CANUCKSARMY GDT 10 – CANUCKS VS. CAPITALS
By Always90four
6 years agoThe Canucks return home to face the ever-popular Washington Capitals and some guy named Alex Ovechkin. The road trip was a big success regardless of who they played, and players like Jake Virtanen and Derek Dorsett have made the Canucks a more physical team that opposing clubs will have to respect a bit more. This will be the Capitals only game at Rogers Arena this season and it no doubt will be a big draw for fans.
Washington is playing .500 hockey to start the year, so if the Canucks play a solid game, they might have a shot to pull an upset.
Let’s do this!
WATCH / LISTEN / PUCK-DROP
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: SN650
PUCK DROP: 7:00 PM
LINE COMBINATIONS
Jake Virtanen has found a home with the Sedins on the *top line for the Canucks, and he’s making the most of his opportunity. The Triple B line (you know who they are) will get their first real test against one of the elite teams in the NHL. Same can be said for Derek Dorsett, Brandon Sutter, and Markus Granlund. Shutting down Alex Ovechkin will be no easy task.
If Sam Gagner doesn’t start putting something together, where does his immediate future lie? Is Nikolay Goldobin a call-up then?
Jacob Markstrom could start, but honestly, what do I know?
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 DANIEL SEDIN |  HENRIK SEDIN |  JAKE VIRTANEN |
 SVEN BAERTSCHI |  BO HORVAT |  BROCK BOESER |
 SAM GAGNER |  ALEX BURMISTROV |  THOMAS VANEK |
 MARKUS GRANLUND |  BRANDON SUTTER |  DEREK DORSETT |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO |  CHRIS TANEV |
 BEN HUTTON |  ERIK GUDBRANSON |
 DERRICK POULIOT |  ALEX BIEGA |
Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, and Tyler Graovac are all out for the Capitals. Chandler Stephenson has been recalled from Hershey. Former Kelowna Rocket (you knew this was coming) Madison Bowey will play his first ever game against the Vancouver Canucks. He’s a QB on the power play, and you’ll be hearing his name soon enough.
Brayden Holtby will test his luck against the powerhouse Canucks squad.
Washington Capitals lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 ALEX OVECHKIN |  EVGENY KUZNETSOV |  ALEX CHIASSON |
 TOM WILSON |  NICKLAS BACKSTROM |  T.J. OSHIE |
 BRETT CONNOLLY |  LARS ELLER |  JAKUB VRANA |
 NATHAN WALKER |  JAY BEAGLE |  DEVANTE SMITH-PELLY |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 CHRISTIAN DJOOS |  JOHN CARLSON |
 BROOKS ORPIK |  MADISON BOWEY |
 DMITRI ORLOV |  TAYLOR CHORNEY |
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- Canucks special teams have been a talking point lately and tonight will be no different. In the last three meetings between these two teams, the Canucks are 3/11 with the man-advantage for a tidy 27.3% Look for Travis Green to take some chances if they go a man up.
- Brock Boeser is currently in a one-game point slump, but the bigger news is that he hasn’t scored a goal since the first game of the Eastern road trip. Brock has had opportunities to score, but a team like the Capitals could bring out the best in him.
- It’s game ten, and the Sedins still lead the Canucks in CF% at five-on-five. Henrik with 58.97 and Daniel with 57.89, these guys are still quite valuable when they step on the ice. Feel like this has been said already, but they are.
- Capitals centres Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov both have 12 points going into this game with Alex Ovechkin a point behind with 11. Keep on eye on these guys if you can, but the bigger thing to watch is how often defensemen like Michael Del Zotto and Erik Gudbranson get burned.
- An ailing defence might start to catch up to the Canucks, but for Ben Hutton, he needs to get back to the things that made him a star just over a year ago. Hutton is 2nd last in P/60 with 0.3 on the Canucks this season with only one assist to his name. Green is going to need his back end to step up if they are going to weather the storm early.
THE TWITTER TAKE
MY 94 CENTS
The Canucks haven’t beat the Capitals at home since 2014 which isn’t really that long considering they only play here once a year but getting a W over the Caps is a big deal for this team and will give the Canucks the test they need to find out where they stand early on. I expect it to be a bit faster than the game in Minnesota and hopefully a few more goals all around.
Did I mention Madison Bowey is playing for the Caps? He’s good.
OVER / UNDER
Ovechkin assists (+/- 1) Take the under, he’s getting shutout tonight
Virtanen bone crushing, hilite reel hits (+/- 0) Take… the… over
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