CANES (14-11-1) at CANUCKS (17-9-1)

10 p.m. ET; CBC, SNP, CITY, BSSO

It's that Saturday game we've all been looking forward to. The game where the Nucks decide to play Tough Taco Hockey or let defensive zone coverage slide again and keep that 500 team spirit.

I want to say something witty and insightful about the current state of this hot, but not, this hard working, but not team, but it's still too difficult to predict which version of the Nucks will show up for a game.

With that uncertainty in mind, we will have to actually watch the game and check the final scoreboard to know for sure. Seems like a lot of work this time year.

Hurricanes projected lineup

Michael Bunting -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Martin Necas -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Teuvo Teravainen

Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast

Stefan Noesen -- Jack Drury -- Brendan Lemieux

Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns

Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce

Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta

Pyotr Kochetkov

Scratched: Tony DeAngelo

Injured: Andrei Svechnikov (upper body)

Canucks projected lineup

Ilya Mikheyev -- Elias Pettersson -- Sam Lafferty

Nils Hoglander -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua -- Teddy Blueger -- Conor Garland

Andrei Kuzmenko -- Nils Aman -- Phillip Di Giuseppe

Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek

Nikita Zadorov -- Tyler Myers

Ian Cole -- Noah Juulsen

Thatcher Demko

Casey DeSmith

Scratched: Mark Friedman

Injured: Pius Suter (lower body), Carson Soucy (foot), Guillaume Brisebois (concussion)

Status report

Svechnikov, a forward who was a late scratch in a 3-2 loss at the Calgary Flames on Thursday, left the morning skate early Saturday and coach Rod Brind’Amour said he didn’t know if he was an option to play. “He left the ice so I'm not holding my breath there,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s battling something and thought he could [Thursday] night, thought he could go tonight but not sure.” … Raanta starts after Kochetkov started the past two games. … Demko starts for the fifth time in six games after DeSmith made 26 saves in a 2-0 win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. … The Canucks assigned Linus Karlsson to Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on Saturday after the forward played two of the previous three games ahead of Di Giueseppe. - NHL.com

The Canucks seem to be consistently inconsistent. One win...one loss...repeat. Taco wants his team to wake the fuck up earlier in the game than the 2nd period. The 1st line needs to start looking like 1st line....you hear me Sam Lafferty!....Sorry...I meant Petey.

I will be paying attention to 4th line Kuz myself. Trying to get him to play a 200 foot game seems to be quite the project. I am not sure how this team can get rid of the bad ju-ju Bure cursed on this organization when they shipped him out, after he sat out. Russian players have not faired well in Van since.

Carolina has struggled this year. They have struggled to score and uncharacteristically, been unable to stop others from scoring. You could look at the fact that Frederik Andersen has been out for over a month and the back-ups have played like back-ups. Or you could look at their special teams and keep looking for the special in them. This is their 4th game in a row in western Canada and they have yet to win.

Game Day Battle Hymn

Jimmi asked for this.

Go Coconuts Go!