Western Conference First Round, Game 2
10 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS2, ESPN2, BSSO
Vancouver leads best-of-7 series 1-0
A great third period comeback by the Canucks sets the stage for Game 2
No Demko tonight.....and realistically, for the rest of the playoffs, unless you want him to come back tear something and have surgery.
There is no point is asking why or analyzing it to death....we have to move on and find a way to win.
Game one was a roller coaster of emotions. It was hard for me to get going in the first, even with the loud crowd that showed up. Luckily the players didn't have that problem and both teams looked like they were trying to put the other teams through the boards. I knew Smashville would be ready and it was good to see that the Canucks were able to respond. Not a lot of chances in the first period, as both teams clogged up the middle and shots were from the outside. I'm sure Demko would like that first goal back as he slide a little too far to his right to try and see the shoot through the double screen. The same could be said about Saros and the goal Lindholm got by him. The Canucks at the faceoff dot, dominated and that was one of the reasons Lindholm was brought in. The 5 hits he brought last game were just a bonus.
Game 2 is all about adjustments. 12 seconds of the game were the deciding factor, but there were lots of little issues that the coaches will look at and players will try and execute. The Canucks getting more shots on net on the powerplay (and 5vs5) is a must. I am interested in seeing if both team come out hitting as hard as they did last game. In years past, the Canucks were not as physical and teams could push them around. Having a bigger defense and guys like Joshua and Miller up front, don't make it easy to push anyone around.
We are all hoping that Casey DeSmith is ready to save this team. In his career, Casey is 2-1 with a 2.31 GAA and .920 sv %. I think those numbers are good enough.
We are also waiting for the return of Elias Pettersson. He has been absent for a while now and we hope he appears soon. With 5 points in his last 10 games....I was kinda hoping he could do something in this series.
Predators projected lineup
Filip Forsberg -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Gustav Nyquist
Mark Jankowski -- Colton Sissons -- Jason Zucker
Anthony Beauvillier -- Tommy Novak -- Luke Evangelista
Cole Smith -- Michael McCarron -- Kiefer Sherwood
Ryan McDonagh -- Roman Josi
Jeremy Lauzon -- Alexandre Carrier
Spencer Stastney -- Luke Schenn
Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Tyson Barrie, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Cody Glass, Dante Fabbro, Gustavs Grigals
Injured: None
Canucks projected lineup
Pius Suter -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Sam Lafferty
Dakota Joshua -- Elias Lindholm -- Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Teddy Blueger -- Ilya Mikheyev
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy -- Tyler Myers
Ian Cole -- Nikita Zadorov
Casey DeSmith
Arturs Silovs
Scratched: Mark Friedman, Nils Aman, Noah Juulsen, Vasily Podkolzin
Injured: Thatcher Demko (undisclosed)
Status report
Demko, Vancouver’s No. 1 goalie, is day to day. … Forsberg did not participate in the morning skate; Predators coach Andrew Brunette said he has a couple of game-time decisions. … Brunette said Monday that Fabbro, a defenseman, and Glass, a forward who took Forberg’s spot in the lineup at the morning skate Tuesday, might get back into the lineup after being scratched for Game 1. - NHL.com
Game Day Battle Hymn
You had to know that once the Canucks clinched a playoff spot, the nostalgia would kick in. And in the case of music, you can't ignore U2's music as the Canucks came on the ice. I couldn't find a good metal version to "Where the streets have no name.", but I did find the next best thing. You need to skip ahead to 1:36 as this song was a hidden track on Disturbed album "Asylum"
Disclaimer - I stole this idea from Kent
Go you big fat hairy Canucks Go!