It’s Saturday night, it’s the Canucks and it’s the Penguins: this is what it’s all about. With the Penguins playing last night and going the distance, the Canucks could play spoiler and stay in the playoff hunt. Everyone is talking about Sidney Crosby and so they should be but our star, Bo Horvat is worthy of his own following.
Most of us will be watching at home but VanHAC is going on this weekend so they’ll all be at The Pint cheering and stats-ing (is that even a word?) together. Have fun!
LINE COMBOS
Word on the street is Brendan Gaunce and Nikolay Goldobin are OUT, Alex Grenier has been called up and is IN. Alex Biega gets another tour of duty on the wing. I hate to say it but he looks better as a forward than a defender, am I alone?
Ryan Miller will once again start because Willie Desjardins is a glutton for punishment.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |
 Henrik Sedin |
 Markus Granlund |
 Sven Baertschi |
 Bo Horvat |
 Jayson Megna |
 Brendan Gaunce |
 Brandon Sutter |
 Reid Boucher |
 Joseph Cramarossa |
 Michael Chaput |
 Alex Biega |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Edler |
 Troy Stecher |
 Luca Sbisa |
 Chris Tanev |
 Ben Hutton |
 Nikita Tryamkin |
No noted changes for the Penguins but that’s because they’re smoking teams right now and you don’t mess with greatness. Somehow, Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino are beyond major threats now.
Matt Murray should start after Marc-Andre Fleury went the distance last night.
Pittsburgh Penguins lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Chris Kunitz |
 Sidney Crosby |
 Conor Sheary |
 Carl Hagelin |
 Evgeni Malkin |
 Phil Kessel |
 Scott Wilson |
 Nick Bonino |
 Jake Guentzel |
 Carter Rowney |
 Matt Cullen |
 Tom Kuhnhackl |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Brian Dumoulin |
 Justin Schultz |
 Mark Streit |
 Ron Hainsey |
 Ian Cole |
 Chad Ruhwedel |
GAME NOTES, STATS, AND OTHER INTERESTING INFO
- Horvat has two SHG this season and with a third, he would be in a tie for second in the league. The young Jedi has harnessed the force.
- With the fifth least home PP opportunities in the league, the Canucks are last in home PP GF and 29th in PP%. They don’t create many chances to get power plays and as they get faster and shiftier by giving their speedsters more ice time, I see those numbers changing for the better.
- Kind of an odd stat: the Canucks have the third fewest missed shots in the league. however, they’ve also registered the fourth fewest shots taken. At some point, that number too will change.
- Even after two periods of play, the Canucks are tied for seventh in wins after trailing at the 40-minute mark. It’s amazing how many random stats exist but it gives hope that this team is worth watching until the final minute. Some may disagree at this point. There is another stat to go with this: Canucks Army readers are 86% likely to read the entire GDT after getting past the Game Notes section. I have no stats to back this up.
- With Biega once again up on the forward lines, we may see some entertainment with his “bulldog” type hits. Very underrated player in my opinion.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
for sale: hat worn by @JeffVeillette. starting bid $50000 pic.twitter.com/psST1Y2U0W
— Matthew Henderson (@mhenderson95) March 11, 2017
MY TAKE
Worn out from such a long game against the Oilers last night, the Canucks should be primed to crush the Penguins at Rogers Arena. There have been some classics in the Luongo era and with the transition to the new generation, we can only hope it amounts to the same.
BETTER PLAYER RIGHT NOW: CROSBY OR HORVAT?
This one isn’t even close as of the last five games: Crosby – 3A, Horvat – 2G, 4A. Can you believe they let Sid run their team? How is Bo not our guy then?
Count me among the 14%. I stopped here:
“Worn out from such a long game against the Oilers last night, the Canucks should be primed to crush the Penguins at Rogers Arena.”
Atrocious sentence structure. The Canucks didn’t play in Edmonton last night, which is what this sentence suggests.
Complain all you like about the coaching, but I don’t think WD’s been the one mailing it in all season.
Tough test coming up against Pens. I watched Penguins – Jets the other night, and that was one fierce battle. Pens are still a contender. They can play a physical game, like they did against Jets, but also have plenty of skill and speed. Should be fun.
I saw that game and did a double take. Wait…Sestito?! Two suspension worthy hits. Yep, he did his job keeping the jets off kilter
Bonino 13g/16a= 29 pts -2 $2.1M
Sutter 15g/12a = 28 pts -17 $4.25M
Bonino is also money in the playoffs… like to see him score a couple tonight
But Sutter is a foundational player, and that’s worth at least $2.5M
Potent line-up! At least we won’t have to face Sestito.
Ray Ferraro says if your first three centres are Henrik Sedin, Bo Horvat, and Brandon Sutter, you’re doing okay down the middle. Ray suggests, if healthy, Sutter can score in the 20 goal range, be good on draws, and play an intelligent game.
Ray Ferraro says the Canucks are getting what you’d expect from Brandon Sutter. Ray thought there might be more offense, but Sutter’s forte is on the defensive side.
-17 and tied for second worst on the team… yes Sutter’s forte is definitely on the defensive side
I thought Sutter was a first line winger.
Bud’s in over his head again. The point is Ferraro would say Sedin, Horvat and Bonino are okay down the middle too. Hooray, we’re Ok! Bonino is essentially the same player as Sutter. Except Benning chose to pay him more than twice as much and gave up additional assets, on top of it all, to make no difference.
Ray played 1300 NHL games. What does he know?
Stastny 55.3% $7 million cap hit 18G 21A 39 PTS
Sutter 55% $4.375 million cap hit 15G 13A 28 PTS
Koivu 55% $6.75 million cap hit 18G 32A 50 PTS
Nielson 54.8% $5.25 million cap hit 13G 19A 32 PTS
http://puckbase.com/stats/faceoff-percentage
So you’re saying if they want Sutter to be more productive they have to pay him more?
Oh wait … the others have been productive so they got paid more!
Right …
Sutter is the highest paid forward in NHL history to never score more than 40 puts.
LOL…I remember when that happened and thought it was a joke at the time? How could a GM give a contract to a player who has yet played a single game for the franchise… anyway, seems like LG has been replaced by someone who is more “in tuned” with the “new” salary structure for a 3rd line 30 point kind of player?
Sutter is the highest paid forward in NHL history to never score more than 40 points
But he has far more classic Sutter grit than all those guys, combined.
Bonino must be really gutted to have been traded to the Pens from Vancouver.. but he looked very happy skating around the rink with the STANLEY CUP hoisted over his head after a Conn Smyth shortlist performance throughout the playoffs i must say.
How do I revert back to the old CanucksArmy UI? This site is hell to browse and the whiteness hurts my eyes. I’m sure this new design has mobile users in mind, but I can’t navigate this website like this.
I am definitely not a web developer or writer…lol, nor do I like to complain but, even as a mobile user it’s a bit clumsy…