THE INTRO

The Vancouver Canucks are back from a road trip they’d prefer to not have to deal with again and they take on a familiar team, the Edmonton Oilers, for the second-straight night. Travis Green’s club took the Oilers to the woodshed last night in a surprising 5-2 victory thanks to Tanner Pearson, Loui Eriksson, and Jacob Markstrom.

Tonight, he’ll need just as good of an effort if not better if the Canucks are going to steal away two valuable points in the standings. The Oilers will be cranky after allowing Vancouver’s forgotten ones to own them. Don’t expect a cakewalk for the Canucks. It’s possible Antoine Roussel makes his anticipated debut as well. (He will not play tonight)

Let’s Do This!™

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN -125/ EDM +105) courtesy of OddsShark.com.

TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP

SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM

LINEUPS

As mentioned above, Antoine Roussel has been called up and could make his season debut tonight (nope). That, in turn, means a bump to the press box for one of Loui Eriksson or Nikolay Goldobin or possibly Tyler Graovac. What a world we live in where you have to decide who is more valuable?

Alex Edler left last night’s game with a back injury and may not play tonight. Could that mean Oscar Fantenberg draws in?

Thatcher Demko is the likely starter after Jacob Markstrom went the distance last night. UPDATED: Is Demko injured? Jacob Markstrom gets the whole weekend to himself and will start in consecutive games.

Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

 

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will not play tonight as mentioned in yesterday’s THE GAME DAY. Everyone else is accounted for in Edmonton.

Mikko Koskinen should start after Mike Smith played last night.

Oilers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

 

GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO

• It’s believed Antoine Roussel will start tonight which is super fitting as he looked up to Alex Burrows as a shift-disturber. There will be a lot of emotion in this game tonight and the Rooster might rest a few points on the board, or hey, the GWG. UPDATED: No Roussel until possibly Tuesday. Regardless, Edmonton won’t forget how they got worked one night ago.
• People have been dumping on Bo Horvat to be more. They’ve always done this. Get faster, score more goals, why aren’t you the captain yet? Stuff like that. Bo has faced a ton of criticism which isn’t really even warranted but he’s shutting up the haters. In his last five games, Bo has 1G / 6A which basically means he IS driving play, he’s Captaining like a boss and he’s helping his teammates produce. Good on you, Bo!
• Not talking about how great Quinn Hughes is is tough. So you won’t find that void here. He’s not going to catch John Carlson of the Capitals as the top defender but he’s on a run right now. Hughes is six points back of Dougie Hamilton for second-most points by a defenseman. His 20 assists are tied with Elias Pettersson on the Canucks. Do you know who else has 20 assists or more on the Canucks? NOBODY! J.T. Miller is the next closest with 15. Quinn Hughes is a special, special talent and he isn’t being hyped enough. That’s about to change.
• Will this be the year Jake Virtanen notches 20 goals? He’s currently on pace for 21. He sits at seven goals as of today and wouldn’t he be a fitting player to honour Burrows? A Jake Virtanen hat-trick you say? Preposterous!
• Tim Schaller hasn’t put up a point in over a month. If Tanner Pearson and Josh Leivo can do it, so can he. BOOK IT! Tim Schaller point night.

#CANUCKSTWITTER

A breakdown no one wanted to admit:

Directly impacted 28 hockey games in 3 years. Net cost: 18 million bucks. https://t.co/zFbfKiUEQF

— Disco Stu (@TheDiscoStu) December 1, 2019

This stat could be a little skewed but I’ll run with it:

Tanner Pearson is on pace for 27 goals in his first 82 games with the #Canucks

— Chris Wahl (@wahlsy) December 1, 2019

MY 94 CENTS

I had to miss last night’s game due to a work Christmas party so seeing that the Oilers were thumped by the Canucks lessers was quite a surprise. What also surprised me was that none of the Canucks big guns really factored on the score sheet. Bo Horvat had three helpers and Quinn Hughes had one as well.

AND ANOTHER THING…

Assisting on a go-ahead goal for the @Canucks vs EDM tonight, Quinn Hughes reaches 25 career points in his 31st NHL game. Over the last 40 NHL seasons (1979-80 to present), only 7 defencemen have gotten there in fewer GP

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 1, 2019