The Canucks rattled off a perfect tank performance in the Motor City on Thursday night, and thanks to a Winnipeg Jets win last night, are currently in possession of last place in the NHL. And while I am perfectly content for this to continue on its merry way on their quest to secure Gavin McKenna, I find myself, as always, wanting a win tonight. Weird, right?

Vancouver Canucks (16-22-5) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (21-15-7)

Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

4:00 pm PST; 7:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet, CBC

Radio: Sportsnet 650

While I am sure that much of the narrative tonight will be focused on the struggles of the poor, hard done by Leafs and their tormented fan base, we should probably not spend too much time feeling bad for a team that sits two points out of a playoff spot. And while the Canucks were literally within grasping distance of one themselves a week ago, they are now 10 points back of Utah and San Jose for a wild card slot in the West, and that is simply far too much ground for this team to make up with the time remaining in the season.

So with the Canucks clearly going to benefit by staying in the basement and getting a top three draft pick in an extremely deep draft, we are faced with a conundrum. Keep the tank a rollin', or hope for the Canucks to stick it to the Leafs again. They've won three straight, and four of the last five, including a 3-0 win in Toronto last season.

It could also be an audition for some Canucks players, as the Leafs will likely look to load up at the deadline should they battle into a playoff spot, and that means guys like Kiefer Sherwood and Evander Kane could make an impression with strong games here tonight as the Canucks sell off more parts to prepare for the draft and a better future.

The Leafs could also want to have a look at Thatcher Demko, as they've been sunk by subpar goaltending for years now, and let's face it, if getting a big return for Demko is going to make things better down the road, that's something they have to look at.

LINEUPS

From that site known as nhl dot com, this is what they think these teams will roll with today:

Canucks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Liam Ohgren -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson

Jake DeBrusk -- David Kampf -- Kiefer Sherwood

Drew O'Connor -- Aatu Raty -- Nils Hoglander

Marcus Pettersson -- Tom Willander

Zeev Buium -- Filip Hronek

Elias Pettersson -- Tyler Myers

Thatcher Demko

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Arshdeep Bains

Injured: Conor Garland (upper body), Marco Rossi (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Matias Maccelli -- John Tavares -- William Nylander

Mathew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Max Domi

Bobby McMann -- Scott Laughton -- Steven Lorentz

Easton Cowan -- Nicolas Roy -- Nicholas Robertson

Morgan Rielly -- Brandon Carlo

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Troy Stecher

Simon Benoit -- Philippe Myers

Joseph Woll

Dennis Hildeby

Scratched: Matt Benning, Calle Jarnkrok

Injured: Anthony Stolarz (upper body), Chris Tanev (groin), Dakota Mermis (lower body), Dakota Joshua (kidney), Jake McCabe (lower body)

No changes for the Canucks today, apart from Demko getting the crease. I am going to post this info from Thomas Drance without the link, because it's on the nazi/casm site and I will not link to it:

#Canucks took line rushes as follows in Toronto on Saturday morning:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson

Öhgren-Sasson-Boeser

DOC-Kampf-Sherwood

Kane-Räty-Höglander

M. Pettersson-Hronek

Buium-Myers

D-Petey - Willander

Extras: Joseph, Bains

Red non-contact: Garland, Blueger, Chytil

As you can see, at least as far as the rushes this morning were concerned, Evander Kane has been moved to the 4th line and I couldn't be happier. Linus Karlsson gets a well deserved look on the top line, as well as Liam Ohgren getting second line minutes tonight would make me happy.

As far as the Leafs, they are pretty banged up, but will get William Nylander back in the lineup for this one, which will increase the likelihood of them playing better tonight.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Things are pretty stupid of late, so here's something to just let you turn your brain off and scream into the void, as one of Japan's best dropped a new one yesterday. Here's 'Iconic' from the amazing HANABIE.

Enjoy the game. Fascists can fuck off. Go Canucks Tank!