Another day, another impressive come from behind victory on the road. With a day's rest, the Canucks are in the occupied capital city of America, to take on some crazy Russian guy.
Vancouver Canucks (3-2-0) vs. Washington Capitals (4-1-0)
Capital One Arena, Washington, DC
9:30 am PST; 12:30 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet
Radio: Sportsnet 650
We hate these stupid morning games, and feel like the Eastern teams use this as an advantage against Western teams.
Now, with that out of the way, let's get down to it.
While I don't think that spotting teams 2-0 leads is any recipe for success, the way the Canucks have responded to adversity on this road trip so far has been encouraging to say the least. Sure, there's things that need adjusting, but getting solid efforts from the entire lineup, the kind of goaltending they'll need if they want to make the playoffs, and a fourth line whose work ethic is leading the way, is perhaps something to be hopeful of.
As Adam Foote tries to navigate his first season as a head coach in the NHL, putting together the line that had driven the Abbotsford Canucks to their AHL Championship glory this past spring is looking better with each passing game. With Max Sasson reunited alongside Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson have been incredibly effective, and giving teams fits as they get outworked by the former Abby trio.
Another thing that's going to help the Canucks is getting Teddy Blueger back in the lineup. His ability on faceoffs and as a penalty killer are going to have an immediate impact, bolstering the Canucks bottom six as they continues this road swing. The issue with Blueger coming back is it forces the Canucks to make Jonathan Lekkerimaki a healthy scratch, and hopefully they find a way to get him back into the lineup, as it's not going to help his development sitting in the press box.
The Capitals are off to a strong start, winners of four straight after dropping their home opener to the Bruins. If there's an opening for the Canucks here, it's taking advantage of the special teams battle. With their power play ranked 26th and penalty kill in 30th, making the Caps pay during the man advantage is going to be a big factor in this morning's game.
LINEUPS
Over on the ol' nhl dot com place, they had this potential lineup thing going on:
Canucks projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk -- Filip Chytil -- Brock Boeser
Drew O’Connor -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Elias Pettersson -- Victor Mancini
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Aatu Raty, P.O. Joseph
Injured: Derek Forbort (undisclosed), Nils Hoglander (lower body)
Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Dylan Strome -- Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas -- Connor McMichael -- Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano -- Hendrix Lapierre -- Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime -- Nic Dowd -- Justin Sourdif
Martin Fehervary -- John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Rasmus Sandin -- Matt Roy
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Declan Chisholm, Ethen Frank
Injured: Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body), Dylan McIlrath (lower body)
No changes for the Canucks other than in goal, as Thatcher Demko gets the crease after a fantastic performance from Kevin Lankinen Friday night in Chicago. The Canucks will no doubt be pleased that Pierre-Luc Dubois is on the IR for the Caps. He was an absolute menace against them last season, getting away with all manner of garbage plays.
GAME DAY CHATTER
Seriously, what the actual fuck?
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Swiss progressive thrashers CORONER have released their first studio album in 32 years this weekend and it is jaw-droppingly impressive, not just one of the best comeback albums of the year, but a strong contender of the best release in the metal world for 2025. 'Dissonance Theory' is out now on Century Media Records, and from that album, here's 'Symmetry'.
