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NHL Preview: Blue Jackets at Canucks

  • Ricky Rothstein's Author profile. Ricky Rothstein

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Columbus Blue Jackets (2.85) at Vancouver Canucks (1.44)

One of the best power plays in the National Hockey League will be up against one of the worst as the Canucks take on the Blue Jackets at Rogers Arena tonight.

Vancouver has been absolutely lethal with the man advantage this season. The Canucks power play is operating at a 25 percent success rate, tops in the NHL, and is led by the wonder twin powers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The pair have emerged as two of the toughest players to stop on the PP and continue to rack up points at an amazing rate.

The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, aren’t as dynamic. Their power play is limping along at 11 percent — the second-worst conversion rate in the NHL, barely ahead of last-place Florida. While the BJs do have some players that can put the biscuit in the basket (most notably leading scorer Rick Nash), the team lack the overall talent and top-six forward skill to be consistently dangerous with the man advantage.

The Jackets will get some help in the skill department tonight, though. The team will welcome back LW Kristian Huselius, who has missed the last 22 games with a high ankle sprain. Huselieus, a former 70-point scorer, is one of the better offensive weapons the Jackets have and will be a welcome addition to the second line. It’s expected he’ll skate with RW R.J. Umberger and C Antoine Vermette to give Columbus more scoring depth up front.

As for the Canucks, it’s all much of the same following a win-loss split weekend against Tampa Bay and Edmonton. Winger Mason Raymond is still out of the lineup with a broken thumb, so it’s likely that the Canucks will continue to roll with a second line of Ryan Kesler, Mikael Samuelsson and Jeff Tambellini. By moving Samuelsson up, the Canucks will also re-unite its third line of Manny Malhotra, Raffi Torres and Jannik Hansen — the trio had some outstanding games early in the season and Torres was scoring at an outrageous clip. But the last months haven’t been as productive for Torres and Hansen; that said, Malhotra continues to play well and has arguably been the best addition to the Canucks team this year.

As for the goaltending matchup, look for Roberto Luongo to make his second consecutive start for Vancouver and for Mathieu Garon to get the nod for Columbus. Garon replaced Steve Mason in Calgary on Monday night after Mason allowed two goals in the first four minutes against the Flames. Garon came in and was solid, stopping 20 of 21 shots as the Jackets lost in overtime, but gained a valuable point.