CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 5 – CANUCKS @ KINGS
By Always90four
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USA TODAY Sports: Gary Vasquez
Just when you think the Canucks are doing well, they find a way to raise the stakes even higher. Welcome to a world where the Canucks are 4-0.
The Canucks are in California for the weekend, double dipping in the south with matchups against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Tonight your Canucks look to stay undefeated as the folks down on South La Brea. The Kings, on the other hand, are headed in a much different direction than the Canucks, having just registered their first win on Thursday against the Dallas Stars.
The first matchup of the year against L.A is usually the one that sets the bar, so hopefully it lives up to the usual hype. Even though the teams are quite different than when the rivalry was heated back in 2010-ish, these are still valuable points in the Pacific division and none of these are gimmes.
Let’s keep this thing going!
BROADCAST INFO
TV: CBC (HNIC)
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 7PM
LINEUPS
This is the type of game where Jake Virtanen and Nikita Tryamkin make sense. Two big bodies that can force you off the puck. Tryamkin is unlikely as his scale still says “You could shed a few” but Virtanen should slot in. I could see Bo Horvat and Jake doing some damage in this one. Of course, Brandon Sutter will do his best to impress uncle Darryl (Sutter) and his recent tear keeps him as the second line centre.
Ryan Miller is back between the pipes and it’s good to see he’s OK. Jacob Markstrom did a great job tending bar while Miller was gone and it showed any given night can be a win with a steady goaltender on the back-end.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |  Henrik Sedin |  Loui Eriksson |
 Markus Granlund |  Brandon Sutter |  Jannik Hansen |
 Sven Baertschi |  Bo Horvat |  Jack Skille |
 Alexandre Burrows |  Brendan Gaunce |  Derek Dorsett |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Edler |  Chris Tanev |
 Ben Hutton |  Erik Gudbranson |
 Luca Sbisa |  Philip Larsen |
Jeff Zatkoff will be starting because Jonathan Quick is very injured. He was a hot head anyways so this is probably for the best. Tyler Toffoli is still on the Kings for another two years so we’ll just have to get used to his cheap shot efforts. I really hope Derek Dorsett remembers Alex Burrows getting attacked by Toffoli back in 2015.
The usual suspects, minus Milan Lucic, are back. It could turn into a memorable evening one way or another.
Los Angeles Kings lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Dwight King |  Anze Kopitar |  Tyler Toffoli |
 Tanner Pearson |  Jeff Carter |  Devin Setoguchi |
 Dustin Brown |  Nic Dowd |  Andy Andreoff |
 Kyle Clifford |  Nick Shore |  Trevor Lewis |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Brayden McNabb |  Drew Doughty |
 Jake Muzzin |  Alec Martinez |
 Derek Forbort |  Tom Gilbert |
REASONS TO WATCH THIS GAME
- As a Canadian, Hockey Night in Canada should be an automatic reason to watch unless for some reason you’re strange and don’t like hockey. The Canucks/Kings series has held a decent charge since 2010 although having Jonathan Quick out does dampen the hype slightly. Regardless, there are still plenty of players that have a history against each other. Tyler Toffoli scored a hat trick against the Canucks last season so I’m guessing they’ll want to keep him at bay.
- Until he isn’t a factor, Sutter will be talked about here. Knowing there are three fully capable players up the middle winning face-offs and scoring goals gives us hope the “rebuild” or whatever you want to call it won’t take as long as we thought. If Henrik goes down that may change things but for now, next man up sounds just fine.
- I imagine goaltending will be a factor this evening. Ryan Miller is back and will probably have to weather a small storm versus a Kings team that has some very effective firepower. With Jeff Zatkoff at the other end, a relative unknown as far as most of us are concerned, it might be one of “those” Sedin nights. You know the ones.
- Just a friendly reminder of what could happen tonight:
- And this one as well
- Has Luca Sbisa had a perfect game yet? I don’t think so but he has to be due for one. A goal, a big hit and no giveaways. You know you’ll be talking about it tomorrow when it happens so tonight seems as good a time as any to make it happen.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
MY TAKE
After watching the last four games I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how responsible, for the most part, the Canucks have been with the puck. The goaltending has been stellar, the defence is keeping the puck away from their own end and there is a slight feeling that the team hasn’t given up after the first goal/period.
The grit factor is still coming and goals are clearly not growing on trees this year. I don’t know yet if the playoffs are a realistic thing to talk about and this could all fall apart by next week, who knows? What is evident is that Brandon Sutter seems to be a driving force on the offense and Erik Gudbranson will keep opponents honest.
It feels good to “like” this team again. Last year was tough to accept.
WILL THE CANUCKS WIN?
At some point this fun little run will end but for now let’s live in the moment and believe THIS Canucks team is good enough to win five games in a row. YES, the Canucks win in OT and it will be a thriller.
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