The hunt for Lord Stanley's mug begins tonight as sixteen teams embark on their quest for hockey glory. And with 5 Canadian teams in the playoffs this year, will the Cup finally be coming home?
WINNIPEG JETS (0-0) vs ST LOUIS BLUES (0-0)
CANADA LIFE CENTRE, WINNIPEG MB
3:00 PM PST/ 6:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
The Presidents' Trophy can sometimes be a curse (believe us we know. In the last decade, only two of the teams who were at the top of the standings in the regular season advanced to the second round. The Jets, no strangers to disappointing playoff exits are hoping that this season provides a change to that narrative.
They've been an absolute beast all season long, with a speedy, skillful offensive attack, solid defence and the NHL's best goaltender in Connor Hellebuyck. And while they're going to be without Nikolas Ehlers for possibly the first round, it's not enough to derail the team that could be Canada's best hope to bring home the Cup in a long time.
They go up against a St Louis team that floundered through the first half of the season before going on a ridiculous heater in the tail end of the season to snag a wild card slot. Unlike 2019, when they went from last place in the NHL to their first ever Stanley Cup, this Cinderella isn't staying at the ball. The Blues will put up a fight, but this Jets team is on a mission, and ready to give the Whiteout something to cheer about.
LINEUPS
Over on nhl dot com, they say to watch for this...
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Cole Perfetti
Brandon Tanev -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
David Gustafsson -- Morgan Barron -- Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg -- Neal Pionk
Colin Miller -- Luke Schenn
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched: Ville Heinola, Haydn Fleury, Logan Stanley, Dominic Toninato
Injured: Nikolaj Ehlers (lower body), Gabriel Vilardi (upper body), Rasmus Kupari (concussion)
Jake Neighbours -- Robert Thomas -- Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Snuggerud -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou
Mathieu Joseph -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko -- Radek Faksa -- Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler -- Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg -- Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter -- Nick Leddy
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Scratched: Tyler Tucker, Dalibor Dvorsky, Matthew Kessel, Alexandre Texier
Injured: Dylan Holloway (lower body)
COLORADO AVALANCHE (0-0) vs DALLAS STARS (0-0)
BALL ARENA, DENVER, CO
5:30 PM PST/ 8:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, SN360
With a different first round opponent, I could see the Dallas Stars being legit Cup contenders. But having to go against a Colorado team looking very much like they're ready for a long run, and losing Jason Robertson to injury the other night, the Dallas Stars appear to be headed for an early exit this spring. And while the acquisition of ex-Avs forward Mikko Rantanen will help them overcome the loss of Robertson somewhat, Colorado is a different beast in the playoffs, and with a fired up Nathan MacKinnon, and the return of Gabe Landeskog for his first game since they won the Cup in 2022, the Ball Arena is going to be absolutely electric tonight.
These two teams have a healthy dislike for each other, and it's almost a shame that they have to meet this early, but it will still be one of the most entertaining series of the first round. It will be interesting to see if the Stars are still mired in the funk of the last couple weeks, one that saw that record breaking last minute collapse at the hands of the Canucks along with a number of somewhat shocking losses. They're definitely not playing their best hockey at the moment, can Pete De Boer get his team back on track?
LINEUPS
This is what the nhl dot com site tells us to expect...
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
"Do you wanna fight on Saturday Night?" Oh, you better f'n believe it! Ireland's finest GAMA BOMB are back with a 4 song EP 'Necronomicon Automaton', and it shows the lads in fine form. The first track "Nunchucks!" is an absolute belter! Check it out here, available now from Prosthetic Records.
There may not be Canucks hockey to watch, but it's gonna be fun nonetheless. Don't forget to check out our playoff prediction thread!
Another must win game against a Western Conference team where the Canucks actually outplayed their opponent? A three game winning streak? Is this a reason for hope? Oh, don't be silly. Well, maybe it is...?
Vancouver Canucks (23-17-10) vs. Dallas Stars (32-17-1)
5:00 pm PST; 8:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet
Radio: Sportsnet 650
Again, while it wasn't without its blemishes, the Canucks put together another solid road performance on Wednesday night en route to a 3-1 win over the Predators in Nashville. Vancouver's now won three straight games for the first time in November, and can finish off this road swing with a perfect record if they can manage a win tonight against a very good Dallas Stars squad.
Much like the game on Saturday against Washington, this is a real test for the squad to see if they actually deserve to be in the playoff spot they currently are one point out of. I suppose if there's anything encouraging, it's that they've been getting some scoring that wasn't Quinn Hughes, and the goals were coming from guys who really needed to get going in Nils Hoglander and Pius Suter. Another bright light, was this was definitely the best performance this season from Thatcher Demko, and while it may be a little too early yet to claim that he's back, he's definitely trending in the right direction.
And whether it's Demko or Kevin Lankinen in goal tonight, the Canucks will need their D to be at their absolute best if they hope to come out of Big D with the two points they so desperately need. And that means, and I am fully aware of how this sounds, they need Tyler Myers to be at his best tonight.
Are we done laughing? Good.
Since returning from suspension, Myers has been rather impressive, putting in a ton of minutes, as well as the one goal, one assist performance on Monday in St Louis. Dallas is a fast, offensively skilled team, and making things as easy as possible for whoever is occupying the crease for Vancouver tonight is going to help them a long way towards getting that win.
And pardon me if you've heard this one, but it would be wonderful if the best players on the Canucks showed up in an offensive way tonight, and by that I mean producing goals and not the offensive performances we've been treated to this season. It's time for Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller to go on a freakin' tear if for no other reason than to spite each other. Let the hate flow through you, and it shall lead you to victory.
LINEUPS
This lineup was found carved into the floor of the basement at the Alamo... though I am pretty sure it's on nhl dot com, too...
8 p.m. ET; Victory+, SN
Canucks projected lineup
Danton Heinen -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Linus Karlsson
Jake DeBrusk -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Teddy Blueger -- Dakota Joshua
Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort -- Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen
Thatcher Demko
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Elias Pettersson, Vincent Desharnais
Injured: Kiefer Sherwood (lower body)
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Wyatt Johnston
Jamie Benn -- Matt Duchene -- Mavrik Bourque
Evgenii Dadonov -- Sam Steel -- Logan Stankoven
Brendan Smith -- Oskar Back -- Colin Blackwell
Thomas Harley -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Lian Bichsel -- Esa Lindell
Kyle Capobianco -- Mathew Dumba
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: None
Injured: Miro Heiskanen (knee), Nils Lundkvist (upper body), Mason Marchment (face), Tyler Seguin (hip)
While I was certain that the Canucks would go with Lankinen given he had two strong performances against Washington and St Louis, Demko gets the nod tonight, and in the tradition of Ted Cruz, the Stars are being absolute cowards and not letting Casey De Smith face his old team, opting for Jake Oettinger just because he's really good or something stupid like that.
The Stars are dealing with a bunch of injuries, including a couple key ones in Heiskanen and Seguin, while the Canucks are only down Sherwood, who's back in Vancouver recovering.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Today in our look at the best metal releases from 1985, we look at the second album from US progressive metallers FATES WARNING. Following up on their debut 'Night On Brocken', 'The Spectre Within' saw the band continue to grow in proficiency. This album would get a good response, and they would release one more with vocalist John Artch (Awaken The Guardian) before replacing him with Ray Alder. This track was featured on the soundtrack of River's Edge, a great 80's movie starring Dennis Hopper, Crispin Glover and a young Keanu Reaves. That soundtrack also featured four songs from SLAYER, plus tracks from HALLOWS EVE, and punk band AGENT ORANGE.
Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Canucks Go!
The Canucks are back on their bullshit, and by bullshit, we mean defying the odds and predictions of what this season was going to look like. Tonight they'll roll into Dallas with a chance to head home having snagged 7 of 8 possible points on this Central Division road swing.
Vancouver Canucks (20-9-2) vs Dallas Stars (18-8-4)
American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
5:00PM PST
Sportsnet Pacific
The wagon is rollin' yet again.
After a frustrating loss in the shootout to Minnesota, the Canucks rebounded with back to back wins in Chicago and Nashville, and will wrap up this four game road jaunt tonight in Dallas taking on the Stars. And what better place to end it than DFW against a team that they've beaten in 11 of their last 14 meetings.
The Stars have been one of the NHL's better teams over the last few seasons, but have been getting beaten repeatedly by the Canucks, who definitely have been one of the NHL's worst teams over that same time frame, and while it makes zero sense, it's only gonna get worse for Dallas.
As the Canucks showed against Nashville Tuesday night, even good teams are having fits trying to handle the tenacity of the Canucks forechecking. The Preds came into that game winners of 13 of their last 16, yet never had a sniff as the Canucks rolled over them in the second period.
That's not to say that there aren't issues that need addressing, but unlike Canucks teams of the past, things that aren't working get addressed immediately. They've had a near complete buy in on Rick Tocchet's systems, and when you add in the incredible efforts from the players that GM Patrik Allvin brought in this season, they truly are a much different squad than the one we suffered through for years. Jim Benning swore he could retool on the fly, but he never came close to doing what Allvin and Jim Rutherford have managed to do since they were hired. I mean, the Canucks have a chance to go into the NHL's Christmas break in first place overall. Not even the most optimistic Canucks fan could have imagined this.
And while this is a hell of a lot of fun, this is still a team that cannot take a night off, and is going to have to continue to hope for more good luck when it comes to staying healthy if they hope to continue on this trajectory and not just make the playoffs, but actually make a run at the Cup. Yes, I think we've reached the point where we can start talking about this, and believe me when I say it's as weird as it sounds.
And one thing that's going to help this? Some well-deserved rest. After Saturday's home game against San Jose, the Canucks have just two games over the following ten days. That's going to be massive in terms of letting the guys who are playing a little banged up get healthy, and considering the daunting seven game road swing coming up next month, heading into that healthy and well rested is going to be huge.
LINEUPS
The following potential lineup was found in the basement of the Alamo. Or maybe it was on nhl dot com...
Canucks projected lineup
Ilya Mikheyev -- Elias Pettersson -- Pius Suter
Nils Hoglander -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua -- Teddy Blueger -- Conor Garland
Philip Di Giuseppe -- Nils Aman -- Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyler Myers
Ian Cole -- Noah Juulsen
Thatcher Demko
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mark Friedman, Andrei Kuzmenko
Injured: Carson Soucy (foot), Guillaume Brisebois (concussion)
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment -- Matt Duchene -- Tyler Seguin
Craig Smith -- Radek Faksa -- Sam Steel
Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell -- Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley -- Nils Lundkvist
Scott Wedgewood
Matt Murray
Scratched: Ty Dellandrea, Joel Hanley
Injured: Jake Oettinger (lower body)
And for a fourth straight game, Andrei Kuzmenko is a healthy scratch. Not a surprise, given how well the Canucks are playing right now. It's probably going to take an injury to get him back into the lineup, and every passing game makes it more likely he gets dealt at some point unless they can find a way to get him in sync with the rest of his team and play his way out of his troubles.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
We're gonna wrap up my last game preview before Xmas with an absolute rager from Irish lunatics GAMA BOMB. Off their new disc 'BATS', here's "Don't Get Your Hair Cut". From mine to yours, all the best this holiday season, eh? Stay safe, happy and warm, and enjoy some hockey through it all. Go Canucks Go!
Wow! Who saw the Nucks going on a 5 game win streak to push Bedard far away?
Besides, everyone. But other than them, probably everyone else too.
Anyhow... now that team tank is off the treads and partying down on 21 Straight Win Street, we can cheer this 5th consecutive win. Even if CB goes to CBJ for 4 years of exile.
Here we are... it's 2022 all over again. New coach bump. Nucks pushing hard to make a wild card play. And falling short. Not saying they'll fall short, finish 23rd and pick 11th. Not that at all. Probably pick 12th.
They have a large gap to cover - only 99.999% victories can help assure a possible spot at the wild card table.
How tough is it really at this point... let's use graphs and arrows and stuff.
Anyhow, we're or just me is getting ahead of themselves. Let's review this impressive win over the Central's best team.
Great start for the ROG-ladites. JT gets his 1st B-day point of the game early in the 1st. No, not on the PK. It's his birthday, not Xmas.
1-zip Nucks. And game thread expectations are going up.
Great first on the scoreboard and yet so many little things to work on.
It's funny how my expectations of this team seem so much higher than the record they have produced.
Westy
Then, not making it up, Nucks 2nd unit gets a goal! Ok, not that surprising - but surprisingly, Kuz, the goal getter was on the 2nd unit. 33rd goal of the season. Bess with his 1st of 3 apples.
2-zip Nucks after 1. All going to plan.
Interrupted by an unscheduled tire fire event 40 seconds into the 2nd.
Terrible back check by Canuck forwards and missed coverage leads to quick Stars goal
Westy
Check.
“Terrible” implies there was at least some back check…
Rob Scott
Doesn't matter.
The almost-but-not-quite playoff bound Nucks get the 2-goal lead back against the grain, against the run, the flow of play, with a Beau goal.
3-2 Nucks after 2 - because Benn and Nucking PK and stuff.
Doesn't matter.
Because early in the 3rd, we should have known this was a guaranteed Nucking win. How?
Brise has an amazing Nucking record. Every time he's scored, the Nucks win! Fact. No, really.
The fallen Stars push back a bit in the 3rd, but bubbly Demmers is back and stealing pucks.
And the birthday boy is putting the icing on his birthday game cake.
JT puts the Stars come back on the plane. Nucks win 5-2. For the 5th straight game, it's a WIN!!!
Brock had a 3 point night - 300 career points. We're happy Sith-Trader didn't send him away when he had the no-chance to in the past year.
Big night for Beggsy's fav D-man in hockey - or maybe just after Huggie. Good to see Brise rise to the top of the Nucking D single goal pantheon, finally.
ROG Winning Vid
2 Johns on the mic, on the amazing Brise through to victory.
GAME STATS
| SOG | FO% | PP | PIM | HITS | BLKS | GVA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stars
DAL
|
27 | 56% | 1/3 | 8 | 26 | 10 | 6 |
Canucks
VAN
|
19 | 44% | 1/3 | 8 | 23 | 14 | 10 |
PLAYER STATS (Good Stats too!)
| # | Forwards | GP | G | A | P | P | +/- | S | PIM | PIM | SOG | HITS | BLKS | GVA | TKA | FO% | TOI | PP TOI | SH TOI | PP | GW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | B. Boeser | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 17:15 | 4:18 | --:-- | 0 | |||
| 8 | C. Garland | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14:21 | 1:20 | --:-- | 0 | ||||
| 9 | J.T. Miller | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 18:46 | 4:17 | 1:28 | 0 | |||
| 15 | S. Dries | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 11:29 | 1:13 | 0:47 | 0 | |||
| 34 | P. Di Giuseppe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13:05 | --:-- | 0:46 | 0 | ||||
| 40 | E. Pettersson | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 22:05 | 4:03 | 2:34 | 0 | |||
| 72 | A. Beauvillier | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15:22 | 1:05 | 0:02 | 0 | ||||
| 81 | D. Joshua | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14:01 | --:-- | 1:38 | 0 | ||||
| 88 | N. Aman | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 13:56 | --:-- | 1:35 | 0 | |||
| 91 | V. Kravtsov | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10:25 | 0:43 | --:-- | 0 | ||||
| 92 | V. Podkolzin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11:32 | 0:10 | --:-- | 0 | |||
| 96 | A. Kuzmenko | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18:00 | 4:22 | 0:03 | 1 |
| # | Defense | GP | G | A | P | P | +/- | S | PIM | PIM | SOG | HITS | BLKS | GVA | TKA | FO% | TOI | PP TOI | SH TOI | PP | GW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | Q. Hughes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 24:09 | 4:06 | 1:33 | 0 | ||||
| 44 | K. Burroughs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 18:25 | --:-- | 1:01 | 0 | ||||
| 47 | N. Juulsen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 17:22 | --:-- | 1:40 | 0 | ||||
| 55 | G. Brisebois | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16:01 | 0:10 | 2:04 | 0 | ||||
| 57 | T. Myers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20:41 | 0:41 | 2:34 | 0 | ||||
| 86 | C. Wolanin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18:54 | 1:17 | 0:03 | 0 |
| # | Goalies | GP | REC | GA | SV | SA | S | EV | PP | SH | SAVE-SHOTS | SV% | PIM | TOI | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | T. Demko | -- | 25 | 27 | 19–20 | 4–5 | 2–2 | 25–27 | .926 | 0 | 59:44 |
ROGTORIOUS PRESSING
Brock talking the right way about practice making perfect - or pretty close.
Brise performing his excited Kuz impersonation.
RikTok, looking to block his NM Interim position - maybe as far as next November.
With this season's best 5th straight win under their home jerseys, Nucks are off to the desert to face the red hot Yotes in the league's most intimidating 5,000 seat arena - the Mullet Dome.
There's so much to play for, desert dogs are nipping at the heels of Nucking faint hope - just 2 points behind. Exciting!
Is it either or time already?
Let's find out.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS (28-32-5) vs DALLAS STARS (37-17-13)
7:00 PM PST
ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC
TV: SN PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650
I'm back. Try to contain your excitement, eh? And as long as we're talking about muted responses, let's talk a bit about the Vancouver Canucks. As with every other dream that involves the Canucks, the hopes that they could somehow stay relevant in the chase to the basement and a legitimate shot at winning the draft lottery and the golden ticket that is Connor Bedard, it's gone.
In a scenario that was both worst case and yet most likely, the Canucks have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, including a season high 4 game winning streak. They're 5-1 since the last times these two teams met 15 days ago, and while the Dallas Stars indeed have a lot to play for, sitting just one point behind Vegas for first place in the Western Conference and home ice advantage through the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Canucks are playing for pride and I guess the consistency of being below average? I just don't understand, even after 14 years of covering this team, why they do what they do, and I'm not alone. I would imagine that there are people in the organization that are thankful for the Arizona Coyotes, because there'd likely be more focus on how dysfunctional they are.
Alas, with the dream having died, we may as well strap ourselves in, put on that "this is actually fine, and I enjoy Vancouver Canucks hockey" face we've perfected over the past years, and enjoy some of the good things. I dare say there's not a person out there who could have seen Andrei Kuzmenko having the impact on this team that he's had when the Canucks landed the much-desired KHL free agent this past summer. While we get the whole "he's not an actual rookie" thing, he's hands down the best first year player in the league this season and it's not even close. This is a guy who does nothing but score HUGE goals, every damn night.
We're also getting treated to the emergence of Elias Pettersson into the upper echelon of NHL stars. He's shattered his personal best in goals, assists and points already, and he's done it being an incredibly consistent two way player. Quinn Hughes continues to develop into the kind of rearguard this team's not had for a long time, if ever, and you can't help but be inspired by the way a finally healthy Thatcher Demko has played since his return. Admit it, you were as concerned as we were about how he played before the injury, but he's been stellar since coming back. Sure, there's an argument to be made that this team's record would have been better if they'd gotten better goaltending this season, but it is what it is, and they are what they are.
It's still too early to tell if the Canucks are truly better with Rick Tocchet behind the bench, or if this is just the same new coach bump we saw last season when Bruce Boudreau took over from Travis Green. They have been getting a little better defensively, as we saw in the games against Toronto and Ottawa, and have only allowed more than three goals against once in the last two weeks, in the 5-4 win over... the Dallas Stars. Yes, they're playing some subpar teams the rest of the way, but the improved defensive play is encouraging if it can remain consistent.
LINEUPS
According to nhl.com, this is what we can expect in tonight's tussle:
Stars projected lineup
Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment -- Max Domi -- Ty Dellandrea
Joel Kiviranta -- Radek Faksa -- Fredrik Olofsson
Miro Heiskanen -- Colin Miller
Scratched: Nils Lundkvist
Injured: Luke Glendening (lower body), Tyler Seguin (lower body), Scott Wedgewood (lower body)
Canucks projected lineup
Andrei Kuzmenko -- Elias Pettersson -- Anthony Beauvillier
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua -- Nils Aman -- Conor Garland
Vitali Kravtsov -- Sheldon Dries -- Vasily Podkolzin
Guillaume Brisebois -- Tyler Myers
Christian Wolanin -- Kyle Burroughs
Scratched: Jack Studnicka
Injured: Filip Hronek (upper body), Ethan Bear (face), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (ankle), Travis Dermott (undisclosed), Ilya Mikheyev (torn ACL), Tanner Pearson (hand), Tucker Poolman (undisclosed)
It's a little remarkable that the Canucks have managed to put together this run when you look at how many of their regular defencemen are injured, but then again, maybe it's not. Ethan Bear (he with the face injury, according to the nhl dot com) has been practising in a non-contact jersey but should be returning to the lineup soon. Given the chatter about Tocchet expecting more from Brock Boeser of late, a game against Matt Murray seems like just the thing to do it. You probably shouldn't be shocked if Boeser rings up a hatty tonight, is what I'm trying to say.
The Stars have been rolling along well in their own right, though one of their losses in their last 10 came to the Canucks, in that 5-4 OT Canucks win. The Stars have been scoring an average of 4.9 per game over their last 10, so if Demko's not on his A game tonight, it'll be a long one at the Rog.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
We've featured them a couple times earlier this season, and the latest release from ELECTRIC CALLBOY doesn't disappoint. It's stupid, infectiously so, and the perfect theme song for this stupid team going on a stupid run to finish off this stupid season. All aboard!
