THE SET-UP
THE CANUCKS:
In the old days, the Canucks' record in their past 12 games would have read 2-1-9 and they would have collected 13 points. But with OT and shootouts, their record has instead been 8-1-3, good for 19 points.
THE COYOTES:
Phoenix is the hottest team in the NHL at the moment, having won five straight games, and is clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
THREE THINGS TO WATCH
1 David Booth scored his first goal in six games on Saturday, but has eight points since returning from a knee injury 10 games ago (four goals, four assists). In his 29 games with the Canucks, Booth is 9-11-20, a pace that would give him 25 goals and 57 points over an 82-game schedule and just about the clip he scored on in his career year, 2008-09.
2 Cody Hodgson is showing us his versatility. Most of his goals (nine of his 15) are wrist shots from 20-odd feet out (he beat Nikolai Khabibulin in October with a 48-foot wrister); he had that 45-foot howitzer of a slap shot that beat Tim Thomas in Boston and a 33-foot snapper that beat Jimmy Howard in December; he's scored with a snap shot and a couple of deflections; and on Saturday he added a seven-foot backhanded chip-shot to his repertoire.
3 Prior to their current five-game winning streak which includes victories over division-leading Detroit and San Jose, the Coyotes hadn't won more than three in a row all season.
BY THE NUMBERS
.975: four games. Coyotes goalie Mike Smith has stopped 119 of 122 shots in his last
THE CANUCKS:
In the old days, the Canucks' record in their past 12 games would have read 2-1-9 and they would have collected 13 points. But with OT and shootouts, their record has instead been 8-1-3, good for 19 points.
THE COYOTES:
Phoenix is the hottest team in the NHL at the moment, having won five straight games, and is clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
THREE THINGS TO WATCH
1 David Booth scored his first goal in six games on Saturday, but has eight points since returning from a knee injury 10 games ago (four goals, four assists). In his 29 games with the Canucks, Booth is 9-11-20, a pace that would give him 25 goals and 57 points over an 82-game schedule and just about the clip he scored on in his career year, 2008-09.
2 Cody Hodgson is showing us his versatility. Most of his goals (nine of his 15) are wrist shots from 20-odd feet out (he beat Nikolai Khabibulin in October with a 48-foot wrister); he had that 45-foot howitzer of a slap shot that beat Tim Thomas in Boston and a 33-foot snapper that beat Jimmy Howard in December; he's scored with a snap shot and a couple of deflections; and on Saturday he added a seven-foot backhanded chip-shot to his repertoire.
3 Prior to their current five-game winning streak which includes victories over division-leading Detroit and San Jose, the Coyotes hadn't won more than three in a row all season.
BY THE NUMBERS
.975: four games. Coyotes goalie Mike Smith has stopped 119 of 122 shots in his last
