There haven't been many brutal losses for this team so far, but Saturday night's embarrassment against the Leafs is a hard one to swallow. And having Thatcher Demko get hurt yet again? The rotten cherry on top of a shit sundae, really.

Vancouver Canucks (16-23-5) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (25-14-6)

Bell Centre, Montreal, PQ

4:30 pm PST; 7:30 pm EST

TV: Amazon Prime

Radio: Sportsnet 650

There have been games the Canucks have played this season that were boring. Some of them, hard to sit through. But what we saw on Saturday, was probably the first top to bottom performance where they just didn't seem to care. Getting through this season has been accomplished because nights like Saturday really weren't a thing. Sure, they'd gotten outplayed, but they were visibly trying, and that's going to at least hold some people's interest as the losses pile up. But that was one of the most difficult performances to sit through in a while.

So what now? With their number one goalie yet again on the shelf, and let's be honest here, his future now in doubt given the number of injuries he's suffered over the past few seasons, how are they going to respond after what was easily their worst game of the season? And it's not just Demko that went down, as they're going to be without Kiefer Sherwood for up to three weeks after suffering an injury Saturday night, something that takes the excitement out of getting Conor Garland back tonight.

And tonight they're taking on a Montreal team that is finally coming into it's own, playing well in spite of a ton of injuries, sitting just two points back of first place in the Atlantic Division. They've got speed, skill and goaltending, and could be a legit threat in the East this spring.

LINEUPS

From the nhl dot com ting, here's yer lineups:

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Linus Karlsson

Conor Garland -- David Kampf -- Brock Boeser

Liam Ohgren -- Max Sasson -- Drew O’Connor

Evander Kane -- Aatu Raty -- Nils Hoglander

Tom Willander -- Filip Hronek

Pierre-Olivier Joseph -- Tyler Myers

Marcus Pettersson -- Victor Mancini

Nikita Tolopilo

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Arshdeep Bains, Zeev Buium

Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Kiefer Sherwood (undisclosed), Marco Rossi (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Alexandre Texier

Juraj Slafkovsky -- Oliver Kapanen -- Ivan Demidov

Zachary Bolduc -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher

Sammy Blais -- Joe Veleno -- Owen Beck

Mike Matheson -- Noah Dobson

Lane Hutson -- Alexandre Carrier

Kaiden Guhle -- Arber Xhekaj

Jakub Dobes

Jacob Fowler

Scratched: Sam Montembeault, Jayden Struble

Injured: Patrik Laine (lower body), Kirby Dach (broken foot), Jake Evans (lower body), Josh Anderson (upper body), Alex Newhook (broken ankle)

While some may look at Zeev Buium being a healthy scratch as something to freak out about, this really looks like a coach trying to send a message to a young player who's been inconsistent over the last few games, and I don't think we should read anything more into it. You gotta feel for Arshdeep Bains though, who can't get into a game even after Saturday night's shit show. Nikita Tolopilo is your starter tonight, called up from Abbotsford yesterday after Demko flew back to Vancouver for further evaluation.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Iron Reagan. I Won't Go. Turn this one up!

Enjoy the game, hahaha. Fuck you fascists, you're bound to lose. Go Canucks tank!