NHL Game Preview - Anaheim at Vancouver

Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:00 PM EST

As Monday's NHL trade deadline looms, the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks are thinking about other things.

Neither team is expected to do much on the trade front. The Canucks are in the midst of a full rebuild, and the Ducks are just beginning one, so a deadline deal for someone to help late this season is unlikely in each case.

So as they prepare to face each other in Vancouver on Monday night, the Canucks and Ducks goals remain about ... goals, scoring and preventing them.

The Canucks, whose already slim playoff hopes are fading quickly, would like to score more. Vancouver has lost three straight and been shut out twice in its past five games.

"We're grinding right now," winger Tyler Motte told reporters. "It is hard to stay positive. Now's the time of the season when you have to get points regardless of how you play. That's the point of playing hockey right now. Whether it's the bounces or whatever, you can't make excuses. You've got to find a way to get points. You've got to find ways to win games.

Following Saturday's 4-0 home loss to the New York Islanders, the Canucks are 2-6-2 in their past eight games.

"We need to score important goals at this time of the year," Canucks center Bo Horvat told reporters. "I put that on myself and guys in here that do produce for your team. I've got to bury those pucks."

Meanwhile, the Ducks have been thinking more about preventing goals. They have renewed their dedication to defense in the six games since general manager Bob Murray took over behind the bench after firing coach Randy Carlyle.

Although the Ducks have lost two straight games, they are 3-3 under Murray and have allowed only nine goals in those six games. By comparison, they allowed 37 goals in the seven games (all losses) prior to Carlyle's dismissal.

"We've just tightened everything up," defenseman Josh Manson told The Orange County Register recently. "Everybody understands things a little better now. There's a little bit more clarity. It's funny. I've been thinking, Why has it changed so much? Why has it been so drastic?

"It's like Jan. 1 hits and people start going on diets like it's their resolution. Why weren't you just doing it before?"

According to Manson, the coaching change has also had an effect.

"A couple of things have changed in our system, so that has something to do with it, too," he told the Register. "That's a big part of it. We want to make sure we're not giving up easy chances around the net. We're making sure there's no opportunities."

But the Ducks also need to create more offense. They have been shut out six times and scored three goals or fewer in 37 games. Before he fixes things, Murray is evaluating players for next season.

Center Sam Steel, 21, is getting a chance to showcase his skills after being called up from San Diego of the AHL to replace captain Ryan Getzlaf, who has missed two games with an undisclosed upper-body injury.

Winger Max Jones, another 21-year-old who has spent most of this season with San Diego, is also looking to improve his full-time NHL employment hopes.

Murray is "looking for guys to stand out right now," Jones told the Register. "I think that's what I'm trying to do. Next year is a whole other year, a whole other season, I'm not worried about that right now."

Jones will likely not have to focus on the Canucks, though. He is expected to be returned to San Diego temporarily in order to meet a deadline to be eligible for the AHL playoffs.

But he should be back in the NHL again soon, when the trade deadline is over for another year.

--Field Level Media