CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 36 – CANUCKS VS. KINGS
By Always90four
7 years ago
The Christmas break is over and your Vancouver Canucks welcome their good buddies, the Los Angeles Kings, to Rogers Arena. The Kings beat the Canucks in a shootout back in October and a lot has changed since then. Well, not really.
There are injuries yet again to key Canucks players and the talk will lean towards who the Sedins will be playing with for the next month or so; might be a good time to put Loui Eriksson back there?
I sure hope Santa brought Willie Desjardins some sense to ice better line combinations because I felt like a lump of coal was coming before the break.
Let’s play some hockey!
BROADCAST INFO
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 7:00 PM
LINE COMBOS
So, as you’ve heard, Jannik Hansen is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury he sustained against the Jets. It was good while it lasted I suppose. The defence has a bit of a new look, Alex Edler and Troy Stecher, Luca Sbisa and Chris Tanev followed by Nikita Tryamkin and Ben Hutton. These most likely are your pairings for tonight.
It’s early but unless he ISN’T the number one anymore, Ryan Miller will start this evening.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |  Henrik Sedin |  Jannik Hansen |
 Loui Eriksson |  Brandon Sutter |  Markus Granlund |
 Sven Baertschi |  Bo Horvat |  Alexandre Burrows |
 Jack Skille |  Michael Chaput |  Jayson Megna |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Ben Hutton |  Chris Tanev |
 Luca Sbisa |  Troy Stecher |
 Nikita Tryamkin |  Alex Biega |
Well, Tyler Toffoli isn’t playings so right there that makes everyone’s day. Some new line combinations have graced the Kings lineup with Anze Kopitar, Marion Gaborik and almost Canuck Dustin Brown getting top billing.
Peter Budaj should get the start.
Los Angeles Kings lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Marian Gaborik |  Anze Kopitar |  Dustin Brown |
 Tanner Pearson |  Jeff Carter |  Devin Setoguchi |
 Dwight King |  Nic Dowd |  Trevor Lewis |
 Kyle Clifford |  Andy Andreoff |  Nick Shore |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Derek Forbort |  Drew Doughty |
 Jake Muzzin |  Alec Martinez |
 Kevin Gravel |  Matt Greene |
GAME NOTES, STATS AND OTHER INTERESTING INFO
- 35 games in, the Sedins still lead the Canucks in points. Bo Horvat is one back at 21 and for all the hate we spew at Brandon Sutter, he’s right at their heels as well with 18. It’s a sad sack bunch but it could be worse, it really could be.
- Nikita Tryamkin scored his first of the season against the Flames and I don’t know if he’ll be given another opportunity to do it again. If anyone from Canucks Army, say, Jeff Paterson, were able to get a full sit down with him, maybe we could ask why. The language barrier has to be frustrating but the language of hockey can do plenty of talking. He’s getting better and with some fine tuning, could be a great player.
- Jack Skille had a nice little run there but has fizzled in his last 5 games. With only an assist coming in the Calgary game he has gone back to obscurity. He did make this team on a PTO so this shouldn’t be a big deal. The flip side to this is that the Canucks are terrible and I’m writing about how Jack Skille needs to step up. Uh, ya, how about the other 3 lines ahead of him first?
- Troy Stecher has the 3rd most registered shots on the team as of today. Daniel Sedin leads the team with 93 and Brandon Sutter has 77. Pretty amazing the rookie has made this team his own. Troy Stecher is on the road to stardom and it’s funny, but I still don’t think he has received enough credit. With Stecher out, this Canucks team will crumble a lot quicker.
- Vancouver is 7 points back of LA for the final playoff spot. I say this because they are stubborn enough to fight for that chance. It’s not exactly the biggest game of the season but 2 points now will help them get blown out in the first round. That might have been the most cryptic backhanded compliment.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Oh joy, the Canucks get the first exclusive look…
MY TAKE
A Canucks/Kings matchup has the potential for fireworks but it could also end up being a real dud. With Hansen gone for awhile, the Canucks really need to address the top line as well as how Eriksson will get to 20 goals (let’s forget 30). Canucks win this one but it won’t be pretty.
ARE THE CANUCKS CAPABLE OF ANOTHER 4-1 GAME?
I think the worst is over in that regard, but don’t count them out yet. I suppose Vancouver is due for a 4 goal game so who knows?
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