Canucks Army Game Day 5 – Canucks @ Panthers (Florida Minus Luongo Edition)
By Always90four
5 years agoTHE INTRO
The Canucks have yet another early start today as they travel to Sunrise, Florida to take on the Panthers. Roberto Luongo will be honoured tonight for playing 1000 games. He’s only the third goaltender to do so behind Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy. Many will argue that honour should have happened in a Canucks jersey but that ship has sailed.
Vancouver is coming off of a resilient victory over the Lightning on Thursday where Brock Boeser scored his first of the season and you guessed it, Elias Pettersson once again amazed. Erik Gudbranson is also back in Florida and he’ll want to show his former club what they gave up.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SN1 / SN 650 / 4:00 PM
LINEUPS
As mentioned before, it looks like Antoine Roussel will get his first action of the season on a line with Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser, not a bad way to debut with your new club. Brendan Leipsic may once again be the healthy scratch combined with Michael Del Zotto and Alex Biega. Stay tuned to the Canucks Army Twitter for any updates on this situation.
Someone is being waived today and knowing the Canucks, they like to make a splash.
Anders Nilsson was red hot on Thursday and Travis Green would be best to give him another start.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 70.8#105 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 74.4#57 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 78.1#14 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 74.45#28 FL1 |
 NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 71.5#91 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 72.6#62 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 72.08#30 FL2 |
 SVEN BAERTSCHI Rating: 73.8#41 LW |  BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 71.5#124 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 69.9#95 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.73#20 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 69.2#133 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 68.3#176 C |  MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 71.6#79 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.67#25 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.3#32 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.1#74 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 72.70#28 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 69.9#109 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 69.0#98 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 69.44#31 DL2 |
 DERRICK POULIOT Rating: 70.3#103 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 70.2#86 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 70.28#27 DL3 |
Jared McCann gets another game against his former team. The Panthers have scored five goals through their first two games so there isn’t a lot to go on quite yet. How have the Florida teams only played two games so far? Bogdan Kiselevich will make his Panthers debut this evening.
James Reimer should be the starter.
Panthers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 EVGENY DADONOV Rating: 80.1#10 LW |  ALEKSANDER BARKOV Rating: 80.9#15 C |  NICK BJUGSTAD Rating: 74.5#55 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 78.50#15 FL1 |
 JONATHAN HUBERDEAU Rating: 75.9#38 LW |  VINCENT TROCHECK Rating: 78.1#28 C |  DENIS MALGIN Rating: 72.5#97 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 75.51#10 FL2 |
 MAXIM MAMIN Rating: 71.2#96 LW |  JARED MCCANN Rating: 72.6#92 C |  MIKE HOFFMAN Rating: 74.8#32 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.88#11 FL3 |
 FRANK VATRANO Rating: 73.1#61 LW |  JUHO LAMMIKKO |  COLTON SCEVIOUR Rating: 71.6#122 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.32#3 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 KEITH YANDLE Rating: 77.1#10 LD |  AARON EKBLAD Rating: 74.8#31 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 75.97#15 DL1 |
 MICHAEL MATHESON Rating: 73.9#36 LD |  MARK PYSYK Rating: 71.8#65 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.82#16 DL2 |
 BOGDAN KISELEVICH |  ALEX PETROVIC Rating: 71.4#70 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.45#16 DL3 |
INFORMATION YOU NEED AND SOME YOU DON’T
- If you had the Canucks in the Top-10 in goals scored after two weeks, you should be buying a lottery ticket. The Canucks sit at 16 goals scored while allowing 15. The Maple Leafs lead the league with 25 goals for and that isn’t going to be slowing down any time soon. Hopefully, Brock Boeser’s rocket of a goal last game has sparked his stick and the goals are finally going to arrive from him (four games was a long time!) along with Pettersson’s knack for the net and this team can enjoy some long overdue success.
- Special teams for the Canucks are also on the up and up. Vancouver’s PP (26.7%) and PK (85.0%) success are 9th and 11th respectively. They’ve had only two power plays in the first period so far, nine in the second, and four in the third period. With Roussel most likely playing today he could spark the first period and draw a few more opportunities to score. Those early goals against are daggers to the Canucks so far and playing with a lead calms things down a bit more.
- Vancouver’s PK has seen the most TV time of any club in the NHL so far. The Canucks have spent an alarming 35:40 killing off penalties but have only allowed three goals in that time. I’m not even mad, I’m impressed. They’ve even managed to add a shorthanded goal in that time. It’s good to have a functioning special teams unit but it shouldn’t be the central unit.
- It seems the Canucks are playing the long game this season as both of their wins have come when their opponents have outshot them. Slow and steady wins the race. It’s not a safe strategy but when have the Canucks even followed the rules?
- BOLD PREDICTION- Elias Pettersson will tie the current points leader, Auston Matthews, by scoring five points this evening. Of course, Matthews will have his own game to play and will most likely score but Pettersson will take the league by storm this evening and you heard it here first.
MY 94 CENTS
Luongo should have started the Heritage Classic. OK, even I’ll have to move on from that one. Vancouver hung around last game just long enough to change their fate but they’ll need to keep the puck away from their net tonight as they played with danger far too often against the Lightning. James Reimer isn’t an elite goalie so Pettersson and Boeser might ignite their scoring touches again but knowing the Canucks, this will be the game of Reimer’s life.
I’m very interested to see Antoine Roussel this evening. His agitative style will be welcome as the Canucks have already drawn a fair amount of penalties thus far which means the PP gets more opportunities to score. Seems like a recipe for success and I don’t even cook.
THE FINAL WORD
I wonder if Strombone1 will have something to say before the game, it’s not like he’s doing anything else today.
**Editor Note: Please note the post-game report may be a bit delayed today**
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