Canucks Army Game Day 45 – Canucks @ Leafs (Boesermania Edition Part 2)
By Always90four
5 years agoTHE INTRO
It’s Saturday night. East coast meets West coast in a battle to end all battles (until March at least) for Canadian hockey supremacy. The Vancouver Canucks raid Toronto to take on the infamous Leafs led by Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Vancouver has been shutout in two of their last three games but has gone 9-6-0-1 in their last 16. Toronto is sporting an 8-4-0-2 record in that time.
There will be no Elias Pettersson in this marquee event but the man before him, Brock Boeser, will be suited up and you better believe it’s time to unleash the Flow once again.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
CBC / SN 650 / 4:00 PM (It’s the main Hockey Night in Canada game, you know exactly when it’s at)
LINEUPS
Elias Pettersson has been ruled out of this game as a precaution and there is still no word on the MRI from Friday. Brandon Sutter is now back in the lineup as is Sven Baertschi so the Canucks are just about back to normal. Expect Nikolay Goldobin to slot back in for Pettersson.
Thatcher Demko has been officially recalled which puts the wheels in motion to eventually lead this team out of the tunnel. It’s coming.
Jacob Markstrom will most likely start against the Leafs.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 SVEN BAERTSCHI Rating: 74.8#31 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 79.6#19 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 83.2#3 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 79.21#10 FL1 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 72.0#74 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 75.8#44 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 70.9#93 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 72.87#22 FL2 |
 MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 70.4#104 LW |  BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 71.3#137 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 71.3#85 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.01#23 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 69.6#120 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.7#194 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 69.0#119 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 68.79#31 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 76.0#20 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 72.1#55 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 74.03#21 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 70.8#100 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 69.2#103 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 70.00#30 DL2 |
 MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO Rating: 71.6#77 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 72.1#54 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.89#13 DL3 |
Zach Hyman is still out with an ankle injury, Tyler Ennis has a broken ankle, Garret Sparks is out with a concussion and Frederik Anderson was placed on IR with a groin injury. The Leafs still have a potent lineup that can beat you any which way so despite the injuries they should be just fine.
Michael Hutchinson will start for the Leafs this evening as noted yesterday from Mike Babcock.
Leafs lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 CONNOR BROWN Rating: 70.3#107 LW |  JOHN TAVARES Rating: 83.0#8 C |  MITCH MARNER Rating: 80.5#7 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 77.93#13 FL1 |
 ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 74.7#32 LW |  AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 85.2#6 C |  WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 74.8#39 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 78.26#2 FL2 |
 PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 72.6#63 LW |  NAZEM KADRI Rating: 77.2#35 C |  KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.7#50 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 74.49#4 FL3 |
 PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 71.5#87 LW |  FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 69.9#169 C |  TREVOR MOORE Rating: 73.7#48 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.70#7 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 80.8#3 LD |  RON HAINSEY Rating: 72.4#48 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 76.60#10 DL1 |
 JAKE GARDINER Rating: 77.4#10 LD |  NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 70.9#84 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 74.11#11 DL2 |
 TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 73.7#41 LD |  IGOR OZHIGANOV Rating: 71.6#66 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.65#6 DL3 |
YOUR INFORMATIONAL NEEDS FOR TONIGHT’S GAME
- The Canucks are currently 13th in goals-for with 127. A season ago at the 44 game mark, they were at 116. If you remove Elias Pettersson from the equation, they’re actually behind that pace. Vancouver needs to find goals from other sources because after EP and Brock Boeser it gets really, really thin. Does Travis have a game plan for the goals about to come?
- Since the beginning of the 2016 season, the only Canucks left that have scored against the Leafs are Sven Baertschi, Alex Edler, Markus Granlund, and Brock Boeser. Each of them has a single goal to speak of. They’ll need a few of those guys to step up if they want to have a chance at winning today.
- Bo Horvat doesn’t seem like the obvious choice for most shots on the Canucks but he’s 25 up on Boeser, 17 ahead of Jake Virtanen and there should be a comment for Pettersson but he doesn’t have a ton of shots and still scores a quarter of the time, actually. Please, Bo, convert a few more of your many shots, your team relies on them.
- Toronto has a five-game win streak at home against the Canucks dating back to February 2014. The Canucks last win in Toronto was actually 2012 when the Canucks won 5-3. The lockout that followed didn’t allow Vancouver to play the Leafs the next season. The Canucks are due for a big win in the Centre of the Universe.
- Tonight’s game also marks the 150th meeting between these two teams. Some might call it a milestone. It might not be a Mats Sundin homecoming kind of game but there will be fireworks by the final whistle. Take it to the bank.
MY 94 CENTS
On paper, this one is pretty much over. The Leafs have a juggernaut lineup but if the Canucks can keep them at bay, they might have a shot. Vancouver has been tested already against some of the NHL’s elite and hung around. The goals haven’t been flowing lately so they’ll need to keep them out of the net as much as possible. This one will be a tighter score but I believe the Canucks are due for some magic.
THE FINAL WORD
Could be one of those “not a lot of goals” games.
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