Fresh off a fun stomping of the team from Chicago, the team from Utah makes their first visit to Rogers Arena for what should be a battle of playoff-like intensity.
Vancouver Canucks (31-24-11) vs. Utah (Insert Name Here)s (29-26-11)
5:00 pm PST; 8:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: Sportsnet 650
If the Vancouver Canucks wanted to have a hope of hanging on to their slim playoff aspirations, a lot of things would need to go right. They'd need to win a serious chunk of the games remaining, and given that they had literally the toughest schedule of any team remaining, that seemed to be a Herculean task at the very least. They would also need to get and stay healthy, and with Quinn Hughes returning to the lineup, that's definitely something that will help them. And they would also need their best players to be their best players, and Elias Pettersson awakening from a lengthy slumber couldn't be more timely.
Pettersson has been a threat again, over the last week and a half, scoring four times in the last five games and looking absolutely like the difference maker the Canucks thought they had when drafting him. The hesitation and seeming lack of interest is gone, replaced with the Petey we know, one that sees and thinks the game at an elite level, and gives the opposition fits. It allows for other lines to be able to thrive if they can, as the Canucks opponents try and match their best shutdown option against the Pettersson line. If they could just get Brock Boeser going...
Much like the game against the Flames, we find ourselves awaiting news of both the health status of a Canucks player, and whether or not the opposition player who injured him with a dirty hit will actually be punished.
Calgary's Connor Zary got a paltry two game slap on the wrist for a blindside cheap shot to the head of D Elias Pettersson after the game Wednesday night. The Canucks may have to be without Filip Chytil after getting absolutely drilled in the numbers by Chicago's Jason Dickenson last night. If you didn't watch that game, you're probably shocked that there was no call on the play, but we'd already seen signs that the officiating crew last night was absolutely checked out. No word yet from DoPS, but honestly, I feel like the Canucks are just gonna get screwed on this.
Just to show you how close things are right now, a Canucks win tonight, paired with an Oilers loss in regulation to the New York Rangers would see the Canucks move to within four points of Minnesota for the 1st Wild Card slot but more importantly, move them to within five points of the Oilers. Given the Canucks struggles, the fact that they've still been able to gain ground on Edmonton is absolutely remarkable. They'll also need a hand from the Anaheim Ducks tonight. The Ducks take on the St Louis Blues, who are tied in points with the Canucks right now. A little breathing room would be a good thing, especially with a showdown against the Blues coming up later this week as the Canucks kick off a 6 game road swing in St Louis on Thursday.
Utah are making a push to get a playoff berth in their first season since moving from the godforsaken wastelands of Arizona. It's a pretty even matchup in terms of statistics between these two teams, and the Canucks will have been looking forward to this after letting one get away from them the last time these teams met, a 2-1 loss in Salt Lake City on Feb 23rd.
LINEUPS
Spray painted on the side of a hopefully soon to be burnt out TeSSla dealership, is tonight's lineups, though these are also over on the nhl dot com whatchamacallit...
8 p.m. ET; SNP, Utah16
Utah projected lineup
Clayton Keller -- Logan Cooley -- Nick Schmaltz
Alexander Kerfoot -- Barrett Hayton -- Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse -- Jack McBain -- Josh Doan
Nick Bjugstad -- Kevin Stenlund -- Michael Carcone
Mikhail Sergachev -- John Marino
Olli Maatta -- Sean Durzi
Ian Cole -- Michael Kesselring
Karel Vejmelka
Jaxson Stauber
Scratched: Mattias Maccelli, Nick DeSimone
Injured: Liam O’Brien (lower body), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body)
Canucks projected lineup
Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Jake DeBrusk
Dakota Joshua -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland
Drew O’Connor -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood
Brock Boeser -- Nils Aman -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Victor Mancini
Kevin Lankinen
Arturs Silovs
Scratched: Elias Nils Pettersson
Injured: Filip Chytl (undisclosed), Thatcher Demko (lower body), Noah Juulsen (lower body)
If Chytil is unable to go, we'll see Lekkerimaki get back into the lineup, and while this shows D Elias Pettersson as a healthy scratch, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mancini sit in place of Petey Jr. It's not a knock on Mancini, who's been quietly settling into a decent 3rd pairing guy for the Canucks. Kevin Lankinen will go tonight, having been able to get some rest after playing back to back against Montreal and Calgary last week.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Canadian and anti-fascist, you say? Jeff Waters and ANNIHILATOR lay it out for those MAGAts on the other side of the line. Off their album Remains, here's 'Never'.
Enjoy the game, everyone. Fuck Trump, Fuck Elon, Fuck Putin and Fuck the USA. Go Canucks Go!
