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!
