Six Straight Wins: The Vancouver Canucks Are Officially The NHL's Hottest Team

The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 6-4 on Saturday night in a battle of division leaders.

Coincidentally, six is also the number of wins the Canucks have during their current winning streak, making them the hottest team in the league.

*Okay, I admit the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers are also on six-game winning streaks, so technically its a three-way tie for hottest team. But this article is about the Canucks.

After a lacklustre start to the season and the horrendous loss to the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 19, the Canucks had a team meeting and came out refocused, climbing the standings to their rightful spot as Northwest Division leaders. 

During the current hot streak, the Canucks lost to the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout, then reeled off six straight wins, culminating in the entertaining bout with the Red Wings. For those following along at home, that is 13 out of a possible 14 points.

So how are the Canucks winning? 

The Sedins: Henrik and Daniel Sedin haven't had any three- or four-point nights yet, but they are quietly racking up points and creating offense every game. With 16 points in 13 games, Henrik and Daniel are tied for seventh in NHL scoring, and puts them on pace for identical 101-point seasons.

Daniel also has nine goals, good enough to put him into a tie for fourth place with Sidney Crosby for the Rocket Richard race.

Expect the twins to pick up the pace now that Alex Burrows is back from injury and patrolling the right wing for them. 

Secondary Scoring: Raffi Torres (seven goals), Ryan Kesler (five goals), Manny Malhotra (four goals) and Mason Raymond (three goals) are leading the way in secondary scoring from the second and third lines, with Jannik Hansen (one goal) and Mikael Samuelsson (two goals) contributing in a lesser way on the scoresheet as well.

Those goal totals are not that impressive if taken over the 13-game campaign to date, but considering that secondary scoring was pretty much non-existent in the first half dozen games, the improvement is impressive.

Particularly noteworthy is Torres's contribution; how many wingers making "only" a million bucks have potted seven goals so far this year, including a hat trick?

Malhotra, aside from providing some offense from the third line, is also the best in the NHL in faceoff percentage this year, with a 64.5% winning percentage. He sometimes goes entire periods without losing a draw.

Goaltending: Luongo looks good, which isn't noteworthy because it is expected for someone with his reputation and contract.

What is noteworthy is the play of Cory Schneider. The rookie goaltender has posted an impressive 3-0 record, and if not for mental breakdowns by his skaters in the closing minutes of blowout games, would have a pair of shutouts as well.

For once, the Canucks have a backup who can actually challenge Luongo for starts. Competition is always healthy, and the extra nights off for Luongo can only help once the playoffs roll around.

Defence. The defence is beat up, with projected top four defenceman in Keith Ballard (concussion) and Dan Hamhuis (foot) missing considerable time to injury in this young season.

However, the fifth, sixth, seventh slot defencemen on the depth chart in Kevin Bieksa, Andrew Alberts and Aaron Rome have quietly put together solid physical play when filling in for the injured players.

Alberts' solid play is something I'd like to single out for praise, because he was being run out of town by Canucks fans after his penalty-filled games to open the playoffs last spring.

Alberts is currently third in the league amongst defencemen in hits with 42, just behind Luke Schenn (Toronto, 49 hits) and Brent Seabrook (Chicago, 45 hits), and just ahead of Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh, 41 hits) and Shea Weber (Nashville, 39 hits).

Hands up anyone who thought Alberts would be mentioned in the same sentence with those guys at the start of the season? (Unless maybe it was "Seabrook dekes and blows past Alberts on the rush" or "Alberts crushes Weber in the corner and takes a game misconduct.")

Christian Erhoff and Alex Edler have continued their stalwart play from last year as well. Edler is probably the best all-around defenceman on the Canucks.

Penalty Kill: Currently sitting at 84.5%, good for 12th in the NHL, the Canucks PK is decent for a playoff team.

However, after giving up a horrible three goals in three power plays against Minnesota, the team has killed every single penalty during this seven game hot streak, with the exception of a single Detroit goal on Saturday night. However, that one Red Wings goal was countered by a short-handed goal by Malhotra.

That was a pretty impressive streak by any measure, and hopefully bodes well for the future.

Power Play: 29.4% on the power play. Best in the NHL. Not much more to say about this, other than having the top power play in the league is a pretty good deterrent against other teams taking liberties with the Canucks.

Winning without a full roster: The Canucks have been missing several players due to injuries, and have kept on chugging along. The most significant injuries would be the lack of their leading scorer from last season (Alex Burrows, shoulder surgery), and a pair of top four defencemen (Dan Hamhuis, foot injury, and Keith Ballard, concussion).

Role players Guillaume Desbiens (hand), Alex Bolduc (ankle), and Ryan Parent (knee) have also missed games. And Rick Rypien, the Canucks resident enforcer, was infamously suspended for six games as well. 

Despite these handicaps, the Canucks kept on winning.

What is coming up: The Canucks will need to continue their winning ways on the road, as they are about to embark on a five-game eastern road trip: Montreal on Nov. 9, Ottawa on Nov. 11, Toronto on Nov. 13, Buffalo on Nov. 15 and Pittsburgh on Nov. 17.

Luckily enough, there isn't usually a problem with the Canucks getting up for games when they get to visit the eastern Canadian teams, and the Penguins game will be the marquee matchup to look forward to.

After the road trip, the Canucks have a four game homestand vs the Blackhawks, Coyotes, Avalanche and Sharks to end the month.