Canucks Army Game Day 33 – Canucks @ Blue Jackets (Silencing The Cannon Edition)
By Always90four
5 years agoTHE INTRO
The Canucks carry on their road trip into THE Columbus, Ohio to take on John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets. They’re cranky after losing a forgetful game to the Capitals and the Canucks are riding a mini-wave of momentum with a chipper two-game win streak. Add to that, Vancouver hasn’t lost to the Blue Jackets in almost two years to the date and we have ourselves a statement game.
Elias Pettersson was just awarded the NHL’s first start of the week, again, and it feels like there isn’t much he can’t do right now. He brought Tort’s Murphy bed from Vancouver on the road trip because all of Pettersson’s shots are going to be sleeping in CBJ’s net tonight. SNAP!
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 4:00 PM
LINEUPS
Sven Baertschi skated yesterday in a non-contact jersey which is great news. There is no rush for him to return but adding his talent is an opportunity for the Canucks to put another contributing forward in the lineup and make Tim Schaller sit. It still baffles the mind why Jim Benning thought he would be a good addition.
Loui Eriksson has done more. There, it’s been said.
Jacob Markstrom should be the starter tonight. He’s been pretty darn good in the last few games.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 70.5#115 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 76.4#39 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 71.5#86 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 72.81#31 FL1 |
 JOSH LEIVO Rating: 73.0#57 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 76.0#42 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 80.8#6 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 76.59#5 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 71.2#100 LW |  MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 70.6#152 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 71.4#94 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.06#24 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 70.2#118 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.4#185 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 69.2#111 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 68.94#31 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.6#30 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 70.3#86 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 72.46#26 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 70.6#105 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 69.0#102 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 69.79#29 DL2 |
 DERRICK POULIOT Rating: 69.8#116 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 71.2#71 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 70.50#24 DL3 |
Columbus is as healthy as a horse (did I use that one yet?) but considering they were hot trash last game, expect to see some lineup tweaks for today’s game. #hottrash.
Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin both have 31 points on the season, one ahead of a certain Canucks rookie. Pierre-Luc Dubois has also had a great start to his season centering one of the better lines in hockey. Again, don’t sleep on this Blue Jackets team, the Canucks have won two in a row but CBJ is right in the thick of it in the East.
Sergei Bobrovsky should get the start tonight because they can’t afford to put in a backup right now.
Blue Jackets lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ARTEMI PANARIN Rating: 80.8#8 LW |  PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS Rating: 77.6#33 C |  CAM ATKINSON Rating: 81.7#3 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 80.05#9 FL1 |
 NICK FOLIGNO Rating: 72.8#61 LW |  BOONE JENNER Rating: 73.5#67 C |  JOSH ANDERSON Rating: 74.9#35 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 73.74#13 FL2 |
 BRANDON DUBINSKY Rating: 70.2#156 LW |  ALEXANDER WENNBERG Rating: 71.9#113 C |  ANTHONY DUCLAIR Rating: 71.1#93 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.07#23 FL3 |
 MARKUS HANNIKAINEN Rating: 71.4#95 LW |  RILEY NASH Rating: 71.9#114 C |  OLIVER BJORKSTRAND Rating: 71.6#81 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.63#6 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 RYAN MURRAY Rating: 72.9#51 LD |  SETH JONES Rating: 79.8#10 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 76.38#9 DL1 |
 ZACH WERENSKI Rating: 75.5#23 LD |  SCOTT HARRINGTON Rating: 69.5#95 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.53#20 DL2 |
 DAVID SAVARD Rating: 72.4#50 LD |  MARKUS NUTIVAARA Rating: 72.4#48 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.43#8 DL3 |
BRAND NEW INFORMATION FOR THIS GAME
- Elias Pettersson is getting it done. You can tweet his name if you’re a Vancouver sports media member and instantly get 500 likes.
- Pettersson is currently 11 points ahead of Colin White of the Senators and to be perfectly honest, the Sens aren’t high on the list of must-see hockey so the casual fan probably doesn’t even know who he is. Rasmus Dahlin is 16 points behind Pettersson while Brady Tkachuk is slightly closer with 14 points behind the Calder favourite. What does EP40 do for his next act? He’s running out of rabbits but knowing him, he’s been cloning them for weeks.
- Travis Green needs to give Nikolay Goldobin a lot more props than he has lately. Goldobin leads all active-roster Canucks forwards with a 5.4 RelCF% rating. He even has Pettersson beat by almost a mark and a half. How this man is in Green’s doghouse is ridiculous. He deserves way more credit than he’s been given. Maybe he needs a “back pat”.
- It isn’t the power play and it’s not the PK but Troy Stecher’s presence at 5v5 is helping goals go in the net. He’s the top Canucks defender with a RelGF% of 21.41. Hopefully, the coaching staff starts to utilize him more as the set piece to get Pettersson/Boeser in motion.
- It doesn’t get talked about a ton but Tyler Motte has been a great addition to the Canucks. His addition to both the PK and as a valuable checking forward is turning heads, or one person’s anyway. On the PK, Motte is eating power plays alive. He leads the Canucks (and the entire NHL) with five individual penalties drawn while killing a penalty, he leads all Canucks in iCF on the PK with six, and of the seven penalty killers having played more than 50 minutes shorthanded, he leads them all as well with an iCF/60 of 4.71. He’s doing the little things which are turning into big things as the season carries on. Don’t expect Motte to be healthy scratched for a while.
MY 94 CENTS
Here’s what I’m thinking: the Canucks have won two-straight games, it’s contagious, people love it. The Blue Jackets lost a stinker against the Capitals and they’re upset. On the surface, it looks like the Canucks could pull off an upset with a distracted CBJ team but realistically Columbus just needs to focus and the Canucks might have to play catchup the whole night.
Elias Pettersson is having himself a week to remember… again and Brock Boeser is on the cusp of his next breakout; I can’t see the Canucks making an example of the Blue Jackets and even though CBJ have gone 5-5 in their last 10 while the Canucks have gone 3-6-1, these two teams aren’t all that close.
Expect the Canucks to work hard and force a one-goal game. They might even win.
THE FINAL WORD
OK, this came out before my first coffee yesterday but imagine this becomes a thing and they score so many points it ends up being about who does the best “good job bud”? I’m all for this idea.
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