Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET, the Vancouver Canucks (10-5-1, 21 points) and Phoenix Coyotes (10-3-2, 22 points) go head-to-head in the first of five meetings this season live from Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix. The game can be live streamed here. Vancouver fans can hear all of the bone-crunching action by tuning into Team Radio 1410 AM while Phoenix fans can do the same on 92.3 KTAR FM.
The Canucks enter play in fourth place in the Pacific Division, four points behind the first place Anaheim Ducks while the Coyotes enter in third place, one point ahead of the Canucks and just three points shy of the Ducks.
The Coyotes come into the contest riding a four-game winning streak and are a league-best 6-0-1 at home thus far this season as they welcome the Canucks tonight. The Coyotes are coming off their most recent victory, a road win against the powerhouse San Jose Sharks Saturday in a 3-2 shootout win that saw goalie Mike Smith make 48 saves.
"It's a huge win against an upper echelon team in the League," Smith said via NHL.com. "I think we can gain some confidence from a game like that. We weren't really thrilled with the way we played, but I think we grounded it out Coyote ugly and found a way to get the two points, and that's all that matters."
Smith is 8-2-2 this season with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage for the Coyotes. The Canucks have turned to Roberto Luongo between the pipes this season, and he is 8-4-1 with a 2.28 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
The Canucks start a four-game road trip and come into Phoenix with a 6-2-1 road record, which trails only the Colorado Avalanche for the best mark in the league. The Canucks are coming off of notching their fourth win in five games against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
"It was a great performance from the first minute to the last," Luongo told NHL.com. "We really kept the puck in their zone and cycled and created some chances and were in there pretty much the whole game."
The Canucks have been led by their top line of Henrik Sedin (three goals, team-high 16 assists, team-leading 19 points), Daniel Sedin (seven tallies, nine helpers, 16 points) and Ryan Kesler (team-high eight goals, four assists, 12 points).
Radim Vrbata has paved the way for Phoenix with 12 points off of five goals and seven assists while Martin Hanzal (five goals, six assists), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (three goals, eight assists), Mikkel Boedker (3,8) and Keith Yandle (1,10) each have 11 points.
Two red-hot teams hit the ice against each other tonight looking for key points in a tight division race when the Canucks and Coyotes square off live from Phoenix.
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