Hurricanes vs. Canucks Odds
| Hurricanes Odds | -130 |
| Canucks Odds | +110 |
| Over/Under | 5.5 |
| Time | 10 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
| Odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute NHL Odds here. | |
The Vancouver Canucks continue their home stand Sunday night as they play host to a strong Carolina Hurricanes group, looking to move their record to 4-0 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Carolina will skate Saturday night in Edmonton with the chance to move back into first place atop the Metropolitan Division. It will therefore be grinding through a third game in four nights in Vancouver, almost certainly skating with backup goaltender Antti Raanta in.
Can Vancouver take advantage of a favorable scheduling spot against an elite Hurricanes group here?
Canucks Continue Strong Play Under Boudreau
The addition of Bruce Boudreau has paid immediate dividends for the Canucks, and the energy around the team seems to be growing with each outing so far this week.
Their 3-0 record has come with some good luck, as the Bruins and Jets shootout wins certainly could've gone either way, and a 50.16 xGF% over the three wins also comments towards the closeness of the games.
But you can certainly feel that the team expects to win right now. The Canucks are playing with an aggressive mentality, looking to take the play to the opposition, compared to the attitude at the end of Travis Green's tenure which clearly had the feel that the team was always playing simply not to lose.
A 2.70 xGF/60 and 2.69 xGA/60 over that small sample indicates that as expected, the team is playing a more up-tempo style than we saw under Green.
The talent is there upfront, even though several key pieces like Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser have notably underperformed so far this season. I believe Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander both still figure to be strong offensive forces in the NHL sooner rather than later.
However, to expect several of those skilled forwards to continue to show better under Boudreau, who is well known for his offensive attention to detail and ability to squeeze production from his stars, would be very reasonable, and I feel that all four players have shown notably better this week.
Thatcher Demko will likely be given a chance to continue his dominant run of play, and altogether this season he now holds a .915 save percentage and a +4.3 goals saved above expected (GSAx) rating.
Hurricanes In Tough Scheduling Spot
There isn't a lot to go dig into with regards to the Carolina Hurricanes roster here, and much of my belief towards this game centers around the scheduling spot they will be in, playing short some key pieces on the back end.
Carolina is undoubtedly one of the league's deeper lineups, holding a ton of depth on the backend and some serious scoring punch behind two of the league's top talents in Sebastien Aho and Andrei Svechnikov.
The Hurricanes currently sit ranked ninth in goals for per game, but I believe the talent littered among this core will allow them to push towards an even greater output as the season rolls along. A top-ranked 3.44 xGF/60 over their last eight games suggests as such.
Backup Antti Raanta will draw the start here for Coach Rod Brind'Amour, and he has posted solid numbers with a .904 save percentage and a +1.4 GSAx rating across seven games this season.
Canucks vs. Hurricanes Pick
The Canucks' data under former coach Travis Green is obviously significantly less relevant now, and I believe that under Boudreau we will see the Canucks continue to play more of an up-tempo style, allowing several of the club's skilled forwards more of a chance to shine.
We should see a notable increase in Vancouver's goals for per game rate as the season rolls along, and I think it has a better chance than it may normally have against Carolina to fill the cage here. The Canucks are catching the Canes without their star netminder in Frederik Andersen, playing in a back-to-back situation and third contest in four nights, and without two excellent defenders in Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo.
Carolina is undoubtedly a more talented team altogether, but Vancouver could be catching it at a good time among its recent surge and in a great scheduling spot.
I think Vancouver mainly wins here only if it can post a strong offensive output, but I would be surprised to see the Canucks contain this Carolina team to a total below two. Therefore I am going to try an aggressive look for just half a unit, and I'll play Vancouver's moneyline parlayed with the total to go over 5.5.
Taking the over tonight will likely hold the most value, as I have consistently found lines do not move in anticipation of backup situations the night before, but we can safely bank on the Canes not riding Andersen for the third time in four nights here.
Pick: Half-Unit Play on Vancouver Moneyline Parlayed with Over 5.5 Total Goals +310 | Play to +280
