CANUCKS ARMY GDT 44 – CANUCKS @ BLUE JACKETS
By Always90four
6 years agoWinning cures everything and the Vancouver Canucks can boost their stock with a W over the Columbus Blue Jackets who one night ago had quite the duel against the Buffalo Sabres. Artemi Panarin tore through the Sabres in a losing cause and will have to refill the tank back to 100% if he wants to do the same thing against the Canucks. Vancouver hasn’t looked good against… well anyone lately and a win against one of the top teams in the East would be a massive feather for a team that is struggling to do almost everything.
Things hopefully are starting to turn around and it all has to start somewhere.
Let’s Do This!™
WATCH / LISTEN / FACE-OFF
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: SN650
PUCK DROP: 4:00 PM
LINE COMBINATIONS
Brandon Sutter, he of injuries, skated yesterday with the team and will continue practicing with the group with the goal being Sunday’s game against the Wild. Chris Tanev is back and more aerodynamic with 6.5 fewer teeth in his mouth after the puck managed to dislodge them against the Leafs. No Bo Horvat yet which is probably a good thing right now. Could Bo actually save this run? Probably not.
Line one stays untouched… for now. Everything else looks the same but again it’s almost like a line blender is being plugged in. Is the frappe far away?
Jacob Markstrom is working his way to being the number one guy and this stretch of losses doesn’t help anyone’s case. There isn’t a clear-cut “guy” right now so until he’s not, he’s the “guy”.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 THOMAS VANEK |  SAM GAGNER |  BROCK BOESER |
 DANIEL SEDIN |  HENRIK SEDIN |  MARKUS GRANLUND |
 SVEN BAERTSCHI |  BRENDAN GAUNCE |  NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN |
 LOUI ERIKSSON |  NIC DOWD |  JAKE VIRTANEN |
With the quick turnaround don’t expect to see a different lineup from last night’s game. Artemi Panarin was a one-man army and if he can destroy the Buffalo Sabres singlehandedly, the Canucks could be in for some trouble. Pierre-Luc Dubois is also a familiar face, a player many thought would be a Canuck at the draft, and low and behold he’s on the top line. Just saying.
Sergei Bobrovsky played in a losing effort last night and it’s possible he gets the double billing but Joonas Korpisalo should start today.
Columbus Blue Jackets lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 ARTEMI PANARIN |  PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS |  JOSH ANDERSON |
 BOONE JENNER |  ALEXANDER WENNBERG |  NICK FOLIGNO |
 MATT CALVERT |  LUKAS SEDLAK |  OLIVER BJORKSTRAND |
 TYLER MOTTE |  JORDAN SCHROEDER |  MARKUS HANNIKAINEN |
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- The Jay Z Theory – “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t”; a lyric spoken by the legendary Jay Z that was clearly written for Canucks slumping winger Loui Eriksson. In eight career games vs. the Blue Jackets, Eriksson has four goals and two assists and has amassed 16 shots over that period. Everything has been going against Loui in the last while, he hasn’t been relevant since November but tonight, tonight is the return of King Loui (sorry that was the Jungle Book), tonight is the third-coming of Loui Eriksson.
- Jake Virtanen is the 3rd best possession player on the Canucks this season. He has four goals and four assists to go with that and maybe this sounds crazy but Travis Green needs to get Jake on the ice more. He isn’t changing the game by any means, but in a game like tonight let Jake run wild. Ben Hutton was given green light against Washington and as of right now, no one is scared of the Canucks. #freeJake
- Gagner 150 – With his next goal, Sam Gagner will have 150 career goals and if it happens to be on the PP, it will be Sam’s 50th career PPG. Having only played one season with the Blue Jackets, Gagner had success and it would be great to see him show why it was a mistake to not re-sign him.
- Watching the games hasn’t been all that rewarding lately and the losses don’t help either. What is promising is the Canucks power play: in the last 10 games, Vancouver boasts a surprising 25.8% clip going 8/31 on the man-advantage. Believe you me, you can’t make that up. Columbus has a 69.2% kill rate in their last 10 games. Vancouver has to take advantage.
- Vancouver has averaged 2.58 goals/GP this season with a good chunk of that stat coming when they were healthy. Regardless, the Canucks are due for some goals.
THE TWITTER TAKE
Are we ready for this?
MY 94 CENTS
Ok, so the Canucks have some ridiculous problems right now and it really doesn’t seem to matter if they’re injured or healthy, the funk remains. The promise of All star-elect Brock Boeser each and every game has carried us all through these dark times. But, as dark as things have been the silver lining is always possible. I believe in the Canucks tonight and surprise, surprise I say that all the time but as you’ll see below, anything is possible.
Never forget.
OVER / UNDER
Combo time! Chris Tanev/Ben Hutton highlight reel goal (+/- 0.5) Take the over. Either of these guys will make something amazing happen tonight and CBJ back-to-back be damned, it will be a hard-earned goal to boot!
The Cannon (+/- 2) If the last meeting between these two teams is any indication, it’s go time for the Vancouver Canucks. A random 3-0 win against the Blue Jackets last season was a tiny brought spot in an otherwise awful season. Oh, and Ryan Miller was still the goaltender back then. Go under, go way under. Take the zero.
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