Canucks Army Game Day 57 – Canucks Vs. Sharks (Gudbranson’s New Red Jacket Edition)
By Always90four
5 years agoTHE INTRO
It’s Lunar New Year at Rogers Arena tonight and after that, the Canucks will host the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks have won five straight and the Canucks are looking to put together a win streak of their own. It’s a quick stopover in Vancouver before the Canucks head to California for a mini road trip.
Elias Pettersson reached the 50 point mark on Saturday and he’ll try and get his linemate Brock Boeser to the 20 goal plateau this evening. Bo Horvat is also chasing 20 and after an impressive outing on the weekend and finally getting the monkey off his back, Bo might get there as well.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM
LINEUPS
Zack MacEwen has been called up from Utica. He has 42 points this season and could be a breath of fresh air for Travis Green. Zack is coming off of a four-point outing before getting called up. There is no guarantee he plays tonight but Markus Granlund or Loui Eriksson would be great players to sub out.
If he does play, give him the Horvat line spot. Put scorers with scorers.
Jacob Markstrom will look to pick up where he left off on Saturday with yet another consecutive start. Markstrom has been lights out since December and as much as Pettersson has been the shining light for this team if Markstrom isn’t nearly perfect, the Canucks are playing for Jack Hughes.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 71.4#91 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 76.1#46 C |  JOSH LEIVO Rating: 74.0#42 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 73.83#29 FL1 |
 NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 70.6#100 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 78.9#28 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 82.2#4 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.23#4 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 72.5#70 LW |  BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 71.5#132 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 72.2#74 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.06#19 FL3 |
 LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 71.1#100 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.6#190 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 69.5#114 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.40#30 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.7#71 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 68.7#105 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 70.23#31 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 72.1#72 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 73.5#41 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.81#20 DL2 |
 DERRICK POULIOT Rating: 70.5#103 LD |  ALEX BIEGA Rating: 71.2#83 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 70.85#23 DL3 |
Erik Karlsson has missed the Sharks last seven games but could be a game-time decision tonight. He’s got a lower-body issue.
Aaron Dell is usually San Jose’s go-to against the Canucks. Why you ask? He’s 5-0 with a .946 SV% and a 1.59 GAA… for starters. Add to that two shutouts, he’s a lock if there ever was one.
Sharks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 TIMO MEIER Rating: 77.4#21 LW |  LOGAN COUTURE Rating: 80.1#23 C |  JOE PAVELSKI Rating: 80.9#8 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 79.46#12 FL1 |
 EVANDER KANE Rating: 78.8#13 LW |  TOMAS HERTL Rating: 79.5#24 C |  JOONAS DONSKOI Rating: 73.8#51 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.36#2 FL2 |
 MARCUS SORENSEN Rating: 72.3#74 LW |  JOE THORNTON Rating: 74.5#58 C |  KEVIN LABANC Rating: 73.2#61 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 73.32#4 FL3 |
 BARCLAY GOODROW Rating: 70.6#107 LW |  DYLAN GAMBRELL Rating: 73.0#85 C |  MELKER KARLSSON Rating: 70.1#103 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.23#11 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 RADIM SIMEK Rating: 73.1#56 LD |  BRENT BURNS Rating: 84.6#2 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 78.84#5 DL1 |
 MARC-EDOUARD VLASIC Rating: 74.4#32 LD |  TIM HEED Rating: 74.9#29 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 74.63#8 DL2 |
 BRENDEN DILLON Rating: 72.9#60 LD |  JUSTIN BRAUN Rating: 72.0#64 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.46#9 DL3 |
YOUR INFORMATION NEEDS FOR TONIGHT’S GAME
- Aaron Dell (no relation to the movie) isn’t the only Shark goaltender that has destroyed the Canucks in his last six starts; Martin Jones is 5-0-1 in that time sharing five wins with Connor Helebuyck, Jake Allen, Cam Talbot (actually), and his battery-mate Dell. Carey Price is the only goaltender to claim six victories against the Canucks in his last six starts. I predict a Canucks win below. Refer back to this stat if I’m horribly wrong.
- Kevin LaBanc scored a hat-trick against the Oilers on the weekend. The last Canuck named Kevin to score a hat-trick was no one. No one named Kevin has ever scored a hat-trick but Ryan Kesler scored three in 2010-11. Kevin Bieksa has never scored a hat-trick for Vancouver but he had a Gordie Howe hat-trick against the Sharks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final in 2011. He would later score an iconic stanchion goal to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final a few games later.
- Jake Virtanen is at 12 goals on the season. He’ll need a rush to end the year if he wants to hit 20. There are options for Travis Green to increase Virtanen’s goal totals but Brandon Sutter isn’t even remotely close on that list. Virtanen has 2G / 2A in nine career games against the Sharks.
- Brock Boeser has points in eight of his last ten games, five goals and five assists in that time if anyone is curious. Boeser looked like he was snake bitten much like Bo Horvat has been but the points just keep on coming. Pettersson and Boeser have been on fire lately and if given a bit of space, it will happen again tonight.
- Josh Leivo is getting praise this week after a couple of big games but before the goal in Chicago, Leivo had 1G in 13 games. Players get hot streaks going and right now, this is one the Canucks need to harness and emulate. San Jose will be a tough team to get results against. Let’s see what he can do.
MY 94 CENTS
San Jose is the next team to carry a win streak into a game against the Canucks. Chicago succeeded in their attempt and the Sharks are well positioned to do the same. IF, MacEwen gets into the game tonight, I give the Canucks the edge. I also think the power play is beyond due to explode. There’s no way Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser can’t single handedly turn around this sad sack unit.
I’m feeling good things about this game. I shouldn’t be.
THE TWITTER TAKE
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