Canucks Army THE GAME DAY – Canucks Vs. Oilers
By Always90four
4 years agoTHE INTRO
The Vancouver Canucks are back from a road trip they’d prefer to not have to deal with again and they take on a familiar team, the Edmonton Oilers, for the second-straight night. Travis Green’s club took the Oilers to the woodshed last night in a surprising 5-2 victory thanks to Tanner Pearson, Loui Eriksson, and Jacob Markstrom.
Tonight, he’ll need just as good of an effort if not better if the Canucks are going to steal away two valuable points in the standings. The Oilers will be cranky after allowing Vancouver’s forgotten ones to own them. Don’t expect a cakewalk for the Canucks. It’s possible Antoine Roussel makes his anticipated debut as well. (He will not play tonight)
Let’s Do This!™
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN -125/ EDM +105) courtesy of OddsShark.com.
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM
LINEUPS
As mentioned above, Antoine Roussel has been called up and could make his season debut tonight (nope). That, in turn, means a bump to the press box for one of Loui Eriksson or Nikolay Goldobin or possibly Tyler Graovac. What a world we live in where you have to decide who is more valuable?
Alex Edler left last night’s game with a back injury and may not play tonight. Could that mean Oscar Fantenberg draws in?
Thatcher Demko is the likely starter after Jacob Markstrom went the distance last night. UPDATED: Is Demko injured? Jacob Markstrom gets the whole weekend to himself and will start in consecutive games.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 J.T. MILLER Rating: 74.7#38 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 74.8#47 C |  NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 70.7#95 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 73.40#28 FL1 |
 JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 71.4#102 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 78.6#15 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 76.0#14 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 75.34#11 FL2 |
 TANNER PEARSON Rating: 72.3#80 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.6#160 C |  JOSH LEIVO Rating: 72.0#89 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.65#23 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 68.9#147 LW |  TYLER GRAOVAC Rating: 72.9#91 C |  ZACK MACEWEN | FL4 Rating Rating: 70.88#23 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 75.5#19 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.8#83 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.63#23 DL1 |
 QUINN HUGHES Rating: 75.4#22 LD |  TYLER MYERS Rating: 72.1#72 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.73#14 DL2 |
 JORDIE BENN Rating: 71.5#102 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 72.0#76 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.74#22 DL3 |
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will not play tonight as mentioned in yesterday’s THE GAME DAY. Everyone else is accounted for in Edmonton.
Mikko Koskinen should start after Mike Smith played last night.
Oilers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 LEON DRAISAITL Rating: 83.7#3 LW |  CONNOR MCDAVID Rating: 85.6#1 C |  ZACK KASSIAN Rating: 71.7#80 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 80.32#2 FL1 |
 JAMES NEAL Rating: 72.6#71 LW |  SAM GAGNER Rating: 71.9#121 C |  ALEX CHIASSON Rating: 71.6#81 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 72.05#29 FL2 |
 JUJHAR KHAIRA Rating: 70.5#129 LW |  RILEY SHEAHAN Rating: 69.0#186 C |  JOSH ARCHIBALD Rating: 69.6#113 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 69.71#31 FL3 |
 MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 70.9#120 LW |  GAETAN HAAS Rating: 72.9#93 C |  PATRICK RUSSELL Rating: 71.9#76 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 71.87#8 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 DARNELL NURSE Rating: 74.4#34 LD |  ETHAN BEAR Rating: 72.9#51 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.67#22 DL1 |
 OSCAR KLEFBOM Rating: 74.7#30 LD |  CALEB JONES Rating: 72.3#65 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.50#18 DL2 |
 KRIS RUSSELL Rating: 71.6#97 LD |  ADAM LARSSON Rating: 70.9#92 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.22#27 DL3 |
GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO
- It’s believed Antoine Roussel will start tonight which is super fitting as he looked up to Alex Burrows as a shift-disturber. There will be a lot of emotion in this game tonight and the Rooster might rest a few points on the board, or hey, the GWG. UPDATED: No Roussel until possibly Tuesday. Regardless, Edmonton won’t forget how they got worked one night ago.
- People have been dumping on Bo Horvat to be more. They’ve always done this. Get faster, score more goals, why aren’t you the captain yet? Stuff like that. Bo has faced a ton of criticism which isn’t really even warranted but he’s shutting up the haters. In his last five games, Bo has 1G / 6A which basically means he IS driving play, he’s Captaining like a boss and he’s helping his teammates produce. Good on you, Bo!
- Not talking about how great Quinn Hughes is is tough. So you won’t find that void here. He’s not going to catch John Carlson of the Capitals as the top defender but he’s on a run right now. Hughes is six points back of Dougie Hamilton for second-most points by a defenseman. His 20 assists are tied with Elias Pettersson on the Canucks. Do you know who else has 20 assists or more on the Canucks? NOBODY! J.T. Miller is the next closest with 15. Quinn Hughes is a special, special talent and he isn’t being hyped enough. That’s about to change.
- Will this be the year Jake Virtanen notches 20 goals? He’s currently on pace for 21. He sits at seven goals as of today and wouldn’t he be a fitting player to honour Burrows? A Jake Virtanen hat-trick you say? Preposterous!
- Tim Schaller hasn’t put up a point in over a month. If Tanner Pearson and Josh Leivo can do it, so can he. BOOK IT! Tim Schaller point night.
#CANUCKSTWITTER
A breakdown no one wanted to admit:
This stat could be a little skewed but I’ll run with it:
MY 94 CENTS
I had to miss last night’s game due to a work Christmas party so seeing that the Oilers were thumped by the Canucks lessers was quite a surprise. What also surprised me was that none of the Canucks big guns really factored on the score sheet. Bo Horvat had three helpers and Quinn Hughes had one as well.
AND ANOTHER THING…
Recent articles from Always90four
