CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 42 – CANUCKS @ FLAMES
By Always90four
7 years ago
Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin – USA TODAY Sports
Holiday Cheers! Holiday Savings!
These guys, again?
It’s the Canucks turn to go on the road and give the Flames the home ice advantage business in a different barn other than Rogers Arena. Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first: Vancouver can extend their win streak to seven this evening by beating the Flames in any fashion.
Things are starting to click everywhere for the Canucks, and there may be some sort of renaissance happening where this team gets “officially” good. Injuries, however, are creeping up on Vancouver and it could spell the end of the Cinderella run.
Canucks/Flames, round two… TONIGHT!
BROADCAST INFO
TV: CBC (HNIC)
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 7:00 PM
LINE COMBOS
Obviously, the worst has happened: Chris Tanev is injured. He didn’t fly with the Canucks to Calgary, and I doubt there are may departures to Calgary midday. He’s most likely a scratch so look for Alex Biega to potentially get the nod. Alex Burrows is not Michael Jordan and will not have a “flu game” so again, Keyzer Soze Anton Rodin will get to keep his spot for another day. If Burrows miraculously gets better, then he’ll play. Did I really need to state that, though?
Jacob Markstrom will start as Ryan Miller used the rest of his weekly all-world talent last night keeping the Canucks in the game.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |  Henrik Sedin |  Jayson Megna |
 Loui Eriksson |  Brandon Sutter |  Markus Granlund |
 Sven Baertschi |  Bo Horvat |  Anton Rodin |
 Brendan Gaunce |  Michael Chaput |  Jack Skille |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Edler |  Troy Stecher |
 Luca Sbisa |  Chris Tanev |
 Ben Hutton |  Nikita Tryamkin |
Not much to change here except for the goalie, I guess. Should be a very similar if not the same lineup tonight.
Chad Johnson will get his chance to try and beat the Canucks after Brian Elliott could not do such things.
Calgary Flames lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Johnny Gaudreau |  Sean Monahan |  Alex Chiasson |
 Matthew Tkachuk |  Mikael Backlund |  Michael Frolik |
 Kris Versteeg |  Sam Bennett |  Micheal Ferland |
 Lance Bouma |  Matt Stajan |  Freddie Hamilton |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Mark Giordano |  Dougie Hamilton |
 T.J. Brodie |  Dennis Wideman |
 Tyler Wotherspoon |  Deryk Engelland |
GAME NOTES, STATS AND INTERESTING INFO
- Thankfully, I am not the Canucks GM, and I do not run this team in any capacity, or I may have claimed Ty Rattie over the unbeatable Markus Granlund. At 17 points on the campaign, Granlund is closing in on Jannik Hansen territory. He’s being overlooked, and potting goals left, right, and centre. Nevermind, pretty much just left and right; centre came well before Christmas, BUT he did look pretty good yesterday.
- No Chris Tanev. Everyone, I think the streak is in jeopardy.
- It’s possible the Canucks go down a goal early again tonight but are you even worried anymore? With help from Canuck’s stat guru, Jeff Paterson, the Canucks are now 11-14-2 when letting in the first goal. Decent odds this season.
- Winning is great and all but if the Canucks put up a performance like they did last night, Jacob Markstrom might get nominated for a Vezina based off of one game. It was sloppy and even in a terrible division; that won’t win games for long.
- Everyone was so giddy for the #HotdogHorvat thing, but on HNIC, Troy Stecher is due for a big coming out game. His shot is getting him noticed by the Canucks faithful, but I could see him notching a two goal performance based on a strong PP showing. Stecher hasn’t logged an official shot on goal since Dec 31, so you could say he’s due.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
I say yes to this all day.
MY SCORCHING HOT TAKE
Being winners of six straight games is great and all but who have the Canucks really beat? The bottom half of the Western Conference isn’t exactly something to write home about so piling up the wins against bottom feeders isn’t the most amazing feat. Tertiary scoring has risen out of nowhere and is now challenging the leaders of the Canucks.
Do not buy in, do not buy in, do not buy in, do not …
Take #2 – Canucks win the division. I win the Internet.
CAN THE CANUCKS BE STOPPED?
Yes, but after last night’s owning of the Flames there is a decent chance it doesn’t happen tonight. Let’s be serious people; the Columbus Blue Jackets won 16 straight. I’d say anything is possible this year.
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