UPDATE: Canucks vs. Ducks Game Day: Aatu Raty gets recall, Arshdeep Bains Abby bound

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Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Ducks

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When/where: Tuesday, 7 p.m., Honda Center

TV: SN Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650

The buzz: Rick Tocchet admitted Finnish centre Aaty Raty looks like a different player this year by going hard on every drill and the bench boss likes that aggressiveness and attitude. It’s one reason why he was recalled Tuesday from the AHL affiliate while Arshdeep Bains, 23, who doesn’t require waivers, is Abbotsford bound.

The Canucks had J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Teddy Blueger and Bains at centre in a Monday practice at Anaheim. With centre Pius Suter promoted and playing effectively on left with Pettersson and Conor Garland, the club needed another pivot. Raty, 21, arrived this season full of confidence and it showed early and often in the preseason.

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Raty has played three NHL games this season and has seven points (3-4) in eight AHL games. In the pre-season, he won 14 of 18 faceoffs against the Seattle Kraken on Sept. 24, and four nights later in Calgary, he looked like a wily veteran. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound pivot finished off a third-period scoring chance with a deft toe drag in the slot and picked the top corner.

“I’m ready for this,” said Raty. “Two years ago, I played 15 NHL games (12 with the Islanders and three with the Canucks) and thought I belonged. My skating is better and I’ll keeping working at it and stick battles. Just getting more comfortable in the North American game.”

The buzz 2.0: Fright Night is supposed to be Halloween.

However, what occurred the last time the Canucks played on U.S. election night — a bizarre visit to Madison Square Garden in 2016 where there was as much drama off the ice as on it with a heightened terrorist threat alert and an MSG bomb scare — is that they managed to eke out a 5-3 victory over the high-octane Rangers on what was also Willie Watch Night.

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It was a notable upset over the NHL’s highest-scoring team, but not nearly as big as Donald Trump’s shocking triumph on the political stage. The Canucks ended a nine-game losing streak that was one short of the franchise record and allowed beleaguered coach Willie Desjardins to exhale for another day.

After all, the Rangers were averaging five goals per game, were riding a five-game win streak and won eight of their previous nine games. The Canucks snapped a 2-2 third-period deadlock as Alex Burrows scored his first two goals of the season while Sven Baertschi and Loui Eriksson also added their first.

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Fast forward and the challenge Tuesday is to not take the Ducks lightly and find a way to improve to 5-1-0 on the road. Anaheim dug a three-goal hole Sunday at home and dropped a 4-2 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks, despite out-shooting the visitors 39-29 and owning a whopping 92-47 advantage in shot attempts.

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However, the Ducks can’t convert and are averaging a league low 2.12 goals per outing and are 27th on the power play at just a 13.9 per cent conversion rate. On top of that, they sport the seventh-worst penalty kill at 72.4 per cent, and rank last in face-off efficiency at 42.5 per cent.

The Canucks are 10th at 51.4 per cent. J.T. Miller is 10th overall at 59.4 per cent

What do all these lopsided advantages mean? On paper, a lot. In reality, not much. The Canucks are only concerned about their own game, and it’s still bleeding too many odd-man rushes on a nightly basis.

“We haven’t had many practices and they (players) have had some good days off for rest,” Tocchet said after practice Monday. “The next couple of weeks is going to be a lot more business and I liked that attitude today. We worked on a lot of stuff and good battle drills.”

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The buzz 3.0: The Canucks are getting good versatility mileage out of Suter, who’s on left wing and can also play the middle. He has four goals in his last five games.

“Hockey I.Q.,” said Tocchet. “That’s one thing he’s really good at and makes up for knowing he’s not the fastest player out there. It’s still early, and we’ve got to get some wingers going, but in the last 10 days he (Suter) deserves more ice time and I’m probably going to keep him on that (Elias Pettersson) line.

“He deserves it and he’s still valuable as a centre for us.”

The history: The Canucks swept the season series with at 3-1 victory at home on Nov. 28 and 2-1 and 3-2 triumphs on the road on March 3 and March 31 respectively. Boeser had a pair of goals in the first meeting and struck again in the finale, a night in which Dakota Joshua also scored twice. The Canucks outshot the Ducks 31-18 on March 3. Quinn Hughes had four shots, 10 attempts.

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The hope: Even though the Canucks are in a power-play funk with an 0-for-12 slide the last four games, better rotations and potential, plus the Ducks’ inability to prevent man-advantage goals, should be a boon to end the struggle — especially PP1.

The fear: The danger in a danger game. The Ducks are hurting in too many key categories, and if the Canucks start strong and take in to the hosts, they should be able to dictate tempo, dominate the offensive zone, get to the net and earn another two points.

The top guns: Miller has six points (2-4) in his last five games with nine shots, while Boeser has four points (2-2) with 10 shots in that game span.

The wounded: Canucks: Thatcher Demko (knee, IR), Dakota Joshua (testicular cancer, IR, day-to-day). Ducks: John Gibson (appendectomy, IR).

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The quote: “We didn’t crack after they tied the game and I have to give the guys a lot of credit.” — Rick Tocchet on a 3-2 win in San Jose on Saturday night

The projected lineup: 

DeBrusk-Miller-Boeser

Suter-Pettersson-Garland

Heinen-Blueger-Sherwood

Hoglander-Raty-Sprong

Hughes-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Brannstrom-Desharnais

Lankinen

(Forbort shaken up in practice with leg injury).

The prediction: The Canucks take advantage of the Ducks’ inability to apply any type of pressure on special teams. They strike on the power play, don’t give up a shorthanded goal and chalk up a 5-2 win.

(FAN FORUM: Do you have a specific question for a player? Pass it along to @provincesports and we’ll get it in a future edition.)

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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