Canucks Army GDT #51 – Canucks vs. Penguins

Broadcast Info

Lineups

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Alexandre Burrows
Shawn Matthias	Nick Bonino	Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins	Linden Vey	Jannik Hansen
Ronalds Kenins	Bo Horvat	Derek Dorsett

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Yannick Weber
Dan Hamhuis	Luca Sbisa
Ryan Stanton	Adam Clendening

Chris Tanev is a game-time decision. Frank Corrado will be out. Brad Richardson remains injured. Zack Kassian will re-join the lineup after being a frequent healthy scratch, no word yet on who comes out. Ryan Miller will start in goal.

LW	C	RW
Chris Kunitz	Sidney Crosby	David Perron
Mark Arcobello	Evgeni Malkin	Patric Hornqvist
Nick Spaling	Brandon Sutter	Steve Downie
Zach Sill	Maxim Lapierre	Craig Adams

Defensive Pairings
Paul Martin	Kris Letang
Rob Scuderi	Simon Despres
Robert Bortuzzo	Derrick Pouliot

Head to Head

Storylines

• Kassi-in – Zack Kassian will make his return to Vancouver’s lineup tonight, though it remains to be seen who comes out. Kassian has had his struggles this season, and they haven’t been helped by being yo-yoed in and out of the lineup, but he’s also suffering from a brutal PDO and should see some more pucks start going in the opposing net for him. Kassian both generates and gives up scoring chances at the highest levels among all Canucks, and given his benchings, it’s fairly obvious he’ll have to play nearly flawlessly to earn the trust of his coach.
• Olympic Rematch – It was five years ago this month that Sidney Crosby took a pass from Jarome Iginla and fired a quick shot through Ryan Miller’s legs to win Canada the olympic hockey gold medal in the friendly confines of Rogers Arena. Crosby and Miller have played each other since then, but never back in Vancouver. Miller is 1-4-0 in his last 5 starts with an 0.874 save percentage.
• Willie Wants More – Willie Desjardins looks to be getting frustrated with his team, as he demanded more intensity from the players in Friday’s practice. The Canucks looked disengaged and out-classed at times against San Jose, but part of that was simply being out-played by a better 5-on-5 team. You’d like to see a better and more consistent effort out of an aging Vancouver team, and they’ll need one tonight against a strong Penguins club, but one begins to wonder just how much more there is for this team to give.

Gameday Reading

• Canucks.com’s Tale of the Tape
• Tony Gallagher take a look at Tanev and Sbisa’s upcoming deals, and Nick Bonino’s season
• Daniel Wagner at PiTB looks at six ways to break through to Zack Kassian