd in the Northwest Division with 35 points. 8-2 in their last 10 games. The Canucks have won their last three games in a row, most recently coming from behind to defeat the Habs in Montreal. 

The two teams met earlier on November 20th in Vancouver, with the Canucks prevailing 2-1 in OT. Since then, the Sens have gone 3-3-2 and the Canucks have gone 7-1. 

The Canucks have the definite edge in special teams play.  

Vancouver has the top ranked power play in the NHL with 28.9%, while the Sens are ranked 11th in the NHL with a still respectable 18.8%.  

On the PK, the Canucks are 5th in the NHL with 86.5%, while the Sens are ranked 21st in the NHL with 81.2%. 

This should be a higher scoring match than the earlier one in Vancouver, which gives the Canucks an edge. 

I predict a workman-like road victory for the Canucks, with a final score of 4-2. If the refs decide to call the game closely and make it a special teams battle, expect the score to go higher though.

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Craig Anderson (12-9-2) vs Roberto Luongo (10-6-2) 

The two goalies are pretty comparable stat wise this season, with identical 0.897 save percentages. Anderson has a higher goals against average go 3.39 vs Luongo's 2.82, but that is more a function of the team ahead of him. Still, Luongo is trending upwards, and Anderson is not. 

Anderson is 3-10 vs the Canucks, and has a GAA of 3.34 vs them, albeit most of those games were when he was with the Avalanche.

He also has a bad track record of playing the Canucks on Hockey Night in Canada, once getting lit up in an 8-2 Canucks win on November 14th 2009. This was a night when he was scheduled to be on After Hours to discuss how his goaltending was leading the Avalanche out of the Western Conference basement.  

Ouch. Still, Anderson manned up and did the interview despite being pulled in the game. 

(Also notable from that game was Henrik Sedin getting a hat trick.) 

Luongo was shaky in the early going of his last start in Montreal, but shut the door in the latter half go the game and in overtime as the Canucks stormed back from a three goal deficit to prevail 4-3 in a shootout to stun the Montreal faithful.  

Luongo was also a perfect three for three in the shootout in front of his hometown crowd, yet for some reason they weren't cheering his performance. 

Expect Luongo to build upon his last game, and get the win tonight.

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The annual visit to Ottawa doesn't have quite the buzz that the Montreal and Toronto games generate, but for a few members of the Canucks, it is still a significant game.

Sami Salo is the third longest serving Canuck behind the Sedin twins, but older Canucks fans might remember that he was originally drafted by the Sens. Salo was Ottawa's ninth round pick in the 1996 draft, and played 195 regular season and 26 playoff games over four seasons. 

After numerous injuries (sound familiar?), on September 22 2002, Salo was cast aside by the Senators in exchange for winger Peter Schaefer.

Salo has since gone on to play 716 regular season games (and counting), racking up 90 goals and 294 points with his cannon of a shot. In the playoffs, he has produced 12 goals and 31 points in 95 playoff games.

Not bad for a guy drafted 239 out of 241 players taken in the 1996 draft. I bet Senators fans wish they had Salo manning the point for them still.

Canucks assistant coach Rick Bowness also has ties to Ottawa, having served as the Senators inaugural head coach when the franchise was reborn in 1992. Bowness coached in Ottawa for four seasons.