10 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP, SNO, SNE, CITY
The Canucks have to be happy about winning last night. Getting revenge in Seattle after losing their first meeting in Vancouver is a nice way to rebound after the lose in Colorado. The third and fourth line made the win possible as Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, Conor Garland and Nils Aman all stood out. Aman especially after signing a new 2 year contract yesterday. The Canucks had another stellar 2nd period and lead the league in 2nd period goals. The Canucks have a chance to end the road trip with a winning record.
The Canucks also have to be concerned with last night's performance. The top two lines were unable to get going, even after shaking up the lines. Yes, Sam Lafferty got a goal on the first line, as did Miky, but Petey and Miller were unable to get many chances. Petey does have one of his wrists taped and so an injury is plausible at this point. Brock had at least 3 great chances, but was unable to capitalize. The team was outshot in the first two periods before taking control of the game in the third period. The powerplay has been 0-10 in its last 4 games and has dropped to 29% overall, which puts the team 4th in the league.
I pointed out in the gamethread last night that the Canucks don't play LA until Feb 29th and then play them 3 more times after. That is some strange scheduling shit from the NHL. You don't see one of your main rivals until the last quarter of the year and then play them repeatedly. It's the opposite with San Jose, as they play one more time Dec 23rd and are done for the year. The Canucks need all the points they can from teams like the Sharks, so they can have a cushion into December, where they play a bunch of teams they have struggled against in the past.
Not much to say about the Sharks that hasn't been said in the past two meetings. San Jose has struggled with a weaker roster and just can't get much going in the way of scoring. The Canucks are looking for their 12th win in a row against them.
The Canucks did not skate today, so the lineups may change again, but until Taco lets us know.....
Canucks projected lineup
Sam Lafferty -- Elias Pettersson -- Ilya Mikheyev
Anthony Beauvillier -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua -- Teddy Blueger -- Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Nils Aman -- Nils Hoglander
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Ian Cole -- Cole McWard
Mark Friedman -- Tyler Myers
Casey DeSmith
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Andrei Kuzmenko, Akito Hirose
Injured: Pius Suter (undisclosed), Carson Soucy (foot), Guillaume Brisebois (concussion)
Sharks projected lineup
William Eklund -- Tomas Hertl -- Mike Hoffman
Fabian Zetterlund -- Mikael Granlund -- Anthony Duclair
Kevin Labanc -- Nico Sturm -- Luke Kunin
Givani Smith -- Ryan Carpenter -- Jacob MacDonald
Mario Ferraro -- Ty Emberson
Nikita Okhotiuk -- Kyle Burroughs
Calen Addison -- Matt Benning
Kaapo Kahkonen
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched: Nikolai Knyzhov, Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Injured: Logan Couture (lower body), Alexander Barabanov (broken finger), Fabian Zetterlund (upper body), Jan Rutta (upper body), Filip Zadina (upper body
Status report
Neither team conducted a morning skate Saturday... DeSmith is projected to start after Demko made 23 saves in a 5-1 win at the Seattle Kraken on Friday. ... Kahkonen will start after Blackwood made 22 saves in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. ... Zadina is day to day after being injured Friday, Sharks coach David Quinn said. - NHL.COM
Game Day Battle Hymn
I will give it up to Kent, he knows his music. At least the genre he loves....metal. The Japanese metal he put on yesterday was outside the box and will be hard to counter. But I was in the car today and low and behold, a song from my childhood came across the waves on a station in Latin America.... Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy".
I know. The song was good enough to spawn a movie with Sylvester Stallone & Dolly Parton.
Take that Kent.
Go Coconuts Go!
