Vancouver, British Columbia (My Sportsbook) - The
Vancouver Canucks try to stretch their unbeaten streak to four games tonight when they welcome the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to GM Place.
The Canucks are 1-0-2 in their last three games, including Monday's 5-2 win over San Jose at the Shark Tank. Head coach Marc Crawford reunited the team's top line of Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison, and the trio paced a five-goal outburst during a 6:43 span in the second period.
The line combined for four goals and three assists, including Naslund's eighth career hat trick. Morrison also scored, as did Trent Klatt, and defenseman Ed Jovanovski added a pair of assists.
High-powered Vancouver, which led the league in goal-scoring a season ago, appears to be on its way to another explosive season, as its 22 goals are tied with Dallas for fourth in the National Hockey League. Naslund's five markers tie him for fourth amongst the league's top goal-scorers.
The Canucks open a four-game homestand tonight and will host Dallas on Saturday. Buffalo and Colorado also visit during the set.
Anaheim, meanwhile, snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) with a 3-2 overtime victory over Colorado on Sunday in the final installment of a four- game homestand. Andy McDonald scored the game-winner 4:49 into overtime, and rookie Martin Gerber stopped 22 shots in his first-ever NHL start. Stanislav Chistov and Petr Sykora also tallied for the Ducks, who begin a five-game road trek tonight.
With two goals and three assists in the young season, Chistov shares the NHL's rookie scoring lead with Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg and Carolina's Jaroslav Svoboda.
Anaheim resumes its current trek on Saturday in Edmonton and will also stop in Toronto, Montreal and Boston.
These teams skated to a 2-2 tie at the Pond last Friday, as Anaheim's Paul Kariya and Vancouver's Bertuzzi netted two goals apiece. The Canucks are 3-0-1 in the last four meetings, and the Ducks are 0-5-1 in their last six trips to Vancouver, dating back to February 20, 1999.
