The post J.T. Miller era is starting to take shape, and while it may be too early to tell what the impact of the new additions mean to the Canucks, it does feel like they might have begun to turn the corner after a big 3-0 win over Colorado Tuesday night.
Vancouver Canucks (24-18-11) vs. San Jose Sharks (15-34-6)
7:30 pm PST; 10:30 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Heading into Tuesday night after a frustrating overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings, it sure looked like it was going to be a long night for the Vancouver Canucks. They had lost in Dallas, and lost Quinn Hughes near the end of the game, and he was out against Detroit. While they'd managed to earn that one point, it was clear they really missed the influence and impact Hughes has every time he steps on the ice.
And going up against the Colorado Avalanche, you couldn't help but feel that Cale Makar, Nathan Mackinnon and crew were going to run all over the Canucks. Instead, we got treated to a top to bottom effort from the Canucks where they went toe to toe with one of the NHL's better teams, saw signs that D Elias Pettersson is going to be a hell of a player on the Canucks back end, and the return of Thatcher Demko to the form we've come to expect. Add in goals from a couple guys who really need to get hot right now in Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk and the Canucks put together one of their best games of the season, and by far the best performance without Quinn Hughes.
Tonight they jet down to San Jose to take on the NHL's worst team, and this will be a good chance for the Canucks to show they can avoid trap games, by stomping the Sharks tonight. I know some guys will be looking forward to both the Leafs on Saturday and the upcoming break for the 4 Nations Cup tournament, but they need to focus on getting out of California with two much needed points that can, with some help from the Avalanche, see them leapfrog Calgary for that last playoff spot in the West.
One thing we've noticed so far is that the new additions to the Canucks are fitting in very nicely, thank you. The speed that Filip Chytil and Drew O'Connor bring to the forward lines is a welcome sight, and Marcus Pettersson's presence on the back end has already seen an improved defensive game overall for the Canucks. It also means that once Hughes is healthy, they can lessen the workload on guys like Tyler Myers, who can be effective with controlled minutes and usage. We've yet to see Victor (listed as Vittorio on the Canucks website) Mancini in a game, but you would think tonight would be a perfect opportunity to give the other part of the Miller trade show what he can contribute, and hopefully, make Noah Juulsen an Abbotsford Canuck.
Are the Canucks better after the trade? I would say at least marginally, especially with the swap out of Desharnais for Marcus Pettersson. Of course, none of this will matter if the Canucks can't get healthy and string together a meaningful amount of wins. As it stands, the way this team is playing now, getting into the playoffs just to get slaughtered by whoever they face benefits no one but the Aqualini family by getting gate revenue for a couple playoff appearances.
LINEUPS
I'm tired, so today's lineup is just the one I got off nhl dot com...
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP
Canucks projected lineup
Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland
Drew O'Connor -- Filip Chytl -- Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua -- Pius Suter -- Kiefer Sherwood
Nils Hoglander -- Teddy Blueger -- Nils Aman
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson -- Carson Soucy
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Noah Juulsen, Victor Mancini
Injured: Quinn Hughes (lower body)
Sharks projected lineup
William Eklund -- Macklin Celebrini -- Tyler Toffoli
Fabian Zetterlund -- Andrew Poturalski -- Will Smith
Collin Graf -- Luke Kunin -- Barclay Goodrow
Carl Grundstrom -- Ty Dellandrea -- Walker Duehr
Jake Walman -- Henry Thrun
Mario Ferraro -- Jack Thompson
Shakir Mukhamadullin -- Timothy Liljegren
Vitek Vanecek
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Colin White
Injured: Logan Couture (lower body), Nico Sturm (lower body), Klim Kostin (lower body), Jan Rutta (lower body), Alex Wennberg (upper body), Nikolai Kovalenko (undisclosed)
Thanks to a metric fuckton of injuries, the Sharks are rolling with half a lineup of guys who sound totally made up, which might explain a bit about why they are where they are. Sure, they're still tanking to rebuild, but some of these guys, I dunno man. No surprise that Hughes is not good to go, and we'll get the same lineup we saw in the win on Tuesday. Looking forward to the Chytil-Boeser-O'Connor line and what kind of damage they can do to that Sharks defence tonight.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Looking again at some of the best metal releases celebrating their 40th anniversary, and this time we're going to focus on a band from the Bay Area: POSSESSED. Along with DEATH, POSSESSED are credited with being the godfathers of death metal, and the fact that they were all just out of high school at the time makes their early accomplishments even more impressive. The band got their start like so many back in the early 80's, with an appearance on one of the Metal Blade Records Metal Massacre compilations. It was the song 'Swing Of The Axe' on MM VI that led to a deal with Combat Records. They would also play in Montreal in November 1985 at the World War III Fest which had one hell of a lineup, appearing alongside Nasty Savage, Voivod, Destruction and Celtic Frost. They also featured long time Primus guitarist Larry Lalonde, who joined the band after this release. The band broke up in 1987, and in 1989 vocalist/bassist Jeff Beccara was shot in a robbery attempt, and was left paralyzed from the waist down, but still sings for the band today, in a wheelchair. From that influential debut album, this is the song that literally started it all.
Remember the later start tonight, folks. Enjoy the game. Fuck nazis. Go Canucks Go!
