These assholes again, already? Well, after another glorious night of making a not that great Minnesota Wild team look like the 1970's Montreal Canadiens, the Canucks can wrap up this road swing with a do over in Nashville.
Vancouver Canucks (6-7-0) vs. Nashville Predators (5-6-2)
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville TN
5:30 pm PST; 8:30 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
It's mind boggling, really. Good or bad, the Canucks just can't seem to win in Minnesota. And it's not even hard fought losses. They come into this arena and get clowned, every single time. And with the Oilers, Blackhawks and Kraken all playing tonight, the Canucks need, yes need, a win to keep from getting lost in the shuffle. I know you're probably thinking to yourself "What the hell, old man? It's just the start of November!", right? I would suggest you read Thursday's piece on why if things don't change, this season is as good as done.
Now, is it possible they can keep pace? Oh, sure. I mean, they are getting some much needed help to the NHL's most injured lineup tonight.
While they still have a lot of missing pieces, getting the Captain back tonight is a huge boost for the Canucks, both defensively and offensively, and especially on that sputtering power play.
The last time these teams met, the Preds rode a big game from Juuse Saros and a goal that just barely crossed the line to eek out a win, and I would not expect a repeat of that tonight. After getting fed their lunch in Minnesota, they're gonna be pissed off and fired up tonight. And thankfully, they can put that awful performance (apart from Drew O'Connor, who got off the schneid in a big way) behind them.
LINEUPS
That nhl dot com thingy has the possible lineups up:
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Evander Kane -- Lukas Reichel -- Kiefer Sherwood
Drew O'Connor -- Aatu Raty -- Mackenzie MacEachern
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tom Willander
Elias Nils Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Kirill Kudryavtsev, P.O. Joseph
Injured: Conor Garland (undisclosed), Victor Mancini (undisclosed), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (upper body), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Predators projected lineup
Filip Forsberg -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Luke Evangelista
Erik Haula -- Steven Stamkos -- Jonathan Marchessault
Michael Bunting -- Fedor Svechkov -- Matthew Wood
Tyson Jost -- Michael McCarron -- Ozzy Wiesblatt
Brady Skjei -- Nick Perbix
Nicolas Hague -- Nick Blankenburg
Spencer Stastney -- Justin Barron
Juuse Saros
Justus Annunen
Scratched: None
Injured: Roman Josi (upper body), Adam Wilsby (lower body), Cole Smith (upper body)
P.O. Joseph is out as Hughes returns, which speaks volumes about how well Tom Willander has looked since getting called up from Abbotsford. No other changes it would appear, and it will be Demko vs Saros in the creases.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
After that shitty loss, and that baseball game Saturday night, I am sure you could use a pick me up. So here's the latest from ELECTRIC CALLBOY. 'Tanzneid' is ridiculous, silly, stupid and annoyingly catchy. I love it. Turn this one up and jump around for a bit. You'll feel better.
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
