To say the Canucks got the 2025-26 season off to a good start is pretty accurate. The test gets harder as they head to Edmonton and begin a run of six of their next seven games on the road.
Vancouver Canucks (1-0-0) vs. Edmonton Oilers (0-0-1)
Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet, CBC, CITY
Radio: Sportsnet 650
In spite of what some people may believe, that was pretty much how the game should have went Thursday night. I don't care what the Flames did last season, when you look at these teams on paper, the Canucks are better, and so no one should be surprised how that one went down.
Overall, a really solid night. The defence played well, not giving the Flames a lot to work with. And when they were able to muster some offensive chances, Thatcher Demko was there, putting in the kind of performance we expect from him. It would have been nice to see him get the shutout, but we'll take it. Strong games from all four lines, especially when you consider the 'Core Four' (Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk) were held to the Boeser goal, assisted by Petey and Jake. Having your top guys somewhat neutralized and still putting five on the board is a good sign.
Filip Chytil had a solid game, and could have finished the night with four goals if not for some dumb luck and a nice save from Dustin Wolf. Strong performances from the youngsters and a solid 60 minute effort left them full value for that opening night win.
Tonight's a tougher test, without a doubt, as they are in Edmonton to take on the Oilers. We're one game in, and already there's discussion about goaltending after a Stewart Skinner gaffe led to the Flames storming back and sending it to extra time, where they would win in the shootout. With Connor McDavid locked down for a couple more years, you'd think this team would just relax and not stress, but the anxiety level in Edmonton at the thought of their goaltending once again being their downfall is probably pretty awful. For the rest of us, we're enjoying the ever-lovin' shit outta it.
The big story tonight though is the return to Edmonton for Evander Kane. The former Oiler signed with the Canucks in the offseason, and will no doubt be fired up to have a good night against his old squad. As far as where I sit on Kane, he played well in the opener, but is far from having proven this was a smart signing by the Canucks. A big game tonight against the Oilers will go a long way towards that.
LINEUPS
Thanks as always to the ol' nhl dot com, even though I had to correct a third D pairing, because the players they listed do not actually play for the Canucks.
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Arshdeep Bains -- Filip Chytil -- Conor Garland
Evander Kane -- Braeden Cootes -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Drew O’Connor -- Aatu Ratay -- Kiefer Sherwood
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Elias Pettersson
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Linus Karlsson, Victor Mancini
Injured: Teddy Blueger (lower body), Guillaume Brisebois (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body)
Oilers projected lineup
Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Trent Frederic
Andrew Mangiapane -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Matthew Savoie
Isaac Howard -- Adam Henrique -- David Tomasek
Vasily Podkolzin -- Noah Philp -- Kasperi Kapanen
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Alec Regula
Brett Kulak -- Ty Emberson
Calvin Pickard
Stuart Skinner
Scratched: Curtis Lazar, Troy Stecher
Injured: Mattias Janmark (undisclosed), Zach Hyman (wrist), Jake Walman (undisclosed)
We'll see exactly the same lineup we saw on Thursday night against the Flames, while, much like the last time the Canucks took on the Oilers in the preseason, Calvin Pickard will get the start, as Skinner has lost the coach's confidence one game into the season. You love to see it.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
An appropriate one from Canada's king of rock n roll for ya today. Here's 'Everyday Is Saturday Night' from the one and only DANKO JONES.
Enjoy the game, folks and happy Turkey weekend if you do that. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go.
The wait is over, as the Canucks prepare to kick off the 2025-26 season at home against the Flames, with new faces, a new coach and maybe a bit of hope?
Vancouver Canucks (0-0-0) vs. Calgary Flames (1-0-0)
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet West
Radio: Sportsnet 650
The start of a new hockey season is always a special time. A chance for us as fans to enjoy the return of the team, welcome new players into the fold, and watch some hockey before the crushing weight of the misery this team has inflicted upon its fan base takes hold yet again.
Okay, so maybe that's a little bleak, but it's been a long time since we had genuine hope that the oldest run of never winning the Cup would finally be snapped. And while it's unlikely that it happens this season, there should be at least a glimmer of hope that this team can make it to the post season after missing yet again last time around. With a new head coach in Adam Foote, some new additions to try and fill holes from departures over the summer, and starting the season healthy (save for a couple guys, most notably Nils Hoglander), the Canucks should have what it takes to battle for a Western Conference playoff spot this season. And they'll likely have to fight off tonight's opponent to snag it.
The Calgary Flames appear to be in a pretty similar situation as the Canucks. Trying to rebuild after high expectations and disappointing results. They may not have all the pieces to get this done though, because like the Canucks, a lot of things will have to go right in order for that to happen. Both teams also have a teenage draft pick who'll be starting the season with the club after turning heads in training camp in the preseason.
The Flames got their 2025-26 off to a great start, coming back from three goals down to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout. They got goals from former Kamloops Blazer Connor Zary, and 19 year old rookie Matvei Gridin en route to the win, Was it pretty? Good lord, no. But that will be a confident Flames team coming in tonight looking to start their year with back to back wins, and the Canucks need to be ready.
With the Canucks, the focus should be on three main areas tonight. First, the play of Braeden Cootes, the eighteen year old first round pick from this past June, who is full value for his opening night roster spot. He's looked very ready for prime time, and if his play continues to be strong, could see himself remain with the team past the nine game trial for players that can be sent back to major junior. Second, all eyes will be on Elias Pettersson and his play on a nightly basis. It's not gonna take long for the doubters to be out in full force if he's not making an impact out of the gate. Let's hope for sanity's sake that he's good to go after a decent enough showing in the preseason. And third, is Thatcher Demko going to be able to give the Canucks a full season? So much of this team's fate lies in the hands of their goaltending, and while Kevin Lankinen was good in his first season as a Canuck, but if they want to get to the postseason, and potentially further, it's going to have to be Demko that does it.
LINEUPS
Thanks to someone at the ol' nhl dot com thingy, we have a somewhat educated guess as to the lineups these teams will ice tonight:
Flames projected lineup
Joel Farabee -- Nazem Kadri -- Adam Klapka
Matvei Gridin -- Morgan Frost -- Matt Coronato
Connor Zary -- Mikael Backlund -- Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg -- Justin Kirkland -- Yegor Sharangovich
Joel Hanley -- MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl -- Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean -- Brayden Pachal
Dustin Wolf
Devin Cooley
Scratched: Samuel Honzek, Daniil Miromanov, Zayne Parekh
Injured: Jonathan Huberdeau (undisclosed), Martin Pospisil (undisclosed)
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Arshdeep Bains -- Filip Chytil -- Conor Garland
Evander Kane -- Braeden Cootes -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Drew O'Connor -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Elias Nils Pettersson
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Victor Mancini, Linus Karlsson
Injured: Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed), P.O Joseph (lower body)
Cootes on a line with Evander Kane and Jonathan Lekkerimaki will be one to watch, as well as the second line of Filip Chytil centering Conor Garland and Arshdeep Bains. Not sure I like Tyler Myers on the second defensive pairing, but we'll have to see how this plays out.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Going back to 1993 today, in the heady heydays of Earache Records, as they started branching out from grindcore and death metal to bring the world bands like PITCHSHIFTER. These UK industrial metallers would make a decent enough impact in the latter part of the decade, and put together some pretty solid releases. From their third album 'Desensitized', this is 'Triad'.
Well, maybe it'll be different this time. Try and enjoy it. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
The Canucks will wrap up the preseason tonight at home with another contest against the Oilers.
The Canucks put up a pretty solid showing against the Oilers on Sunday in a 4-3 defeat, doing it without a number of their top players, but tonight we should expect pretty much the opening night rosters of both teams in this final preseason contest.
The Canucks still have some roster moves to make, before they kick off the 2025-26 season at home against the Flames next Thursday, though. Yesterday they placed Vitali Kravtsov on waivers, and he cleared today, while they just placed Nils Aman on the waiver wire to get him down to Abbotsford. I'd say there's a chance he gets snagged by someone, but hopefully he gets through this so he can report to the Abby Canucks for the start of their season.
There's still a few roster slots available, so expect the players vying for those positions to be going all out tonight in a last ditch effort to start the year with the big club. One guy who's likely to get sent down? Max Sasson. He's played well, especially in that big 8-1 win over the Flames Wednesday night, but unlike Aatu Räty, Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains, Sasson can be sent down to Abby without requiring waivers. While he's not been a clear favorite in terms of who should stay, he's at least earned the consideration, but his status is probably gonna see him back with the Baby Canucks, at least to start the season.
On the back end, Elias Pettersson, Tom Willander and Victor Mancini are all vying for the final defensive roster spot, and while Pettersson and Willander have been decent enough, Mancini's making this decision a difficult one, especially after a monster game in that win over the Flames. And with his offensive mindset, he does seem to be the kind of player new head coach Adam Foote wants as the Canucks will be looking to play a style that encourages activation of the defence as often as possible. And whoever does get sent down won't be hurting for playing time, as Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo are both not expected back from injury before the new year.
LINEUPS
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
A fun cover from Germany's beer-soaked thrash beasts today. Off their 1992 album 'Stone Cold Sober', here's TANKARD ripping through the J. GEILS BAND 80's classic 'Centerfold'.
Enjoy the game, folks. Fuck Fascism. Go Canucks Go!
Coming off a tough loss in Edmonton on Sunday, the Canucks are back at it, this time a little further south as they head to Cowtown to take on the Flames.
Well, the injury news about Nils Hoglander wasn't the worst it could be, but it was far from optimal.
The Canucks have a number of options available to them, and some of them will involve Braeden Cootes and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Cootes has looked pretty solid for his first dip into the professional pool, and has likely earned himself at least the 9 game look to see if he's got what it takes for the Canucks to move forward and use the first year of his ELC. Lekkerimaki has also had a good camp, and coming off solid play in Abbotsford last season, might be ready to make the jump to full time in the NHL. There's a number of line shuffling options available to them, and they have time to sort things out before they face this Flames team at home in eight days time.
The Canucks played alright on Sunday, missing some rather large chunks of their opening night lineup, while the Oilers had nearly all of their regulars in, so for that game to be as close as it was made that loss somewhat acceptable at least.
There's still some lineup decisions to be made as the Canucks play the second to last game of the preseason, and by the game on Friday night at home against the Oilers, we should have a clearer idea who's going to start the season with the Canucks, who's going to Abbotsford, and who's going back to junior. And with the Canucks rumored to be in the running for Lukas Reichel of the Chicago Blackhawks, things will be far from boring until opening night on the 9th.
LINEUPS
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
As far as the world of metal goes, there are few albums this year that have been as anticipated as the return of LA's thrash legends DARK ANGEL. It's been 34 years since their last release 'Time Does Not Heal', and moving on in memory of guitarist Jim Durkin, who passed in 2023, Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Death, Testament, Zimmers Hole) and crew have put together an album worthy of this band's impressive legacy. And the album was recorded right here in Vancouver at The Armoury Studios! Here's the title track to 'Extinction Level Event'.
Enjoy the game. Fight fascism. Eat your veggies. Go Canucks Go!
Coming off an impressive comeback win 4-2 win over the dreaded Kraken, new and old Nucks go north in search of another vital mean nothing win.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmon Oil
5:00 pm PST;
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
It's a Sunday dinner game. On the road. And the NM crew are tired (and hungover) from all the celebrating after Friday's incredible, not really increbible, but still entertaining win.... we're so not in mid-season shape.
Do we know the Nucks lineup for the game? I don't.
Best Guess Nucks Line Up:
Sasson - Cootes - Lekkerimäki
LaBate - Åman - Sherwood
O’Connor - Chytil - Garland
Bains - Räty - Karlsson
EP25 - Hronek
Forbort - Kudryavtsev
MP29 - Joseph
Not my guess... from the sky of blue.
Oilton Edmoaners?
Don't know, don't care.
This is Twitch's need to know playground. And we don't need to know.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Fighting fascism old skool style. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer can still belt out tunes for the beltway.
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
Coming off an impressive 3-1 win over the Flames in Abbotsford, the Canucks play their first true home game of the preseason, as they look to get a little revenge against the Kraken.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Seattle Kraken
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Is it too early for this shit already? We're not even halfway through the preseason, and we have an injury concern to deal with.
With Hoglander one of the guys the Canucks really need to have a bounce back year, this is a pretty disappointing setback, and hopefully he can get right back to it once he's had a chance to heal.
So, with the Canucks now looking for a potential replacement if the injury is more severe than first thought, they will focus on a spot being open, for now at least, to one of the youngsters trying to impress at camp, and you can see a lot of the youth respresented again tonight in the lineup.
And while there's lots of prospects in this lineup, there's also a nice portion of the core, as Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek and Jake DeBrusk all in tonight, along with the first look at Evander Kane in a Canucks game situation. Kane is on a line with Jonathan Lekkeremaki and Braeden Cootes, who is getting a decent look in his first pro camp.
Kevin Lankinen will get the start tonight, And it's gonna be Aku Koskenvuo as the backup, so I would expect to see Lankinen go the distance tonight. Meanwhile the Kraken, who iced a pretty solid lineup earlier in the week, are looking a wee bit exploitable on the back end tonight, perhaps? (Courtesy the Kraken nhl site)
Catton-Gaudreau-Tolvanen
Kartye-Meyers-Melanson
Nyman-Molgaard-Winterton
Stephens-Morrison-Firkus
Lindgren-Fleury
Evans-Ottavainen
Jugnauth-Dragicevic
Murray
Grubauer
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Look, shit's just gonna continue to be stupid. And while it's important that you do what you can, to help defend the rights of the most vulnerable among us, you also need to take care of yourself. However you do that, whatever works for you, do it. You need to be at your best to save the world, man. For me, it's music and right now, ridiculous old school stuff like this is just so good. You can just get lost for a while, and recharge your batteries for the fights to come.
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
Just freshly out of training camp and the 2nd (most important) game of the preseason is upon us!
Calgary Flames @ Canucks - in Abby
7PM PST
TV: Streaming on Canucks.com
Radio: Tune in to find out
If you're as excited about this preseason mean nothing game as the last one, enjoy the spectacle.
LINEUPS
As far as the lines go, more looks at the Nucks prospects. One key change: Demmmers will be in net!
For the whole game? We don't know.
Here's what we do know:
The Cow Town roster? Yeah... they'll probably have one. Including that show-off Frost.
Some might say this is a vital game to set the tone against another division rival. Others are tone-deaf and this is just another FREE streaming game to get us hooked before Sportynet gouges our wallets out for the actual season - and possibly beyond.
As Kent cautioned us last meaningless game: "It's preseason, don't read too much into it. Unless of course we win. In that case, start planning the f'n parade, baby!"
Enjoy the Abbyness!
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
No More Lies - this is dedicated to the revenue-grubbing meanies at Rogers/Sportynet. Worse service for more money means no commercial streaming for many this season. We'll be glued to the other hi-def screen - the one in our imagination or other ports of call.
The day we've all been waiting for is finally here. Except by all, I mean those of you who actually remembered that the preseason schedule gets underway today. Yay?
Vancouver Canucks vs. Seattle Kraken
5:00 pm PST; 8:00 pm EST
TV: Streaming on Canucks.com
Radio: No, I think?
The lead up to the beginning of a new season of Vancouver Canucks hockey is set for this evening as the boys are in Seattle to take on the Kraken in the first of a handful of warmups before things get underway for real at home against Calgary on Oct 9th.
As is usually the case in the first half of the preseason schedule, the team being iced tonight is a far cry from what the opening night lineup will be. Veterans Nils Höglander, Filip Chytil, Kiefer Sherwood, Drew O’Connor, Teddy Blueger, Nils Åman, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph will play tonight for the Canucks. Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Arshdeep Bains, both huge parts of that AHL Championship squad in Abbotsford will also be in the lineup tonight.
The defence will also feature the trio of Elias Pettersson, Victor Mancini and Tom Willander, and it will be interesting to see just how many of these guys are in the lineup to start the season. In goal, it's Ty Young and Nikita Tolopilo, expect those guys to split the workload tonight.
There's a lot of pressure on this squad, the new head coach in Adam Foote, and especially the management team, to get this team back into playoff contention after missing the postseason last time around. They're going to need to have some pretty significant seasons from a number of players AND stay healthy in order to give themselves a shot. We'll have our official season preview coming up soon, but in the meantime, remember. It's preseason, don't read too much into it. Unless of course we win. In that case, start planning the f'n parade, baby!
LINEUPS
Courtesy of the Kraken's website, here's what to expect from them tonight:
Nyman-Beniers-Kakko
Schwartz-Wright-Firkus
Sale-Catton-Eberle
Molgaard-O’Brien-Hayden
Dunn-Larsson
Evans-Oleksiak
Olofsson-Fiddler
Daccord
Kokko
And via CanucksArmy.com this is the Canucks lines for tonight's battle:
Projected lineup vs. Kraken:
Höglander-Chytil-Lekkerimäki
Bains-Cootes-Sherwood
O’Connor-Blueger-Klimovich
LaBate-Aman-StillmanE.Pettersson-Mancini
PO Joseph-Willander
Schuldt-MynioTolopilo
YoungExtra: Alcos
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Bay Area thrash titans TESTAMENT have album number fourteen ready to come out soon, and the latest video from that is our first battle hymn of the new hockey season. The release will be called 'Para Bellum' and is coming out on Nuclear Blast Records Oct 10th. Check out the fantastic animated video for 'Shadow People' (and don't sleep on the first single off this album, either).
The Vancouver Canucks are finally back in action against an opponent SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! The first of six pre-season games will kick off in Seattle at 5:00 p.m. in Climate Pledge Arena. We don't know who will be tapped for the game, but there are some things to watch out for.
The vibe coming out of training camp has been full-bore optimism. Pretty standard boilerplate for any pro sports squad, though. Even players on teams that know they are in tough will praise the new faces/signed veterans and "plans for the future" and all that. That's not the case here. The team has sounded more relaxed, oddly enough.
A lot of this is coloured with Retr-O-Spect Glasses(tm), but this group that missed the playoffs sounds more confident than last year's bunch, who were coming back from the third-highest point total in Canucks history. They sound ready.
The biggest difference between now and a year ago is probably health. Thatcher Demko's knee, Dakota Joshua's cancer, and whatever was going on in the dressing room had everyone on edge. None of that is around the arena this year.
As is typical with these pre-season games, only some of the established veterans will play tomorrow. With that in mind, here's a quick look at what we're looking for.
Demko says he is completely healthy and looking forward to the season. And, with the extra time put in, he's figured out how to best work around his popliteus injury. There was a lot of second-guessing how to best protect his knee while still being effective as the season went on last year. That resulted in the worst numbers of his career. That's not going to happen again.
He and Lankinen are obviously sharing the workload this season, but then who? Jiří Patera's injuries last season also kept him off the ice, and he didn't show up in Saturday's scrimmage. Patera has NHL experience and was signed with the intention of being the Canucks' third goaltender behind Demko and Arturs Silovs. That... didn't work.
But now he finds himself in third place behind Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young in Abbotsford. Young played in Kalamazoo before joining Abbotsford as an injury replacement, and he showed well enough that the team wants him moved up a level. Sure, keeping Patera in the system would be great insurance, but he won't be happy about life in the ECHL.
Quinn Hughes can switch onto frikkin' cruise control for another two weeks. He's ready to go. But we want to give the young guys a chance beside actual NHL veterans. We know who the top four are going to be, so it's up to the rest of the set to sort themselves out. Pierre-Olivier Joseph is the barrier any of the kids need to clear if they want to start in the NHL, and he's not making it easy for them.
Joseph has looked really good in scrimmages, adding pressure onto even Elias Pettersson to prove himself. As good a skater as Tom Willander is, he hasn't been up to speed against this level of competition yet. And that's not including the startling Kiril Kudryavtsev, who I didn't expect to get this far, never mind doing it in three years. Victor Mancini is also likely ahead of Willander at this point, and that's fine. A year - or even a few months - in the AHL won't do him any harm.
But it's going to be very interesting to see who gets that 6/7 spot. Derek Forbort was a penalty-killing anchor on last year's squad, so whoever pairs with him will probably need those chops, too.
We'll have to see who is sent to Seattle and who will kick off their season in Abbotsford. There will be enough veterans to keep things interesting, and on a guess, Coach Foote will want his top lines to be the lines he wants to start the regular season with. Wherever Brock Boeser goes, he'll probably have Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk with him. Likewise, Filip Chytil, Evander Kane, and - surprise, surprise! - Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
The other nine forwards will probably be a mixed bag of veterans and rookies or new arrivals. The point isn't really to win these games but to see who can work where in Vancouver's system, either full-time or as a call-up. So far, two players have really stood out in a pleasant way.
Filip Chytil looks angry. He knows his reputation as being injury-prone and not good at protecting himself from hits. It's not great to say, but given the nature of concussions, that's going to haunt him until he has an extended period completely healthy. But man, when you see him going at full speed, you can see why he really can be the answer to Vancouver's missing 2C. They can really use his puck-carrying ability.
Speaking of things I don't want to say, the other player is Braden Cootes. I am loath to put any more pressure on a rookie who JUST HAPPENS to be a right-handed centre with a high hockey-IQ and leadership tendencies, but he's not looked out of place. And he, unlike Lekkerimäki, could start his career getting ten to twelve minutes a night on the fourth line and still be contributing. Yes, I am thinking of Bo Horvat when I watch Braden Cootes. Dammit.
Don't get me wrong, here. I'm looking forward to seeing him regularly with Vancouver. But he's 18 years old. And he's exactly what the Canucks need right now - if he happened to be two or three years further along in his development. Patience is a virtue, but so is building a team Quinn Hughes wants to stay with. Dammit.
There are six (ugh) pre-season games on the menu this season, and no doubt we're going to read way too much into all of them. So let's get to it.
For a brief moment, it looked like maybe the Hurricanes were going to prolong the agony, but then Florida said "Haha, no." And the Abbotsford Canucks host the Texas Stars in Game One of the AHL Western Conference Finals tonight. Oh yeah, Edmonton and Dallas play as well, I guess.
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
FLORIDA PANTHERS 5 CAROLINA HURRICANES 3 (Panthers win series 4-1)
Last year, after bowing out to the Panthers in four games, Hurricanes coach Rob Brind'Amour claimed that they didn't actually get swept, because it didn't feel like it. So was he going to assert that they didn't lose this series because they won a game this time? No, but he did pull out another all time WTF'er.
He wasn't sure? You were probably the only one, even if that's true. Like, try and push the underdog narrative before the series starts, maybe? The Hurricanes are hardly some scrappy bunch who, against all odds, managed to get to the third round. Seriously embarrassing stuff. Anyway, Florida punches their ticket to defend their crown, and tonight may not tell us who they'll face, but it will tell us when Game One will be. If the Oilers win tonight, it's in Edmonton on June 4th. If Dallas wins tonight, it will be in the winner of Game Seven on June 7th, which will be on May 31st, meaning a whole week of no games before the series resumes, which seems like it will do little to help sagging American ratings.
TONIGHT'S ACTION
EDMONTON OILERS (3-1) vs DALLAS STARS (1-3)
AMERICAN AIRLINES ARENA, DALLAS, TX
5:00 PM PST/ 8:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
Can the Edmonton Oilers match the Panthers and secure the rematch for the Cup in just five games? Can Stuart Skinner continue this ridiculous run? Dallas is up against it, and will need to do it in seven if they hope to keep their Cup dreams alive. And the Oilers really don't want to take the chance of this going seven games, given Dallas coach Pete De Boer's record in game sevens.
The Oilers were dealt a blow as they lost Zach Hyman for the rest of the playoffs. Hyman suffered an upper body injury in Game Four, and had surgery to repair it. But because they always seem to get the bounces, they'll get Mattias Ekholm back on defence tonight. Ekholm had been on the injured list since April 11th.
Western Conference Final, Game 5
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC
Edmonton leads best-of-7 series 3-1
Oilers projected lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Corey Perry
Evander Kane -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kasperi Kapanen
Jeff Skinner -- Adam Henrique -- Trent Frederic
Vasily Podkolzin -- Mattias Janmark -- Viktor Arvidsson
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Brett Kulak
Jake Walman -- John Klingberg
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan, Troy Stecher
Injured: Connor Brown (undisclosed), Zach Hyman (upper body)
Stars projected lineup
Mikael Granlund -- Roope Hintz -- Mikko Rantanen
Mason Marchment -- Matt Duchene -- Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Jason Robertson
Oskar Back -- Sam Steel -- Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell -- Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley -- Cody Ceci
Lian Bichsel -- Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Oskar Back, Mavrik Bourque, Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith
Injured: Nils Lundkvist (shoulder)
ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS vs TEXAS STARS
ABBOTSFORD CENTRE, ABBOTSFORD, BC
7:00 PDT/ 10:00 EDT
RADIO: SPORTSNET 650 TV: FLOHOCKEY.TV
The Canucks are now just four wins away from their first berth in an AHL final in franchise history, and the first appearance for a Canucks farm team since the Utica Comets made the finals against the Manchester Monarchs in 2015. They will take on Dallas' affiliate, who have three of the top scorers so far in the AHL playoffs, one of them a former Canuck. Kole Lind has put up 6-5-11 for the Stars, and the Canucks will need to shut him and the rest of the Stars high powered offense down.
The Canucks have been led by Sammy Blais (3-8-11), Linus Karlsson (7-3-10) and Phil Di Giuseppe (5-3-8), but will need Blais to keep his composure, having been ejected from the last two games against the Colorado Eagles. The Canucks hope they can continue to get more stellar performances from Arturs Silovs, who has four shutouts so far in the playoffs, three of them coming in the series clinching games for the Canucks. The first two games will be in Abbotsford, followed by three in Texas, with the final two, if necessary, back in Abbotsford. If they should emerge victorious, they'll face either the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina) or Laval Rocket (Montreal). Charlotte leads that series 1-0, with Game Two going tonight.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
A little Twisted Sister for ya today. Here's 'Burn In Hell' featuring the late, great Paul Reubens as Pee Wee Herman from the classic 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'.
