CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 47 – CANUCKS VS. PANTHERS
By Always90four
7 years ago
In the words of Steve Harvey, host of Family Feud, “We got a good one today”. The Florida Panthers have arrived to face your Vancouver Canucks for a marquee matchup. Every time the Panthers come to town it seems to be a big deal: From the first time Pavel Bure came back, to Todd Bertuzzi’s return, Luongo and now Jared McCann. Add to all of this, the potential for Henrik Sedin to hit 1000 points and this one is loaded with fireworks.
Definitely more fun than the days of Scott Mellanby and Brian Skrudland.
LINE COMBOS
Jordan Subban was recalled yesterday. Doubt he plays but one more storyline wouldn’t hurt. I suppose if they start trotting Nikita Tryamkin in the traffic on the PP, that would also be worth noting. I do not coach for the Canucks so this is classified as of now.
Ryan Miller is playing out of his mind right now so he definitely starts.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |  Henrik Sedin |  Loui Eriksson |
 Sven Baertschi |  Bo Horvat |  Alexandre Burrows |
 Markus Granlund |  Brandon Sutter |  Jayson Megna |
 Brendan Gaunce |  Michael Chaput |  Jack Skille |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Edler |  Troy Stecher |
 Luca Sbisa |  Chris Tanev |
 Nikita Tryamkin |  Alex Biega |
Somehow, Jared McCann is on Florida’s TOP line with Jaromir Jagr and Vincent Trocheck. Whoever had that lottery ticket has done well. Seth Griffith is on waivers so by puck drop he could be a Canuck, I suppose.
Unless John Tortorella is coaching, Roberto Luongo (my fave BTW) will be in net for the Panthers. Honestly, why did Torts have to ruin a good thing?
Florida Panthers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Jared McCann |  Vincent Trocheck |  Jaromir Jagr |
 Jonathan Marchessault |  Jussi Jokinen |  Reilly Smith |
 Derek MacKenzie |  Michael Sgarbossa |  Colton Sceviour |
 Shawn Thornton |  Greg McKegg |  Paul Thompson |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Keith Yandle |  Mark Pysyk |
 Michael Matheson |  Jason Demers |
 Jakub Kindl |  Aaron Ekblad |
GAME NOTES, STATS AND OTHER INTERESTING INFO
- The Panthers have lost both of their Western Canada road games and somehow the Canucks are sitting in a position to get back into the official playoff race if they can cap this game off. It’s possible as the Canucks have stolen points in their last 4 games (including the Nashville game). I don’t get it either but stats are stats.
- Henrik Sedin, in case you haven’t heard, is trying to get his 1000th point tonight. In his last 3 games, he has notched one point. I don’t have an algorithm or a pie chart or even a good enough reason to say why he’ll get it tonight, he just will. He just will. This is how the story goes. A week from now he’ll have zero points in 3 games but that’ll be ok.
- Since the 2014 season, the Canucks have split the season series with the Panthers, both teams getting their win at home. I’m not about to go against history so it looks like the Canucks are in line for a W tonight.
- Jared McCann is good? 6 points on the season for the Panthers and magically he’s on the top line. Jared has to have Jayson Megna on the text because Megna has spilled some kind of secret to get irrelevant players on the top line.
- Nikita Tryamkin has arrived. His hit compilation against Nashville could only be rivaled by the greatest album of all time, Big Shiny Tunes 2. It’s taken a bit but Nikita just might be a huge asset to the Canucks going forward. In case you missed those nasty, nasty hits, the Internet has my back:
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Oh right, I guessThomas Drance is in town. Heard he has a new gig.
MY TAKE
With a handful of storylines going into tonight’s game, it’s tough to pinpoint just one headline. The way the Canucks have been playing, 2 points are definitely possible and quite frankly the only headline that matters is Henrik Sedin getting his 1000th point and if he gets it against Luongo, well it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Friday night feels like a win.
BIGGER DEAL: HENRIK GETTING 1000TH POINT VS. LUONGO OR JARED MCCANN’S 6 POINTS SO FAR?
Has to be Hank getting that big point. He has made so many memories in Vancouver and with an MVP in tow already as well as the Art Ross, Henrik hitting 1000 points is huge! You have to think Luongo might give him a silver goalie stick or something. He’s classy like that.
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