Big weekend preview!  Back to back games for the Canucks on Friday and Saturday, so lots to get into as they try to keep the good start going. Matt and Blake listen in on Coach Tocchet’s comments after the morning skate, and reflect on the start for the J.T. Miller line and the PK.

Frank Corrado pops in with first hand accounts of playing alongside Phil Di Giuseppe and the now retired Zack Kassian. Also, Frank looks at the help the Canucks are getting from around the Pacific division, and the province of Alberta in particular. Frank also touches on the pairing of Quinn Hughes & Filip Hronek. Friday also marks the return of “To The People We Go”, your chance for feedback on the show and the wide world of sports, with many takes on the Shane Pinto suspension and the Canucks defence pairings. Have a great weekend! Presented by Applewood Auto Group.

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The Anaheim Ducks are taking a unique approach with Leo Carlsson's development, opting to play the rookie only twice per week and not on back-to-back nights.

Despite an eagerness to get into game action, the 2023 second-overall pick is on board with the plan.

"It feels good," Carlsson told NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin. "Of course, after the Arizona game, I wanted to keep playing games because it felt so good, but I believe in the plan, too, getting bigger and strong and stuff like that."

Carlsson has only dressed in three of Anaheim's seven contests so far but has received big minutes in each. He played 19:00 in his debut against the Dallas Stars and soared above 22 minutes in his two-point outing versus the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

"It's pretty easy, I think, because if you miss a game, you have so much energy for the next game and are just so excited for the next game," Carlsson said.

The development plan is focused on allowing Carlsson to build up over the campaign and improve his strength, power, and speed with additional time that would otherwise be spent preparing for games.

"It's a great plan," Carlsson's agent Matt Keator said. "Because he's not going to wear down. He's going to have more energy and he's going to have more strength. I don't think the Ducks are planning on winning the Cup this year - though you never know - and I just think for him it's almost similar to what he would be doing if he was in Europe, but he's doing it here."

Carlsson joins the NHL from Sweden's top professional league, which has a 52-game regular season.

Linemate Troy Terry admitted he'd like to see Carlsson get into more games, but acknowledged the development plan is in the 18-year-old's best interest long term.

"I know he's on this development program and it's frustrating for me sometimes because I love playing with him," Terry said. "But how, I think, dominating he can be already, if you can get him even stronger, I think it's scary."

The 3-4-0 Ducks face the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Carlsson's status for the contest has yet to be announced.

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Andrei Svechnikov is back.

The Carolina Hurricanes forward will make his season debut Friday against the San Jose Sharks after missing 41 games due to a torn ACL.

Svechnikov sustained the injury on March 11 against the Vegas Golden Knights. He tallied 23 goals and 55 points in 64 games last season prior to his season-ending injury.

"When he gives us the green light, we'll definitely chuck him in there," head coach Rod Brind'Amour told team reporter Walt Ruff on Wednesday.

Svechnikov was kept out of the lineup on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken.

Carolina initially anticipated the 23-year-old to return for the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Hurricanes rank fourth in the Metropolitan Division at 4-4-0.

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Thursday was a good night for our shot props. We cashed two of three plays, with Adam Fantilli coming up one short of a sweep despite logging 18 minutes in a high-event matchup.

At any rate, we'll take the profit and look to continue our strong start to the season with three more props for Friday night's slate.

Jack Eichel over 3.5 shots

Eichel is off to a very strong shooting start. He's registered at least four shots in five of seven games, falling only one shy in the other two.

Eichel is averaging a healthy seven shot attempts per game, which is a massive number for him. He's a very accurate shooter and doesn't need as many attempts as some to go over his shot total.

For perspective, Eichel registered six-plus attempts in 41 games last season. He had four-plus shots in 31 contests, good for a whopping 76% success rate. If we raise the bar to games in which Eichel recorded seven attempts - this season's average - he hit in 24 of 29 (83%).

He shouldn't have much difficulty getting to that number Friday against the Blackhawks. They're dead last in five-on-five shot suppression and concede a ton of volume to opposing centers.

Eichel went over his total against Chicago just a few days ago. There's no reason to expect any different this time around.

Odds: -120 (playable to -135)

Kirill Kaprizov over 3.5 shots

While I generally prefer backing Kaprizov on home ice, a date with the Capitals seems like a worthwhile exception.

They're not a good defensive team and are routinely giving up shots and goals in bulk. A high-event game environment in Washington should serve Kaprizov well.

There are a couple of other things that should aid Kaprizov's chances. For one, Minnesota can't defend a lick right now. The Wild need to generate a lot of offense to outscore their problems, which means loosening the leash for Kaprizov.

His road volume is also extremely strong right now. He's averaging 8.7 shot attempts per game away from Minnesota, well above last year's rate of 6.7.

So long as Kaprizov continues to generate shots at this clip, there's value in backing him anywhere.

Odds: -115 (playable to -125)

Quinn Hughes over 2.5 shots

Hughes said he wanted to shoot the puck more this season. We're still dealing with small samples, but that sure doesn't appear to be wordplay.

He's recorded three-plus shots in five of six games, and the shot attempt output we've seen is remarkably high.

Hughes has attempted 51 shots through just six games. No other Canucks player is in the same stratosphere, with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser sitting tied for second on the team at 28 each.

An average of 8.5 attempts is something you expect to see from players like Kaprizov, Jack Hughes, and Auston Matthews. That we can get someone with that volume at a 2.5 line is a bargain.

Even if you expect Hughes to slow down, this is not the matchup for that to happen. The Blues rank 30th in shots against per game versus defensemen and are in the latter half of a road back-to-back.

They should be an inviting opponent for Hughes to build on his early-season success.

Odds: -105 (playable to -135)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ToddCordell.

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Defenseman Darnell Nurse was blunt in his assessment of the Edmonton Oilers' performance amid the team's abysmal 1-5-1 start to the season.

"We gotta be better, like to a man," Nurse said after Thursday's 3-0 shutout loss against the New York Rangers. "Simple as that. That's the dialogue. Everyone knows. It's easy to point fingers and whatnot. Everyone just look in the mirror at this point and do a whole lot f-----g better."

The Oilers' lone win came against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 17. They've since lost four straight games and are currently without superstar captain Connor McDavid, who's recovering from an upper-body injury sustained on Oct. 21.

Nurse also expressed frustration with the perception that the poor start was solely based on the defense and the team's new systems.

"I've been here for nine years, and it's always the D," Nurse said. "For us, we do have to be better. We can't be relying on our goaltenders to make five, six two-on-one saves a night. Can't be putting our partners and goalies in bad spots.

"But at the same point, there's six guys on the ice at all times, and we gotta be out there helping each other."

Head coach Jay Woodcroft backed the Oilers' change to a zone defense, box plus-one setup on Wednesday.

The Oilers were expected to be contenders atop the Pacific but are already 11 points behind the 7-0-0 Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the division.

Edmonton's next chance to turn their season around comes Sunday in the Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium against their bitter rivals, the Calgary Flames, who are also struggling so far.

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Two days after calling out his team for lacking cohesion, defenseman Nikita Zadorov remains distraught at the state of the Calgary Flames.

Fans booed the club throughout a 3-0 home defeat to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, which marked Calgary's fourth loss in a row.

"I just want to apologize to our fans, we're playing like shit right now," Zadorov said, according to The Athletic's Julian McKenzie.

Zadorov also mentioned he wasn't criticizing any specific teammates with his previous incendiary comments but was instead pointing out the team is struggling to gel early in the season.

After yet another disheartening loss, the veteran defenseman wasn't Calgary's only critic.

"I would have booed too if I saw the way we played," said top-line center Elias Lindholm, per Sportsnet's Eric Francis.

"We weren't broken, we just sucked," added head coach Ryan Huska, per McKenzie.

The Blues outshot the Flames 35-27 during the contest and owned 55.26% of scoring chances and 56.43% of expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Calgary won two of its first four games before hitting its current skid and now sits sixth in the Pacific Division at 2-5-1. Its sputtering offense ranks 27th league-wide with 2.43 goals per game.

The club's next chance to right the ship comes against the Edmonton Oilers - who have also lost four in a row - outdoors at the Heritage Classic on Sunday.

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Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom had to be stretchered off midway through Thursday's game against the New York Islanders.

Brannstrom landed awkwardly after opposing forward Cal Clutterbuck hit him into the boards in the second period.

Brannstrom is alert, can use his extremities, and was taken to a local hospital, the Senators announced shortly thereafter.

He logged under eight minutes of ice time before the hit and played in all six of Ottawa's previous games this season.

The 24-year-old joined the Senators' organization in the 2019 trade that sent Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas drafted Brannstrom 15th overall in 2017.

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