Vancouver head coach Manny Malhotra said the team needs to clean up its defensive-zone play as the Canucks host Edmonton on Oct. 1.
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The Vancouver Canucks are scheduled to begin their home schedule at Rogers Arena on Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers, coming off a season-opening win in their first regular-season game.
Malhotra said the excitement of playing in front of their home crowd will be a boost, but he also expects the team to address issues that showed up after the win. “The excitement of being back in front of our crowd is a boost for the guys,” Malhotra said. “It’s good to come off a win and being able to critique it, but as we went through it, there’s a lot in our game that needs to be cleaned up. We can’t spend as much time in our D-zone and give them the opportunities that we did.”
Malhotra added the team plans to be sharper in specific areas, including faceoffs, after Edmonton won 60 per cent of draws in the earlier meeting. “It will be a whole different animal tonight. Last change will help with matchups,” he said. “One area will be faceoffs. The Oilers won 60 per cent of draws Tuesday and the Canucks need better puck possession, and ensuring wingers jump on loose pucks, to keep the visitors at bay. Centres need to have a better sense of their timing and we need to dig in there,” Malhotra added, “and our wingers need to win those edge battles for pucks.”
Paul Cotter is expected to play a role again after scoring in his Canucks debut on Tuesday, and Malhotra’s comments suggested the team’s performance will depend on both compete and execution. Cotter said he is looking to turn the early opportunities into more consistent impact. “I’m super fortunate to get those (scoring) opportunities and that’s what I wanted to do coming in here, be in different situations,” Cotter said. “What I’ve been praying for since I was a little guy is to be a high-impact player in this league. It was a good start, but more opportunities are the true test. It’s all I’ve been asking for and I think I can do pretty well with it.”
Morning-skate projections for Thursday’s game had Kevin Lankinen expected to get the start in Vancouver’s net. On the Oilers side, Zach Hyman was expected to be sidelined for two weeks after being injured in the final preseason game against the Flames.
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