10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY, TVAS2
I don't think we celebrated the last road trip enough. 3 wins against division teams that kept the lead in the division comfortable for the time being. Three stingy road wins with only 3 goals against. 3 games with only one PP against per game and no PP goals allowed. 3 games with a faceoff% of 50 or above. This is the type of play that the Canucks are going to need in the playoffs to advance out of the division.
The focus over the past couple days was the trading deadline, but Rutherford has always been a man to get things done early and GMPA followed this pattern and he did that with the Zadorov/Lindholm trades. Throw in Petey's contract and the fact this team does have cap issues, means that there was no realistic trades to be had with this team. It will be interesting to see this team when Joshua and Myers get back into this lineup. Getting that third line back together from a month ago is a necessity. The Canucks will need three lines that can score.
The Canucks come into tonight's game losing the last 4 games against the Jets. The last game was dominated by the Jets so it should be interesting to see how well Taco can adjust this team's focus, much like he has done in many 2nd game matchups after a first game loss to a team.
Podz is still in the lineup, getting a long look after Bains got his shot. Podz is a lot better in his own end and realizes that he needs to get into better spots to score. Relistically, he will be back in Abby once Joshua comes back, but playing well now can only help him next year. Of course, if he starts scoring then Aman might have to watch out for his job.
Jets projected lineup
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Vladislav Namestnikov
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Sean Monahan -- Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron -- Rasmus Kupari -- Cole Perfetti
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg -- Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Logan Stanley, David Gustafsson, Tyler Toffoli, Colin Miller
Injured: Gabriel Vilardi (upper body)
Canucks projected lineup
Ilya Mikheyev -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Pius Suter
Vasily Podkolzin -- Elias Lindholm -- Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Teddy Blueger -- Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Nikita Zadorov -- Noah Juulsen
Ian Cole -- Carson Soucy
Thatcher Demko
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mark Friedman, Nils Aman
Injured: Dakota Joshua (upper body), Tyler Myers (lower body)
Status report
The Jets did not conduct a morning skate on Saturday but Hellebuyck is scheduled to start after Brossoit made 17 saves in a 3-0 win at the Seattle Kraken on Friday. … Toffoli, a forward acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on Friday, is expected to join the Jets when they return home from this two-game trip and could make his Winnipeg debut against the Washington Capitals on Monday. ... Miller, a defenseman the Jets acquired from the Devils in a separate trade Friday, is also expected to join the team in Winnipeg after the trip. … Joshua, a forward who will miss his 12th straight game, is expected to return in the next 10-14 days, according to Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. ... Demko is expected to make his third straight start. ~ NHL.com
Game Day Battle Hymn
It seems like most of you have an affinity for the strings portion of a band....I get it. I have a tendency to get more into the beat of the song whether it be the bass......or the drums. So as the Canucks come off a red-hot roadtrip, I think Jimi has the right idea....
Go Canucks Go!
