CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 38 – CANUCKS VS. KINGS

8 years ago

It’s the rubber match between the Canucks and Kings and its a battle royale of stars….wait what? They still have two more games after this? And Luca Sbisa is STILL out? Aw heck no, that ain’t right! OK, let’s start over…Its Canucks/Kings III, the REAL King Henrik is back, Nucks are on a 2 game win streak and we like Sven Baertschi??? WHAAAAT? Aw yeaaah, this game’s gonna be a barn burner.

BROADCAST INFO

TV: SNET-P

RADIO: TSN 1040

PUCK DROP: 7 PM

LINE COMBOS

Catch the deets above, Henrik is back and if things go his way, he’ll sit this game…like on the bench, trust me its a good thing. Alex Burrows was out with some neck stiffness last game but he’s back to be a wait for it, Burr, in the Kings’ side. Andrey Pedan is still Canuckin and Ashton Sautner has been called up, my guess is he plays. Oh and Chris Higgins is ABSolutely back in the lineup. The bottom line is this: Cracknell between Prust and Dorsett

Jacob Markstrom is starting and it feels so goooood.

Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Jannik Hansen
Chris Higgins	Jared McCann	Alexandre Burrows
Sven Baertschi	Bo Horvat	Radim Vrbata
Brandon Prust	Adam Cracknell	Derek Dorsett

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Chris Tanev
Matt Bartkowski	Alex Biega
Ben Hutton	Yannick Weber

Jeff Carter is not playing tonight and if you know the Kings and their twitter followers, that means no That 70’s line; times are tough. Future Canuck Milan Lucic will be on the big line with Kopitar aka scary alien and Tyler “I’m incredibly good at being a cheap shot artist” Toffolli. Jake Muzzin is trying to get his suspension overturned but he’s an LA King and there’s a good chance he’s guilty of more than shoulder checking (see Jarrett Stoll, Mike Richards).

Jonathan Quick and his short fuse and stature will be starting in net, finishing? Not entirely sure there.

Los Angeles Kings lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW
Milan Lucic	Anze Kopitar	Tyler Toffoli
Tanner Pearson	Nick Shore	Marian Gaborik
Trevor Lewis	Andy Andreoff	Dustin Brown
Michael Mersch	Jordan Weal	Jordan Nolan

Defensive Pairings
Brayden McNabb	Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin	Alec Martinez
Christian Ehrhoff	Jamie McBain

REASONS TO WATCH THE CANUCKS DO HOCKEY

We all still hate the Kings and they deserve the worst possible fate. They embarrassed us Canuck fans even after we all openly admitted the Canucks weren’t good enough in 2012. They will pay.
Surprisingly enough, lacking any kind of depth whatsoever up and down the lineup is working for the Canucks. This little win streak has been impressive. Andrey Pedan didn’t screw up, the Sedin line is still all that and even 2 goals seems to be winning games. Imagine what they are capable of with a full roster…oh right, not as much.
Jannik Hansen. He doesn’t score on breakaways, crossbars are no match for his face and he’s 2nd on the Canucks in goals. You read that right sports fans, 2nd in goals. The Sedins truly make anyone into a star and we all remember having our own trade package to send Hansen away last season and for a few of you, the season before. But what if the Sedins break down? Will Jannik fade into nothing? Too big a question, he’s good and I expect his awesomeness to continue against the lame sauce Kings.
Mega important stat according to me – The SvBoVrbata (kinda like Svoboda) line since Dec 1 has a combined 5v5 CF% of 59.4 (individually they are tire fires) and a PDO of 102.4. This line is so due to be amazing and it feels like the doors are just about to blow of this car. Speed seems to be working, the chemistry is there but man its frustrating seeing these guys ALMOST seal it.
Not to poo poo this hype train but is it just me or is Adam Cracknell the ONLY guy doing anything on that 4th line? Last game was pretty awful. ~~Cracks~~ (sorry, sensitive Kings fans) Cracknell is out there making stuff happen and Dorsett is just a passenger. Prust is getting by but I seriously could see a trade involving one or both of these guys for picks and letting Grenier and Gaunce get called up.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Does anyone?

MY TAKE

I’ve noticed that the games I call losses, we win; the wins, losses. Not sure how to gauge this one because the Canucks are playing kinda good but the Kings are in the midst of a W, L, L, W, L, L, W streak and L is the next letter up. Quick can steal a game but something tells me the Canucks are learning hockey lesson things so I’m going Canucks. Probably OT but that’s no shocker.

WHAT’D I MISS?

The Canucks are in a playoff spot today. The playoffs don’t start today. Auston Matthews also isn’t being drafted by anyone today, let’s just take a breather.