After losing a barn burner against the Flyers, the Canucks look to bounce back against a familiar face in Cory Schneider, his Devils, and Canuck killer Taylor Hall. Every game from here on in will be pretty important if the Canucks are actually serious about making the postseason. 

Two points against New Jersey is worth the same against anyone else. It might be a little harder against a normally stingy Devils crew.

Giddy up!

LINE COMBOS

We’ve been focusing on the wrong guys all along. Markus Granlund and Brandon Sutter, that’s the new thing now. Just when we all got what we wanted, and the Bo Horvat line was elevated to line 2, we see things change yet again. Somehow, Jayson Megna is still showing that he’s playing which makes zero sense but as I’ve said before “I don’t run this team”.

The break will have everyone rested, and Ryan Miller should start again.

Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi	Bo Horvat	Alexandre Burrows
Markus Granlund	Brandon Sutter	Jayson Megna
Brendan Gaunce	Michael Chaput	Jack Skille

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Troy Stecher
Luca Sbisa	Chris Tanev
Nikita Tryamkin	Alex Biega

With New Jersey coming off a loss in OT, there’s a chance a few bumps happen. It’s an ok lineup so there shouldn’t be any big changes right now. Since January 1st, Kyle Palmieri has been on a bit of a tear, so he will be one to watch.

Cory Schneider will play this game every single time. 

New Jersey Devils lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Taylor Hall	Adam Henrique	P.A. Parenteau
Michael Cammalleri	Travis Zajac	Kyle Palmieri
Miles Wood	Jacob Josefson	Beau Bennett
Blake Coleman	Sergey Kalinin	Devante Smith-Pelly

Defensive Pairings
Jon Merrill	Ben Lovejoy
Kyle Quincey	Damon Severson
Karl Stollery	Steven Santini

GAME NOTES, STATS, AND OTHER INTERESTING INFO

• I doubt there will be a strong hate or a target on Taylor Hall after he levelled Philip Larsen back in December, but I doubt the Canucks have forgotten about it. Hall will have to be on the lookout because he could have approached his hit quite differently and there has to be at least one player that’s still mad, right?
• Markus Granlund is officially unsung. He has that award locked up this year. He has four goals and five points in his last six games, and as the focus has changed to Horvat and the dismal Sedin line/power play, Granlund has taken advantage of his chances.
• Nobody is turning on Troy Stecher, but Willie Desjardins has to adjust his use of Sir Troy. First off, the power play can’t revolve around his shot; it’s as predictable as a Sedin drop pass or Edler’s broken stick. Second, his ice time is dreadfully high, and a few fewer shifts might benefit him, the less is more theory. Stecher is a steal of a player and even with the injuries that have attacked the Canucks on the back-end, having a healthy six defensemen and balancing out the minutes a bit more could go a long way.
• A win keeps the Canucks in the immediate race for the final playoff spot in the West. Everyone else is winning so the Canucks need to do the same. WARNING: we are getting into “biggest game of the season” territory again.
• There was a time I hated on Brandon Sutter. I did, and I’m not proud of it. Some of you did too; the Internet doesn’t lie. If Sutter went down again this year, this season will most definitely end with a top 6 pick. He’s now a glue guy, and Bo Horvat is getting the success he has because they have to focus on Sutter as well. Just saying, this team could be so much worse.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

#Canucks prospect Brock Boeser with the absolute laser beam for his goal tonight pic.twitter.com/KzUgbmI6CQ

— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) January 14, 2017

In a game where it could be pretty dull offensively, this should give you all hope that soon enough, goals will be coming by the truck loads.

MY TAKE

Here’s the thing: the Canucks played a pretty entertaining game against the Flyers, and they scored a bunch of goals by players we probably shouldn’t be surprised by anymore. Tonight, Vancouver has a chance to bounce back after the shootout loss. I see the Canucks stealing this one and amassing ONE goalie assist. It’s a big deal.

WHO WON THE TRADE?

At first, I thought losing Cory Schneider was a terrible thing and for JUST a 9th overall pick? But like any Canuck move good or bad after some time to think and see the growing results, we won this one. The stats don’t lie either: 42 goals and 95 points easily puts Bo Horvat ahead of Schneider’s measly 2 assists. Team Horvat runs away with it.