Canucks Army Game Day 80 – Canucks Vs. Sharks (Home Finale Edition)
By Always90four
5 years ago THE INTRO
It’s the final home game of the 2018/19 season for your Vancouver Canucks. It had its ups and downs but overall the team is in the same place. The 50/50 will be in the 100s of thousands, Quinn Hughes will score his first to end the year and so will Elias Pettersson. The Sharks are in town and they always give the Canucks fits; tonight shouldn’t be any different.
Knowing the Canucks, though, expect the unexpected.
Let’s Do This!™
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN +130 / SJS -150) courtesy of OddsShark
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM
LINEUPS
Jake Virtanen skated on his own on Monday and is day-to-day. Tyler Motte is most likely done for the year. Based on practice, Teves, Pouliot, Sautner, and Goldobin will all be scratches.
The Canucks would be smart to put Thatcher Demko in tonight, get Jacob Markstrom his 60th start next game and then follow up with one more for Demko to end the season.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 TANNER PEARSON Rating: 74.2#45 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 78.0#29 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 72.3#76 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 74.82#28 FL1 |
 SVEN BAERTSCHI Rating: 73.5#53 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 77.8#31 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 81.1#5 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 77.43#3 FL2 |
 RYAN SPOONER Rating: 70.9#141 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.0#164 C |  JOSH LEIVO Rating: 73.9#47 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.60#21 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 70.4#114 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.9#192 C |  MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 70.9#142 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.74#30 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 77.6#11 LD |  ALEX BIEGA Rating: 71.7#74 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 74.64#16 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 71.0#107 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 73.7#41 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.37#24 DL2 |
 QUINN HUGHES |  LUKE SCHENN Rating: 68.9#101 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 68.86#30 DL3 |
Will Erik Karlsson return to the Sharks for tonight’s game? Maybe. He was hoping to get game action before the playoffs started and a game against the Canucks would be a cake walk. Radim Simek had season-ending ACL and MCL surgery. Ouch! Also, Joe Pavelski has a mysterious injury and won’t play tonight.
Pick your poison: Martin Jones or Aaron Dell to start. They both have stellar records against the Canucks so there isn’t a choice that’s incorrect. My pick is Aaron Dell. Rest Jones for the playoffs.
Sharks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 TIMO MEIER Rating: 77.9#21 LW |  LOGAN COUTURE Rating: 80.7#16 C |  GUSTAV NYQUIST Rating: 74.7#40 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 77.76#15 FL1 |
 EVANDER KANE Rating: 77.7#22 LW |  TOMAS HERTL Rating: 79.1#24 C |  LUKAS RADIL Rating: 72.7#64 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 76.52#9 FL2 |
 MARCUS SORENSEN Rating: 73.5#52 LW |  JOE THORNTON Rating: 75.3#50 C |  KEVIN LABANC Rating: 74.7#41 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 74.51#3 FL3 |
 MELKER KARLSSON Rating: 71.1#99 LW |  BARCLAY GOODROW Rating: 71.5#94 C |  JOONAS DONSKOI Rating: 73.7#48 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 72.11#5 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MARC-EDOUARD VLASIC Rating: 75.8#23 LD |  BRENT BURNS Rating: 83.4#2 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 79.61#2 DL1 |
 BRENDEN DILLON Rating: 72.3#75 LD |  JUSTIN BRAUN Rating: 71.8#70 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.07#25 DL2 |
 JOAKIM RYAN Rating: 71.5#94 LD |  TIM HEED Rating: 75.8#26 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 73.64#3 DL3 |
YOUR INFORMATIONAL NEEDS FOR TONIGHT’S GAME
- Luke Schenn is 18 hits away from being tied for 8th on the team this season. He has three games to go and will undoubtedly make it. His sample size is small but he has a 4.7 Hits/GP ratio. Schenn isn’t all about the hits, though, he’s more than a one-dimensional battering ram. Luke Schenn gives Quinn Hughes freedom to roam which Erik Gudbranson would not have allowed (and you thought I was done with him). Schenn is going to lock down a new deal in Vancouver and it’s quite the story.
- Do you hate seeing guys like Tanner Pearson and Markus Granlund in the shootout? You do, it was a leading question. See how I didn’t ask if you liked the shootout? This isn’t that kind of deal. If the Canucks get to the shootout again this season, as soon as tonight possibly, Markus Granlund (37.5%), Josh Leivo/Elias Pettersson (33.3%), Tanner Pearson/Brock Boeser (25.0%) are the leading shooters for the Canucks in the bonus round this season. Not a lot of flash, aside from Pettersson, but they connect. Believe or not, Granlund has won the shootout twice this season. GRANLUND!
- The Sharks have held this current group of Canucks off the scoresheet for the most part and if you had to put your money on someone it would be the future Captain, Bo Horvat. Bo has six goals in 21 games, the sole leader of the current Canucks. Markus Granlund has three in 13 games and Brock Boeser has three goals in eight games. It gets pretty grim after that.
- Vancouver’s power-play has seen some new looks but it’s still the same old thing. Since the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Bo Horvat has been the hero 20 times with the man-advantage. Brock Boeser is right behind him with 18 goals and if he didn’t have to sit for the first two games last season or have to wait to get on the power-play in the first place, he may very well lead that category. What the Canucks need is a new approach next season. They had a few games to start where the puck moved freely and quickly and it resulted in goals. That needs to happen again.
- Jay Beagle is about to finish a season he will have wished had a different story. The injuries didn’t help but his Corsi doesn’t help either. Of the 762 players that have played at least 200 minutes at 5v5 this season, his 40.18 CF% is 12th-worst in the NHL. He’s on a shutdown line so his stats won’t look pretty to begin with but that’s pretty bad. The Canucks need a healthy Beagle next season because he’s costing them more than just dollars.
MY 94 CENTS
Thankfully this isn’t the last Canucks game of the season. As much as this team destroys my patience and belief in a better reality on the ice, I will miss this group. There will be big changes this offseason and there’s a remote chance Alex Edler isn’t a Canuck anymore. A very remote chance, but still.
Tonight’s game won’t exactly mimic the one played a year ago when the Sedins called it a career but it will have some fireworks, don’t you worry.
I predict a win as well as the goals from the heroes above.
THE TWITTER TAKE
This has ZERO to do with the Canucks but when you look at that team, a team that has two 100-point players, that misses the playoffs and will still have a chance at being worse than the Canucks, you have to wonder: “Are the Canucks really that bad?” Yes they are, but not as bad as the Oilers.
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