It’s a new day, and the Canucks have another opportunity to light the lamp. They didn’t do so last night, nor the game before that. It’s been a tough week, to say the least. Tonight they play host to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. If you thought the Canucks had a fighting chance against the Oilers last night, you might be in for another round of disappointment this Saturday.

Now is not the time to be a ‘Debbie Downer’, though. Now is the time to support the Canucks. So, join me on the other side of the jump for must-have information on tonight’s Hockey Night in Canada showdown.

BROADCAST INFO

TV: CBC (HNIC GAME # 2)

RADIO: TSN 1040

PUCK DROP: 7PM or whenever the Leafs/Canadiens shootout ends (ho hum)

LINE COMBOS

Jayson Megna looks to be out tonight so Mike Zalewski should slot in. Brendan Gaunce, as of this morning, was questionable. I don’t even know who might slot in for him, maybe Alex Biega or Nikita Tryamkin because why not?

Jacob Markstrom should start after Ryan Miller played the full 60 last night.

Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of the AMAZING Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Loui Eriksson
Markus Granlund	Brandon Sutter	Jannik Hansen
Sven Baertschi	Bo Horvat	Jack Skille
Jayson Megna	Brendan Gaunce	Jake Virtanen

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Troy Stecher
Ben Hutton	Erik Gudbranson
Luca Sbisa	Philip Larsen

No updates for the Capitals so this is pretty much the team you will see. 

Phillip Grubauer is between the pipes for the Capitals. 

Washington Capitals lines courtesy Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Alex Ovechkin	Nicklas Backstrom	Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson	Evgeny Kuznetsov	Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky	Lars Eller	T.J. Oshie
Zachary Sanford	Jay Beagle	Brett Connolly

Defensive Pairings
Karl Alzner	Matt Niskanen
Dmitri Orlov	John Carlson
Brooks Orpik	Nate Schmidt

GAME NOTES, STATS AND MORE INTERESTING THINGS

• Believe it or not, the Capitals are below the Canucks in the standings and that is a great reason for celebration. The same Canucks team that hasn’t scored since the last episode of Westworld, or close to anyway, is ahead of a very capable Capitals club. You’ll want to tune in to witness a true miracle.
• It’s the second consecutive night that a superstar comes to town. We’ve stopped labelling the guys on our team “super” until they actually live up to that word. Ovechkin is here and an amazing talent to watch. In person, he’s phenomenal and can change the game as soon as the puck is on his stick. He’s not a Canuck but he’s worth the price of admission.
• Where is Loui Eriksson? No goals in 8 games with a handful of assists to show for his time. I think Brandon Sutter is happy he gave up that #21 because there doesn’t seem to be any value in it. Eriksson needs to break out in a bad way and it would be a great night to see him figure it out. He’s on the Sedin line, do you KNOW who has scored with those guys? Pretty much everyone. Time to deliver Loui.
• Through 8 games, the Canucks are dead last in a bunch of categories but what really matters for most of the game is 5v5 goals. The Canucks are 30th with 5 tallies at even strength. Power plays can get things going but if you aren’t scoring at even strength, well, you’re just not scoring. I don’t know what the record is for longest shutout streak but if I’m the Canucks, it’s not something I want to creep up on.
• Jacob Markstrom is in the top 15 for GAA and SV% and has only one OT loss to his credit thus far. Ryan Miller hasn’t been awful but I think we all know where this is going. At some point, Willie Desjardins will need to run with one of them and statistically, not like that matters with the Canucks, Markstrom should be the guy.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

I sat thru a 2-0 #Canucks game last night and now my kid’s soccer team lost 1-0. Maybe it’s me

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) October 29, 2016

Someone is to blame and it might take all season to find out. Jeff, I don’t think it’s you but we’ll keep tabs.

MY TAKE

Scoring has been a bit of an issue it seems. There isn’t a single line that has looked better than the other and that is kind of alarming. Injuries are starting to rear their ugly head and there isn’t a tonne of answers to remedy the situation. I truly believe this is only a slump that the team is currently in, despite the obvious situations. The Canucks aren’t as bad they look so a few lucky bounces can change their fortunes. 

The did win 4 straight whether you like it or not.

WILL THE CANUCKS WIN?

I’m going back to the memory bank on this one when Ovechkin made his first ever trip to Rogers Arena and that same night they had the new jumbotron up as well. I was there, it was majestic and the Canucks won in a shootout. I’m saying that EXACT thing happens tonight and the Canucks manage a goal or two.