Sizing up the Canucks

9 games played, 3 wins, zero wins on the road...unacceptable.  After netting zip on the powerplay goals (first time all season) with a boat load of chances, the Wings have yet to crack the north side of a .500 record this season.  Scoring one goal isn't going to win you very many games.  And if you thought Craig Anderson was frustrating, tonight tomorrow we play Roberto Luongo, who just shut out the Oilers.  Statistical comparison is going to be ugly until this team A. figures out what's wrong and B. fixes it.

Vancouver hasn't been known for it's high powered offense.  They even lost one half of their dynamic duo, Daniel Sedin for at least a month with a broken left foot.  Luckily for them, they signed away Mikael Samuelsson from Detroit, who has 10 points (more than any Red Wing) thus far this season.  However, the Canucks currently sit 18th in the league as far as G/G average with 2.73, which is only one worse than Detroit's 17th ranked 2.78.  Advantage: Detroit...by a hair.

However, with Bobby Lou in net for the 'Nucks, you can bet that their G/A average is going to be pretty low.  It has been in the past, it will continue to be so so long as that lanky bastard stands between the pipes.  Vancouver currently ranks 7th in the league with a 2.54 G/A average.  The Wings have tightened up a little on defense, but still sit 25th in the league with a miserable 3.33 G/A average.  Advantage: Vancouver...by a landslide.

Vancouver boasts one of the league's top power play, believe it or not.  They are currently converting 27.4% of the PP chances, good enough for 4th overall in the NHL.  Detroit's power play went 0-7 against the Avalanche on Saturday night...very "un-Red Wing-like".  We're used to having one of the top power plays in the league, but instead currently sit with 10th best with a 22.7% conversion rate; underachieving to say the least.  Advantage: Vancouver

Vancouver's penalty killing, backstopped by Lunogo currently has them ranked 13th in the NHL, with a 80.8 effectiveness rating.  Detroit, who went 1-1 on the PK on Saturday, is still trying to recover from a dismal start in the first few games of the season.  They are currently ranked 20th in the league with a 77.1% kill rate.  Advantage: Vancouver, but surprisingly, not by very much.

So if we pull ranks and take the average for GA/G and G/G...

Vancouver: 12(.5)th

Detroit: 21st

If you combine PK and PP percentages to get an overall effectiveness rating:

Vancouver: 108.2%
Detroit: 99.8%

The key for a Red Wing's victory tonight tomorrow will be simple: conversion.  If not for a couple of Bertuzzi posts, a quick whistle by Brad Watson (again), a and a slew of unconverted power plays, Detroit could be off to a 2-0-0 start on the road trip instead of 0-1-1.  We're all still waiting on Pavel Datsyuk to put one in the net.  Let's hope that tomorrow night is the night.

Last season, these two teams split the 4 regular season meetings, though Vancouver needed OT in both of their wins.