Canucks Army THE GAME DAY – Canucks Vs. Rangers (Game 8 Redux)
By Always90four
4 years agoTHE INTRO
It’s 90’s night. Memories of Teddy Ruxpin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, Power Rangers, Gak!, Marky Mark, Columbia House, Mossimo, Biggy vs. 2Pac, VHS, and of course the Canucks almost winning the Stanley Cup become fresh again.
The Canucks will yet again don the black Skate jersey against a team that helped make it famous so many years ago: the New York Rangers are in town for a special Hockey Night in Canada tilt. New York was dealt a second straight loss on their Western Canadian road trip and will hope to knock the Canucks off their post as the hottest team currently in the NHL.
Looking to get their seventh-straight victory the Canucks will have to do a few things differently: 1) Limit the shots allowed (Jacob Markstrom is only so good), 2) Get back to starting PP1 on the man-advantage. It’s fine to mix it up but if the opportunity is there, take advantage sooner than later, and finally 3) Create chances for Elias Pettersson to expose the Rangers. His talent has been taking over games and the Rangers are ready for the deathblow.
Tonight is also the official “Game 8” redux as we never really had one against the Rangers. How that hasn’t happened, we’ll never know.
Let’s Do This!™
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN -165/ NYR +145) courtesy of OddsShark.com
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
CBC / SN 650 / 7:00 PM (HNIC GAME #2)
LINEUPS
Once again, the group assembled for the last few games should be the one you’ll see tonight. Aside from a late scratch, what you see below will be the team that comes out of the tunnel in warm-ups. Somehow, Loui Eriksson has a hold on a second-line winger position after multiple healthy scratch games and being anchored on the fourth line.
Adam Gaudette is now the Canucks third-line centre and along with Jake Virtanen and Antoine Roussel, that third line is becoming an issue opponents will have to game plan for.
Remember, you don’t need to waste any of your free hours on your AOL CD, remember to vote for Quinn Hughes in the All-Star Game using high-speed internet.
Newly minted All-Star Jacob Markstrom will start this evening.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 J.T. MILLER Rating: 75.7#36 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 79.5#14 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 76.1#18 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 77.08#8 FL1 |
 TANNER PEARSON Rating: 74.0#43 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 74.8#46 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 70.4#104 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 73.10#25 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 71.7#92 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.9#127 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 73.0#59 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.84#16 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 68.4#136 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.8#181 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 69.3#127 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 68.49#31 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 76.1#9 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 71.4#84 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.73#21 DL1 |
 QUINN HUGHES Rating: 75.0#18 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 72.0#67 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 73.50#18 DL2 |
 OSCAR FANTENBERG Rating: 71.1#102 LD |  TYLER MYERS Rating: 74.1#27 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.61#13 DL3 |
Brendan Lemieux has a fractured hand and will be out until February most likely. Steven Fogerty has been called up in his place.
Henrik Lundqvist will start for the Rangers.
Rangers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 CHRIS KREIDER Rating: 75.2#24 LW |  MIKA ZIBANEJAD Rating: 80.2#12 C |  PAVEL BUCHNEVICH Rating: 71.5#93 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 75.65#15 FL1 |
 ARTEMI PANARIN Rating: 81.4#4 LW |  RYAN STROME Rating: 75.4#39 C |  JESPER FAST Rating: 70.8#100 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 75.87#5 FL2 |
 BRETT HOWDEN Rating: 69.6#165 LW |  FILIP CHYTIL Rating: 70.7#136 C |  KAAPO KAKKO Rating: 71.3#93 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 70.53#25 FL3 |
 BRENDAN SMITH Rating: 68.4#137 LW |  GREG MCKEGG Rating: 68.2#180 C |  STEVEN FOGARTY Rating: 72.2#73 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.60#28 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 BRADY SKJEI Rating: 72.8#71 LD |  JACOB TROUBA Rating: 73.3#41 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.02#25 DL1 |
 MARC STAAL Rating: 69.7#124 LD |  ANTHONY DEANGELO Rating: 74.3#26 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.00#28 DL2 |
 RYAN LINDGREN |  ADAM FOX Rating: 74.0#6 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 73.98#3 DL3 |
GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO
- Jacob Markstrom is officially an All-Star! Marc-Andre Fleury declined his invite so Markstrom gets the nod. He should have been the guy anyway but at least a wrong was corrected. Markstrom is having an impressive season and according to MoneyPuck.com, his save % on unblocked shots and expected save % on unblocked shots is elite. Markstrom’s UBS Sv% 95.32 which isn’t leading the league, it’s actually 15th. His xSv% of 95.31 is 22nd in the NHL. We break down these stats by decimal points, sometimes to the 1/100th but looking at those numbers, Markstrom needs to see that puck.
- Vancouver is rolling on a six-game win streak against all opponents and a two-game win streak against the Rangers. Not playing the East that often will allow for a few longer streaks but considering these two teams have been fairly even-steven since ’94, the two-gamer isn’t the end of the world. Each team has carried a five-game win streak since then and the Canucks have a four-gamer as well.
- Quinn Hughes has a chance to get into a serious position for the Calder. Victor Olofsson went down the other night and will be out for approximately six weeks. That’s huge. Brock Boeser kept it close against Mathew Barzal but the injury cemented the title for Barzal that year. Hughes is still in tough against Cale Makar and still sits six points back of Olofsson but the way Hughes is playing it might not take long to equal that number.
- Paired with Vancouver’s win streak, Brock Boeser has a matching six-game point streak. Sure, most of them are assists but points are points. Boeser had a nine-game streak last season so he’ll need some magic to keep it going.
- Tanner Pearson has six points in his last two games. He’s 14 points away from tying his career-high from Los Angeles but he’s been given a chance to be a difference-maker and he’s lived up to it. He’s been my guy of the week a few times this season but that title has been put to bed officially.
#CANUCKSTWITTER
Imagine just letting life happen:
Comets Cory bringing the info we need:
MY 94 CENTS
Even though this will be just another game this season for the Canucks despite the hoopla of the Skate jersey, the 90’s nostalgia, and other things leading up to puck drop, the Canucks/Rangers Cup Final helped to build a generation of Canucks fans to expect the unexpectable and to demand more from an organization that at times has mailed it in.
My online moniker, Always90four, was derived from conversations always coming back to the 1994 Canucks team. Sure, 2011 ended up being pretty amazing and it seems to hurt more, maybe it’s recency bias and social media, but that 1994 team did a lot to shape me as a fan.
Tonight, there will be feels, there will be goals, and hopefully, there will be a win to obsess about tomorrow morning but for now, we get to hype this matchup as a faux Game 8.
Potentially, with a team that can force the next great Game 7… or less.
AND ANOTHER THING…
Benning and Co. hitting on another deep dive:
Recent articles from Always90four
