It was almost predictable that someone was going to get hurt on Thursday night in St Louis, but 33 seconds into the game? And with Brock Boeser the latest casualty, things looked pretty grim for the Canucks, but it appears someone forget to tell that to Kiefer Sherwood.
Vancouver Canucks (6-6-0) vs. Minnesota Wild (3-6-1)
Grand Casino Arena, St Paul, MN
4:00 pm PST; 7:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet 360
Radio: Sportsnet 650
The odds were already against the Canucks heading into this one, and when Brock Boeser was felled by a friendly fire point shot just 33 seconds in, you could hardly blame any Canucks fan for walking away at that point. I mean, looking at their injury list, and one of the guys actually producing goes down?
It then became crucial for two things to happen if they hoped to escape from Missouri with two points: Someone needed to step up and score some goals, and Kevin Lankinen would have to put in his best performance of the season so far. And with the team missing some of their most potent offensive weapons, Lankinen did exactly that, making 36 saves along with three in the shootout to help the Canucks to a win on the strength of an inspirational Kiefer Sherwood hat trick.
And there was almost another much needed bit of good news, as it appeared that Evander Kane had actually come through with a big goal when it was needed, as he scored with less than four minutes to go in the third. But, in keeping with the way he's performed this season, the goal was waved off, taken down on a sopping wet tissue soft as the goalie it was scored on a goaltender interference call against Mackenzie MacEachern. To say the contact made affected Binnington's ability to stop that puck is simply laughable. All these years and the league still has no bloody idea what goaltender interference is.
Anyway, after Sherwood rang his shootout attempt off the crossbar, and Brayden Schenn lost the puck on his attempt on Lankinen, Jake DeBrusk ended it and gave the Canucks a much needed victory to even their record for the month of October at 6-6-0. They move on to Minnesota to take on one of the NHL's surprise teams after the first month, and not in a good way.
Many had the Wild pegged as legit contenders for the ultra tough Central division this year, but they've struggled out of the gate, thanks to some surprisingly poor goaltending from Filip Gustavsson, and the NHL's worst penalty killing, which neutralizes their lethal power play. They're scoring at the same pace as the Canucks, but letting almost a whole goal more per game so far, and that's not a recipe for success. They have some outstanding offensive talent, but if Gustavsson can't get it figured out and quick, the teams ahead of them in the race for Western Conference playoff spots are gonna leave them in the dust.
The Canucks are going to have to come up with a better penalty killing effort than we saw Thursday night, as the Wild are one of the NHL's best on the power play. Kirill Kaprizov has scored 8 of his 16 points so far this season on the man advantage, and after going one for three against St Louis, another night of sub par penalty killing could sink them.
LINEUPS
From that nhl dot com thingy, here's what they think is gonna happen roster wise this evening:
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
Marcus Pettersson -- Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson -- Tom Willander
P.O Joseph -- Tyler Myers
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Kirill Kudryavtsev
Injured: Conor Garland (undisclosed), Victor Mancini (undisclosed), Quinn Hughes (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (upper body), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Wild projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Marco Rossi -- Marcus Johansson
Vladimir Tarasenko -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno -- Ryan Hartman -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Yakov Trenin -- Ben Jones -- Tyler Pitlick
Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Zeev Buium -- David Jiricek
Filip Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt
Scratched: Daemon Hunt, Danila Yurov
Injured: Mats Zuccarello (lower body), Nico Sturm (back), Zach Bogosian (lower body)
Boeser is going to be good to go for tonight, and it will be Thatcher Demko back in the crease tonight for the Canucks. That shootout win for Lankinen, his second skills competition victory of the season, has moved him into the top spot for shootout save percentage in NHL history. He's stopped 38 of 44 attempts for an .864%, while the next active goalie on the list? Thatcher Demko (43 of 53- .811%)
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
We're goin' local today, as UNLEASH THE ARCHERS dropped a Halloween treat for us yesterday, with a killer cover of the TYPE O NEGATIVE classic 'Black No. 1'. Fantastic job on this one, breathing new life into a Halloween metal classic!
And just so you know, we're totally going to forgive you if you watch the Blue Jays game tonight, as they try and make history and win the World Series for the first time in 32 years. I mean, I am probably gonna go with the winner take all Game 7 baseball game over the Canucks and Wild.
So...
Enjoy the game(s). Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go! Okay, Blue Jays! Let's Play Ball!
The darkest fears of Canucks fans for this season are coming true, as they find themselves suffering from an ungodly number of injuries before we've even hit November. And with a three game road swing that starts tonight in St Louis, they'll have to try and get to .500 for the month of October in spite of one third of their lineup being unavailable due to injury.
Vancouver Canucks (5-6-0) vs. St Louis Blues (3-6-1)
Enterprise Center, St Louis, MO
5:00 pm PST; 8:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
At the start of the year, my assessment of this Canucks team was fairly clear: they could very likely compete for a playoff spot in the West, but a lot of things would have to go right. At the top of that list? Staying healthy. And whilst being fully aware of how this team has rolled through its 55 year existence, we placed a little bit of hope in that and waited for the season to start. And it looked like things were actually starting to fall into place on that last road trip. They'd won two straight heading into Washington, and while they came out of that game with the Caps with a third straight victory, they lost Filip Chytil. And then Teddy Blueger. Then Quinn Hughes, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Victor Mancini was next. And now, Conor Garland.
Eight roster players in all out of commission for varying lengths of time, and none of them have accompanied the team on this 3 games in 5 days trip. And if you thought October was a challenge, wait til you see November's schedule. If there's been a saving grace through all this, it's that Thatcher Demko has kept the Canucks in it, every night. Kevin Lankinen? Well, let's just say any time he wants to return to last year's form, couldn't possibly come soon enough. After a frustrating loss to the Rangers, maybe getting back on the road is what they need. Next man up mode in full effect as they look to start off tonight by getting some payback against a Blues team that is much like the Rangers, playing far below expectations.
If there's a difference between those two teams, it's that the Rangers are getting fabulous goaltending, and the Blues? Definitely not. We'll worry about Jordan Binnington and the Olympic implications when it's time, but neither he nor Joel Hofer have been near as good as they need to be this season.
So what are they going to need to come out of St Louis with two points tonight? Well, first off, Kevin Lankinen is going to have to put in his best performance of the season tonight. He's gotta be a wall, no doubt about it. They'll need Elias Pettersson, who has done well in his career against the Blues, to continue that. And Kiefer Sherwood will need to make the most of his promotion to the top 6 on this trip. That, and defence by committee and winning the special teams battle, should lead to success.
LINEUPS
From the nhl dot com thing, here's what we should see on the ice tonight:
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
Marcus Pettersson -- Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson -- Tom Willander
P.O Joseph -- Tyler Myers
Kevin Lankinen
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Kirill Kudryavtsev
Injured: Conor Garland (undisclosed), Victor Mancini (undisclosed), Quinn Hughes (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (upper body), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Blues projected lineup
Pavel Buchnevich -- Brayden Schenn -- Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway -- Pius Suter -- Oskar Sundqvist
Mathieu Joseph -- Dalibor Dvorsky -- Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko -- Nick Bjugstad -- Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg -- Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler -- Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker -- Logan Mailloux
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Scratched: Alexandre Texier, Matthew Kessel
Injured: Robert Thomas (upper body), Jake Neighbours (leg)
The Canucks had to put yet another call to the farm, bringing Mackenzie MacEachern up from Abbotsford, and he will be in the lineup tonight on the third pairing with Aatu Raty and Drew O'Connor. It looks like the D pairings are remaining the same, though. This Blues team took three of four meetings against the Canucks last season, all in overtime, so don't be surprised if this one goes beyond sixty minutes again tonight. The Blues might not be as banged up as the Canucks, but they are missing two fairly important pieces in Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
On this date in 1985, ANTHRAX released their sophomore album 'Spreading The Disease', and it was the album that broke them big in the metal world, thanks in part to a ton of airplay on MTV for the video for 'Madhouse'. It was the second appearance of vocalist Joey Belladonna, the first being the Armed and Dangerous EP that had come out earlier in the year. Belladonna replaced Neil Turbin, who is still touring these days, and recently played shows in Montreal and Toronto. From that album, here's that video for 'Madhouse'.
Enjoy the game, everyone. Fuck fascism! Go Canucks Go!
I suppose there isn't a better time for the Elias Pettersson we'd hoped to see returning as J.T. Miller returns to Vancouver for the first time since the trade. And with Miller and the Rangers struggling mightily, you know this will see both teams going all out to get the victory.
Vancouver Canucks (5-5-0) vs. New York Rangers (3-5-2)
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet 360
Radio: Sportsnet 650
While there might be more important games down the road as the season plays out, this entire season so far has just been killing time until this one. The return of J.T. Miller for the first time since he was traded to the Rangers, thus putting an end to a year long saga that dragged the team into the gutter and the bottom of the standings has been one of the most anticipated games not just on the Canucks calendar, but in the entire NHL. And while we know there's not going to be much of an audience thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays playing Game Four of the World Series, you'll probably want to set the PVR for this one.
Elias Pettersson, after a bit of a slow start in the first couple games, has seemingly returned to his superstar form, playing with a level of confidence we haven't seen in some time. He's been making plays and cranking one-timers into the net like he used to, and with the insane number of injuries the Canucks find themselves having to deal with already, getting him going is exactly what they need.
Meanwhile, Miller and the Rangers are floundering, with just one win in their last seven games. Miller has put up 2G 4A for 6 points, two less than Petey's 3G 5A, and he's averaging three more minutes of ice time per night over Pettersson. Add in the 23 blocked shots so far, and it's clear that the struggles of one of these guys should be getting talked about a lot more, and it ain't the Swede.
The only thing keeping the Rangers from being the absolute worst team in the NHL right now is their goaltending, as both Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick are performing well, they're just not getting any offensive support from the Rangers, who have scored the second least number of goals so far this year. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox are tied for the Rangers scoring lead with seven points, which is the same number that Conor Garland has put up in the last five games. Given the expectations for the Rangers, it's a little shocking.
If the Rangers have a hope in this one, after getting stomped by a not very good Calgary team the other night, it's taking advantage of a Canucks team whose injury woes continue to mount. Already without Quinn Hughes and Derek Forbort on the back end, they played most of that contest against the Oilers without Victor Mancini, and there are fears he could be gone for a while. Hughes is unlikely to play tonight as well, so that means continuing to lean heavily on Filip Hronek, who has done rather well in Hughes' absence, dating back to last season.
LINEUPS
The nhl dot com thingy has yet again graced us with a questionably accurate depiction of what tonight should show us in terms of lineups:
Rangers projected lineup
Artemi Panarin -- Mika Zibanejad -- Will Cuylle
Conor Sheary -- J.T. Miller -- Alexis Lafreniere
Juuso Parssinen -- Noah Laba -- Taylor Raddysh
Adam Edstrom -- Sam Carrick -- Jonny Brodzinski
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Adam Fox
Carson Soucy -- Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen -- Braden Schneider
Jonathan Quick
Igor Shesterkin
Scratched: Brennan Othmann, Matthew Robertson
Injured: Vincent Trocheck (upper body), Matt Rempe (upper body)
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Evander Kane -- Lukas Reichel -- Brock Boeser
Drew O'Connor -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Marcus Pettersson -- Filip Hronek
Elias Nils Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
P.O Joseph -- Tom Willander
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Kirill Kudryavtsev, Nils Aman
Injured: Victor Mancini (undisclosed), Quinn Hughes (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (upper body), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Yeah, that's a lot of bodies. I suppose if there's a bright light, it's that Matt Rempe is out for the Rangers, and won't be able to do one of the bullshit hits he's become known for and add to the Canucks IR totals.
GAME DAY CHATTER
If the allegations are true, this is pretty awful. The SA problem in the hockey world needs to be addressed.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
You know me, I love me a good cover tune. So how's about some PENNYWISE ripping through 'Ace of Spades'? Lemmy would be proud.
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascists and the Rangers. Go Canucks Go!
Wasting a good goaltending performance, like the Canucks did against Nashville Wednesday night? Frustrating. Wasting the best game from Elias Pettersson in the past couple seasons? Infuriating.
Vancouver Canucks (4-5-0) vs. Edmonton Oilers (4-4-1)
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet One
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Given the the way that road trip went, it's probably not a surprise that the Canucks came out on the short end. The number of games played over a week and a half combined with an insane amount of travel, plus a number of key injuries and it would be hard for any team to come out on top. But to their credit, the Canucks came out hard in the first, were the better team, and likely unlucky to only be up 1-0. They stretched the lead to 2-0, then flushed all that away with poor defensive play, mind bogglingly bad penalty killing and not taking enough advantage of their power play opportunities led to that loss. I would mock Arber Xhekaj for the dumb penalties he took last night, if we didn't have Evander Kane spending his evening trying to one up the Habs defenceman in the idiocy department.
Low bar I know, but that was easily Kane's worst game as a Canuck, and just another example of what a horrid misstep it was to bring him in for a completely undeserved image rehab project whilst letting Pius Suter walk away.
Do I sound angry? You're goddamn right I am. It's so infuriating to watch a guy getting paid as much as he is, getting the ice time he is, just make mistake after mistake after mistake. The Canucks got the game they needed from their leaders last night, and Kane selfishly pissed it all away with a steady stream of dumb penalties, turnovers and miscues. Even the severely snake-bitten Drew O'Connor in the second slot would be a better option. Limit Kane's ice time, thus limiting the damage he can cause, because he does absolutely nothing to make this team better.
And with the Canucks taking on the Oilers tonight, an easy bet is Kane taking multiple penalties tonight. He's already pissed off after last night (though who he should be mad at will continue to escape him), and will try to get that big hit, and do something stupid against his previous team. With the Oilers struggling to start the year, this game should be one that the Canucks could look at as a way to stop the bleeding on what is now a three game losing streak. Instead, it likely becomes one the Oilers can use to get themselves back on track.
LINEUPS
Courtesy the NHL dot com thingy, here's tonight's guess at the lineups:
Oilers projected lineup
Andrew Mangiapane -- Connor McDavid -- Jack Roslovic
Vasily Podkolzin -- Leon Draisaitl -- Matthew Savoie
Adam Henrique -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Isaac Howard
Trent Frederic -- Noah Philp -- David Tomasek
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Jake Walman
Brett Kulak -- Ty Emberson
Calvin Pickard
Stuart Skinner
Scratched: Curtis Lazar, Troy Stecher
Injured: Zach Hyman (wrist), Mattias Janmark (undisclosed), Kasperi Kapanen (knee), Alec Regula (undisclosed)
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Evander Kane -- Lukas Reichel -- Brock Boeser
Drew O'Connor -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Elias Nils Pettersson -- Victor Mancini
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Kirill Kudryavtsev, Nils Aman, P.O. Joseph
Injured: Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (upper body), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Another guy who had a rough night last evening? Marcus Pettersson. His arrival was supposed to provide some stability on the back end, especially on the PK. That is definitely not what we saw last night. And P.O, Joseph, who had a pretty solid game, ends up getting scratched instead.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
A Halloween themed banger for ya today from a new on the scene band. INFECTED are a horror themed thrash act Southern California that are absolutely soaked in Bay Area old school, especially first four albums era Metallica. Some nods to Mercyful Fate in there, too. I mean, their vocalist's name is James, ffs. Maybe not terribly innovative, but still competently performed, catchy enough and a fun listen at this time of year.
Enjoy the game, if that's possible. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
8 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SNP
What's the saying, "Two skates forward, one gigantic loss back"
The Canucks are a team of surprises and unknowns. The only consistency the team has, is the its inconsistency. Spotting the opposition a lead and then playing catch-up to get the win or score a goal on the first shot of the game and then getting blasted out of the arena. Got to love this box of Forrest Gump chocolates.
The injury fairies has taken their pound of flesh from Brock Boeser, as he returns tonight, and hopefully can provide some much need offense. Max Sassiness gets the start as 2nd line center and that experiment has led to the following tweets...
Oh God....this seems bad. Can you believe that with all of this negativity that the Canucks are in second place in the division? I know...it's early still.
LINEUPS
Canucks projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk -- Max Sasson -- Brock Boeser
Arshdeep Bains -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Drew O’Connor -- Nils Aman -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- P.O. Joseph
Elias Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Tom Willander, Joseph LaBate
Injured: Filip Chytil (undisclosed), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (undisclosed), Derek Forbort (undisclosed), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed)
Predators projected lineup
Filip Forsberg -- Ryan O’Reilly -- Luke Evangelista
Michael Bunting -- Erik Haula -- Steven Stamkos
Tyson Jost -- Fedor Svechkov -- Matthew Wood
Cole Smith -- Michael McCarron -- Ozzy Wiesblatt
Adam Wilsby -- Roman Josi
Brady Skjei -- Nick Perbix
Spencer Stastney -- Justin Barron
Juuse Saros
Justus Annunen
Scratched: Nick Blankenburg
Injured: Jonathan Marchessault (lower body), Nicolas Hague (upper body)
Status report
Boeser will return after missing the past two games because of personal reasons and will skate on a line with DeBrusk and Sasson. … Wood was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Thursday. ... Marchessault, a center, will miss his third consecutive game.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Kent probably hates the days when I do this.....or probably he never reads it. My first post of the year and I was truly tempted to get John Tesh out of the way, but instead I am providing you with a mini-concert in case the Canucks decide to shit the bed. Enjoy Tame Impala....and all the guitars.
Go Canucks Go!
I'm sure some of you will want to complain about the Canucks 4-3 win in Washington, because they almost lost that 4 goal lead, but given all the circumstances surrounding that game, that might be one of their most impressive victories of the last few years.
Vancouver Canucks (4-2-0) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (4-2-0)
PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
4:00 pm PST; 7:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Complain all you want, but you're not gonna hear much in the way of criticism from me about that 4-3 win over the Capitals in Washington on Sunday morning. There were a ton of reasons why the Canucks could have and should have lost that game, but they didn't, and that's pretty freakin' awesome.
Let's take a look at the giant steaming pile of adversity they had to face. As was pointed out on the broadcast, the puck was dropped about 64 1/2 hours after they dropped the puck in Dallas Thursday evening. Three games in that short period of time, you can imagine any team being tired (especially with over 6000 miles of air travel for these three games). Add in that the Friday game in Chicago went to a shootout, and you could reasonably expect a sluggish start from the Canucks.
Then let's look at personnel: They were already without Brock Boeser for this game, and by the middle of the third period, were without Filip Chytil, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and Teddy Blueger. And still, with a serious depletion of veteran forwards, they managed to hang on.
And they won this game by being tenacious on their forecheck, and using speed and skill to their advantage. The Elias Pettersson goal was a great example of this.
Great work outhustling the Caps players, a nice read from Hronek to read the play and keep the puck in the zone, and a sweet set up from Conor Garland, who seems to be gelling with Petey quite nicely. And that shot? Vintage EP40.
And let's not forget the heroic defensive work late in the third, where he blocks Alex Ovechkin twice!
So, that brings us to the fourth game of this five game swing, a date with a team sporting an identical record, and like the Canucks, leaving people scratching their heads. Weren't they supposed to be tanking this season? Of course, a lot of people who aren't Canucks fans probably didn't have Arturs Silovs getting an opening night shutout against JT Miller and the Rangers, but no one on this side of the continent was that shocked.
The Penguins could end up looking very different come the trading deadline, but the way they're playing to start the season, maybe it's a touch early to be announcing their demise.
LINEUPS
The nhl dot com thingy has once again provided us with an estimation of what expect on ice tonight:
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Evander Kane -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Drew O’Connor -- Nils Aman -- Joseph LaBate
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Elias Pettersson -- P.O. Joseph
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Tom Willander, Brock Boeser
Injured: Filip Chytil (undisclosed), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (undisclosed), Derek Forbort (undisclosed), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed)
Penguins projected lineup
Rickard Rakell -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha -- Evgeni Malkin -- Justin Brazeau
Tommy Novak -- Ben Kindel -- Filip Hallander
Connor Dewar -- Blake Lizotte -- Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon -- Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea -- Kris Letang
Caleb Jones -- Harrison Brunicke
Arturs Silovs
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Philip Tomasino, Mathew Dumba, Connor Clifton
Injured: Kevin Hayes (upper body), Rutger McGroarty (upper body)
Okay, there's a lot to go through, so let's break it down. Chytil and Lekkerimaki have returned to Vancouver for further evaluation. It's especially frustrating to see Chytil once again suffer an injury from a less than clean hit, especially that a guy like Tom Wilson was given a pass on a hit that was clearly late. The injuries, plus Boeser likely missing another game for personal reasons, meant a number of callups from Abbotsford (and the sending down of Victor Mancini in order to remain cap complient). So the fourth line tonight will be Drew O'Connor with Joseph LaBate and Nils Aman. The line of Bains, Sasson and Karlsson gets a much deserved promotion to second line duty, and we'll also see Pierre-Olivier Joseph make his Canucks debut paired with Elias Pettersson as the third D pair. As expected, it's Thatcher Demko vs Silovs in goal, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Lankinen back in goal on Thursday night in Nashville.
GAME DAY CHATTER
Also, fuck him (and Conor Garland, too!) for posing for pics with a member of the fascist regime in the US. I knew he would disgrace the team at some point. I just didn't see it happening this quickly.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Feelin' angry today, so this song absolutely works. Off the album 'Unholy Retribution' from Brazilian thrash beasts VIOLATOR, this is 'Chapel Of The Sick'.
Enjoy the game, everyone. Fuck fascism! Go Blue Jays Go! And... Go Canucks Go!
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'.
If you only watched the first half or so of the first period, you'd think it was going to be another lackluster performance by the Canucks, but after a slow start, they took control and brought the previously unbeaten Stars back down to reality.
Vancouver Canucks (2-2-0) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (3-0-0)
United Center, Chicago, IL
5:30 pm PST; 8:30 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet One
Radio: Sportsnet 650
After a start that had most of not all of us thinking "Oh god, here we go again", the Canucks settled down, looked a 2-0 Dallas Stars lead in the face and said "Yeah, we've dealt with worse". And we got the response we were hoping for, with the Canucks top 6 getting in on the scoring, a power play goal, some solid penalty killing, and unlike the Oilers game, a fantastic effort from Thatcher Demko that wasn't wasted.
We also saw some more examples of the Canucks dangerous transition game, and using their speed to their advantage on the goals from Filip Chytil and Max Sasson. Throw in a prototypical Conor Garland goal and another solid night from Quinn Hughes, and you get a win the Canucks are full credit for. Even Elias Pettersson, who had a rough first period, rebounded, getting an assist on the PP goal and had chances during the night.
They take on an opponent they'd do well to not take lightly. While we're not gonna come out and say the Chicago Blackhawks are back, not taking them seriously can have a pretty bad ending. Just ask the St Louis Blues, who got stomped 8-3 by these Hawks two nights ago. They have some serious offensive talent and the Canucks will need to be making sure they provide the support that Kevin Lankinen will need tonight.
While this rivalry may never reach the intensity it had a decade and a half ago, given what happened the last time these teams met, I would say it's pretty likely things get spicy in this one.
Dickinson received no supplementary discipline from the league for this, and Chytil was out for the remainder of the season with a concussion. It wasn't addressed in game, so expect it to be er, brought up tonight.
LINEUPS
Over on the nhl dot com thingy, we found tonight's purported rosters:
Canucks projected lineup
Drew O’Connor -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk -- Filip Chytil -- Brock Boeser
Evander Kane -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Marcus Pettersson -- Victor Mancini
Kevin Lankinen
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Injured: Derek Forbort (undisclosed), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed), P.O Joseph (lower body)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Colton Dach -- Connor Bedard -- Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen -- Frank Nazar -- Tyler Bertuzzi
Ryan Donato -- Jason Dickinson -- Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Greene -- Lukas Reichel
Alex Vlasic -- Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser -- Louis Crevier
Matt Grzelcyk -- Connor Murphy
Artyom Levshunov
Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom
Scratched: Nick Foligno, Sam Lafferty
Injured: Landon Slaggert (lower body), Joey Anderson (lower body)
No changes other than expect Kevin Lankinen to get the nod for the Canucks tonight. Hawks rolling with an 11-7 set up, which is probably good, considering the serious lack of even remotely recognizable names on that back end. Woof. Could be a long evening for Spencer Knight, eh?
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
While I am sure most of you heard the news last night, but if you hadn't, the rock world lost a giant yesterday with the sudden passing of founding member of KISS, Ace Frehley.
In his honour, an absolute classic. Crank this one for one of the guys that made kids around the world pick up the guitar and learn how to rock! RIP Spaceman!
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
After two straight simply unacceptable efforts against the Oilers and Blues, the Canucks will look to get things back on track with a tough road trip that begins with 3 games in 3 1/2 days starting tonight in Dallas.
Vancouver Canucks (1-2-0) vs. Dallas Stars (3-0-0)
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
4:30 pm PST; 7:30 pm EST
TV: Amazon Prime
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Maybe heading out on the road, and getting a group with some new pieces to bond together is just what this team needs right now after sputtering off in the last two games. Just a shame they have to start this trip against one of the NHL's best.
The Dallas Stars are unbeaten so far, with just a shootout point surrendered to Colorado the only blemish on their record so far. And those wins come against some pretty good teams, having beaten division rivals Minnesota and Winnipeg as well as the Avs. And so with three wins to start the year, the Stars are once again getting good goaltending from Jake Oettinger to start the season, and we shouldn't be totally surprised if the Stars give Casey DeSmith the crease tonight. If they don't, it's likely something to do with the last time these teams met back in April, and that whole three goals in the final minute before giving up the winner in OT thing that happened in that game. I guess they need to remember that Pius Suter can't hurt them anymore (well, at least when they're playing the Canucks, right?). But when you take a closer look at those wins, and the numbers this Stars team is putting up, and it's not nearly as impressive as it looks.
Not only are they due for a loss, but the way they are playing, this is still a very beatable team. If the Canucks can show more of what we saw against the Calgary Flames and less of what happened against the Oilers and Blues, they could very well see themselves back at .500 as they make the journey to the Windy City and a date with the Blackhawks.
Apart from Kiefer Sherwood, the goaltenders, and Quinn Hughes, it's been a disappointingly inconsistent start to the season, and a strong 60 minute effort tonight before heading up to Chicago for the tail end of this double header will be something that they can build on for this five game road swing out East. That means seeing more from guys like Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk, Filip Chytil, and Evander Kane. They also need to get their power play going to catch up to a penalty kill that has looked solid so far this season.
As frustrating as those losses are, there are signs things could be getting better. The team isn't getting their heads caved in with Quinn Hughes on the bench so far, and that is something that has to stay consistent if this teams wants to succeed this season. They're going to have to put in the work, but if they do, they should have more nights like we saw in the season opener. Thatcher Demko is back, time to start providing him with better defence and goal support.
LINEUPS
From that nhl dot com thingy, here's what we should expect for tonight:
Canucks projected lineup
Drew O’Connor -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk -- Filip Chytil -- Brock Boeser
Evander Kane -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Marcus Pettersson -- Victor Mancini
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Injured: Derek Forbort (undisclosed), Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed), P.O Joseph (lower body)
Stars projected lineup
Sam Steel -- Roope Hintz -- Mikko Rantanen
Jason Robertson -- Wyatt Johnston -- Mavrik Bourque
Justin Hryckowian -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Seguin
Adam Erne -- Colin Blackwell -- Nathan Bastian
Esa Lindell -- Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley -- Nils Lundkvist
Lian Bichsel -- Alexander Petrovic
Casey DeSmith
Jake Oettinger
Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin
Injured: Oskar Back (undisclosed), Jamie Benn (collapsed lung), Matt Duchene (upper body)
Linus Karlsson is in, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki is out, as Karlsson will suit up for his first game of the season. He's being reunited with Arshdeep Bains and Max Sasson, who was called up from Abbotsford ahead of this road trip. That line was absolutely lethal for the Canucks on their march to the franchise's first Calder Cup Championship this past summer (remember that?). The Canucks also put Derek Forbort on the IR, and as expected, it'll be Demko vs DeSmith in goal tonight.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Got a fun little cover tune for you today from Colorado based thrashers HAVOK. Ripping through a version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Commotion', this is off their 'album 'New Eyes' EP that came out last year.
Enjoy the game. Fuck fascism. Go Canucks Go!
Saturday night was as awful as Thursday was awesome. No time to dwell on bad nights though, as the Canucks go up against a team that they could well be battling for a Wild Card spot in the spring.
Vancouver Canucks (1-1-0) vs. St Louis Blues (1-1-0)
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
4:30 pm PST; 7:30 pm EST
TV: Amazon Prime
Radio: Sportsnet 650
That was a frustrating watch, for sure. The Canucks went from doing so many things right on Thursday night to doing so few of them right on Saturday. And make no bones about it, Thatcher Demko was the only reason they even had a sniff at that game. I mean, that was one of the best performances we've seen out of Demko in quite some time, and the Canucks absolutely wasted it. We better see them trying to make amends for that garbage performance tonight as they host the Blues in an early game.
That was also the kind of game I fear we'll see a lot of from Evander Kane. Lots of impact on the contest, very little of it in the Canucks favour. I'd like to say I'd prefer to see him do less yapping and more playing, but he is who he is, and hopefully he doesn't come back to bite them on the ass too hard. Between his play and the gaffe-prone night from Filip Chytil, it was a long, tedious night for the Canucks.
And with a road trip that will see them play Dallas, Chicago and Washington over the span of 3 1/2 days (absolutely HATE that bullshit 9:30 am start time, and the NHL should not be allowing Eastern teams try to take advantage of Western teams this way), the Canucks really need to finish this first week of the season with a strong performance against a team they're likely going to be battling with for one of those Western Conference wild card slots, the St Louis Blues.
The Blues are sporting a similar record to start the year, having lost their season opener against Minnesota before rebounding with a 4-2 win over the Flames on Saturday afternoon. The big question for tonight, is do the Blues go back to Jordan Binnington, who gave up 5 goals in that loss to the Wild, or Joel Hofer, who was solid in that win over Calgary? Binnington has a good lifetime record over the Canucks, but if this is the start of a goaltending controversy in St Louis, especially with the Olympics around the corner, it could be a very interesting season.
LINEUPS
Courtesy of the nhl dot com interwebs thingy, here's tonight's expected lineups:
Blues projected lineup
Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours -- Pius Suter -- Alexander Texier
Mathieu Joseph -- Nick Bjugstad -- Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler -- Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg -- Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker -- Logan Mailloux
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Scratched: Matthew Kessel
Injured: Oskar Sundqvist (lower body), Alexey Toropchenko (lower and upper-body soreness)
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Evander Kane -- Filip Chytil -- Conor Garland
Drew O'Connor -- Braeden Cootes -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Arshdeep Bains -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Elias Nils Pettersson
Kevin Lankinen
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Victor Mancini, Linus Karlsson
Injured: Nils Hoglander (lower body), Teddy Blueger (undisclosed), P.O. Joseph (lower body)
According to this, it's gonna be Binnington vs Kevin Lankinen tonight. We know Lankinen will get at least another start this week, as they have a double header, likely the game in Chicago Friday night, as Demko should get the nod Thursday night in Dallas. Teddy Blueger is still not ready to return, so that means no changes for the Canucks, but if they don't get in tonight, expect Victor Mancini and Linus Karlsson to get some ice time on this road trip.
UPDATE: Mancini in, Forbert out for tonight.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
I hope you're all having a good holiday weekend, and so to avoid indigestion, here's some nice Italian power metal that's gonna go down nice and easy. From their 2003 self-titled album, this is LABYRINTH with 'The Prophet'.
Enjoy the game, fuck fascism, and Go Canucks Go!
