Canucks Army Game Day 61 – Canucks Vs. Coyotes (Who Wants Playoffs? Edition)
By Always90four
5 years agoTHE INTRO
The Canucks have been off since the weekend and a lot has transpired since then. Ryan Spooner is now a Canuck and gets the duty of playing alongside Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson. Ashton Sautner will see his first game of the season and like so many seasons prior, Vancouver has a mish-mash that they’ll have to make do with until possibly the end of the season.
Arizona is in the middle of the win, loss, win, loss pattern and tonight would be “loss” night. The Coyotes are tied with the Canucks with 59 points and one of them will be inside the playoff line after the evening is over.
Every game is a playoff game now, every game is the most important game of the season. Will the Canucks treat them all that way? Time to find out.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM
LINEUPS
Ryan Spooner has something special to offer apparently because Travis Green has him with the top two scorers on the team. Tough task. Tyler Motte saw line duty in practice with Bo Horvat and Zack MacEwen is still patrolling the fourth line. Defense is getting thinner and thinner and Ashton Sautner will make his season debut as Alex Edler and Chris Tanev are both still out with injuries.
Jacob Markstrom will once again be the starter.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 JOSH LEIVO Rating: 73.5#53 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 76.2#46 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 68.8#121 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 72.83#30 FL1 |
 RYAN SPOONER Rating: 70.0#159 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 79.4#24 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 81.9#4 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.12#7 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 72.0#84 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 73.4#79 C |  MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 71.3#87 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.24#18 FL3 |
 LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 70.8#111 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.2#183 C |  ZACK MACEWEN | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.00#31 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 71.4#94 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 73.1#50 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 72.23#27 DL1 |
 ASHTON SAUTNER Rating: 73.0#60 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 68.3#106 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 70.64#28 DL2 |
 DERRICK POULIOT Rating: 71.1#99 LD |  ALEX BIEGA Rating: 71.9#70 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.48#18 DL3 |
Arizona is loaded with injuries: Christian Dvorak (lower body) is in Tuscon for a reconditioning stint and has been out since training camp up until now, Jason Demers is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Antti Raanta is out (LBI) and also could be done for the year, Michael Grabner is still out with an eye injury, Nick Schmaltz (LBI) is done for the season as well, Kyle Capobianco has a torn ACL and (guess what?) is done for the year.
Richard Panik may play.
Darcy Kuemper should be the starter.
Coyotes lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 LAWSON CROUSE Rating: 69.6#127 LW |  DEREK STEPAN Rating: 74.0#63 C |  JOSH ARCHIBALD Rating: 70.3#105 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 71.29#31 FL1 |
 ALEX GALCHENYUK Rating: 75.0#51 LW |  NICK COUSINS Rating: 72.6#98 C |  CLAYTON KELLER Rating: 73.0#58 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 73.52#29 FL2 |
 MARIO KEMPE Rating: 70.2#116 LW |  BRAD RICHARDSON Rating: 71.2#136 C |  VINNIE HINOSTROZA Rating: 72.6#64 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.34#26 FL3 |
 CONOR GARLAND Rating: 74.4#44 LW |  JORDAN WEAL Rating: 71.0#142 C |  CHRISTIAN FISCHER Rating: 72.5#67 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.64#4 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON Rating: 76.4#19 LD |  NIKLAS HJALMARSSON Rating: 72.2#63 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 74.28#18 DL1 |
 ALEX GOLIGOSKI Rating: 73.7#41 LD |  JAKOB CHYCHRUN Rating: 73.1#57 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.41#14 DL2 |
 ILYA LYUBUSHKIN Rating: 71.9#81 LD |  JORDAN OESTERLE Rating: 73.4#42 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.68#10 DL3 |
YOUR INFORMATIONAL NEEDS FOR TONIGHT’S GAME
- Both teams are deadlocked at 59 points. Chicago and Colorado will be putting up a slugfest tomorrow night so the winner of tonight’s game will need to keep it going to try and pass the duo ahead of them and stay ahead. The West is a gong show and will very likely come down to the last day of the season.
- The Coyotes have scored 13 fewer goals than the Canucks this season so if you thought the Canucks were struggling, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Add to that the injuries on both teams and the band-aid lineups, this game could be 0-0 going into a shootout. Yikes!
- Vancouver has a staggering 10.9 PP% since January 1. Not good by many accounts. Arizona is slightly higher with a 17.2 rating. We’re doing our best to get you excited for this one but even the best run into a wall every now and then. Seriously, 10.9%? Maybe the playoffs are “not” what we want.
- Keeping with special teams, the Canucks do have 4th best PK unit since Jan 1 with a solid 87% kill rate. Oddly enough, they’ve been disciplined in 2019 having only been shorthanded 54 times.
- Elias Pettersson thrives on a heavy workload. He has amassed 8 goals and 6 assists in his 10 busiest games clocking over 21 minutes of ice time. Seems like a simple answer to a complicated problem. More Pettersson equals more goals.
MY 94 CENTS
The bad news just keeps mounting as the Canucks are now without Virtanen, Sutter, Edler, Tanev, Demko and the power play. The points won’t be coming any easier and the Coyotes are in the same position as the Canucks so don’t plan on anyone rolling over. Vancouver does have a few new toys but they might not be game breakers.
I don’t see the Canucks forcing the issue in this one but knowing their unpredictable ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a blowout.
THE TWITTER TAKE
Woof!
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