CANUCKS (35-12-6) at BLACKHAWKS (14-35-3)

8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, SNP

The road trip comes to an end in Chicago and I am faced with a conundrum. My logical side and fan side are having trouble evaluating this road trip. If the Canucks lose tonight and go 2-2-1 on an Eastern road trip, my logical side says this is good. If the Canucks get a point or more tonight, my logical side says, "Hey, above .500 on the East coast is something we asked for pre-season...fuck yeah!"

Now, my fan side is not as happy. Wins have brought expectations and expectations bring disappointment easier. The Nucks got their ass handed to them by the Bruins and then they blew a 2 goal lead to a team they should have beat. How can this ever expect to get out of the first round if they can't bring their "A" game against great teams and then can't rebound the next game after a loss? What a disappointment of a roadtrip.

Too much?

I guess I might be guilty of looking past this game, but shouldn't the Canucks beat this team....easily? If they don't, do the wild calls of trading for Tanev increase! God I hope not. Is Tanev the answer to this defense? I would think Taco would say no. He would say that the forwards need to do their fucking job. The Canucks have won both meetings against the Hawks this year, but haven't dominated any of those games. The one was a 2-0 win, where they score early and then rested top players. This might be the last "easy" opponent the Nuck face for awhile, so I hope they can get their skates moving early and get some confidence back. A loss here would severely irk me.

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Elias Lindholm -- Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Pius Suter

Dakota Joshua -- Teddy Blueger -- Conor Garland

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Sam Lafferty -- Ilya Mikheyev

Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek

Ian Cole -- Tyler Myers

Mark Friedman -- Noah Juulsen

Thatcher Demko

Casey DeSmith

Scratched: Nils Aman, Jett Woo

Injured: Carson Soucy (hand)

Suspended: Nikita Zadorov

Blackhawks projected lineup

Nick Foligno -- Phillip Kurashev -- Tyler Johnson

Colin Blackwell -- Jason Dickinson -- Joey Anderson

Lukas Reichel -- Mackenzie Entwistle -- Taylor Raddysh

Ryan Donato -- Zach Sanford -- Reese Johnson

Alex Vlasic -- Seth Jones

Kevin Korchinski -- Jaycob Megna

Louis Crevier -- Isaak Phillips

Petr Mrazek

Arvid Soderblom

Scratched: Rem Pitlick, Boris Katchouk

Injured: Connor Bedard (fractured jaw), Andreas Athanasiou (groin), Anthony Beauvillier (wrist), Connor Murphy (lower body), Jarred Tinordi (right groin strain)

Status report

Demko is expected to make his eighth start in 10 games. ... Soucy, a defenseman, was placed on injured reserve Monday. ... Woo, a defenseman, was recalled from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League. ... Tinordi, a defenseman, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. ... Mrazek will start for the 12th time in 14 games. ~ NHL.com

Game Day Battle Hymn

You want Hype!....You want Loud!......You want a singer with a scratchy voice!.....You want short-shorts!

Ok....stop yelling. Save it for the t.v., when Myers takes a dumb penalty

Go Canucks Go!