CANUCKSARMY GDT 69 – CANUCKS @ COYOTES
By Always90four
6 years agoPositive #1: The Coyotes played yesterday and lost. Nice.
Positive #2: The Coyotes play today against the Canucks after said loss. Also, nice.
Negative: The Canucks haven’t exactly parlayed their position of being the second team of an opponent’s back-to-back into wins and tonight may be no different. Vancouver is coming off a disappointing loss to the Wild on Friday night and will need to find another gear (any gear, really) to get ahead of the Coyotes after 60 minutes.
Tonight, these two desperate teams will look to curb their losing ways with a W. It won’t change anything in the standings but the #moralvictory is there for the taking.
Let’s Do This!™
WATCH / LISTEN / FACE-OFF
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: SN650
PUCK DROP: 6:00 PM
LINE COMBINATIONS
Friday’s lineup wasn’t electrifying but there wouldn’t be any reason to suggest it will get changed. How do you fix bad?
Ben Hutton may get a chance to slot back in after the Minnesota scratch. Nikolay Goldobin hasn’t done a whole lot to convince anyone he needs to be back in the lineup.
Jacob Markstrom will get his net back this evening.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 BRENDAN LEIPSIC |  BO HORVAT |  SAM GAGNER |
 DANIEL SEDIN |  HENRIK SEDIN |  JUSSI JOKINEN |
 DARREN ARCHIBALD |  BRANDON SUTTER |  JAKE VIRTANEN |
 REID BOUCHER |  NIC DOWD |  TYLER MOTTE |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER |  ERIK GUDBRANSON |
 MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO |  TROY STECHER |
 ALEX BIEGA |  DERRICK POULIOT |
Derek Stepan blocked a shot yesterday against the Avalanche and left the game in the third period; he’s questionable. There isn’t any news yet if there will be any lineup changes. Check back to Dailyfaceoff for updates.
Antti Raanta was scratched with a lower-body injury so Darcy Kuemper may get consecutive starts.
Arizona Coyotes lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 BRENDAN PERLINI |  DEREK STEPAN |  CLAYTON KELLER |
 RICHARD PANIK |  CHRISTIAN DVORAK |  JOSH ARCHIBALD |
 MAX DOMI |  LAURENT DAUPHIN |  CHRISTIAN FISCHER |
 JORDAN MARTINOOK |  BRAD RICHARDSON |  NICK COUSINS |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
|---|---|
 OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON |  JASON DEMERS |
 JAKOB CHYCHRUN |  NIKLAS HJALMARSSON |
 KEVIN CONNAUTON |  LUKE SCHENN |
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- This is the second to last game the Canucks and Coyotes will play this season and their last meeting wasn’t exactly a nailbiter. Now injured, Derek Stepan scored late in the third to bury the Canucks. There hasn’t been any progress made since that game for either team and that should pretty much tell you everything you need to know.
- Vancouver now has three GAB (Goals after Boeser) through two games. How the Canucks survived prior to Boeser arriving is a question in itself? There has to be a pushback from the Canucks by its leaders and if not from them, players like Jake Virtanen, Alex Biega, and Darren Archibald. The bump and grind guys have to provide some sandpaper or these final games will be snoozers. The kind that drools on the pillow. Not pretty.
- With 14 games to go, Daniel Sedin is eight points away from tying Brock Boeser for the team lead in points. A season ago, this may not have seemed possible. To be honest, October had the Sedins retiring. The Canucks aren’t ready to move on from the Twins quite yet and the stats seem to agree.
- Every four years, Sweden and Finland are enemies but lately, they’ve been getting along. Jussi Jokinen is most likely playing out his season and finding a new home but for now, the Sedins are keeping him relevant. Jokinen has scored in both games since being acquired by the Canucks so maybe the Sedin magic is still working?
- Since January 1, the Canucks have been one of the greediest teams in the NHL and are T-5 for most takeaways on the road with 109. Clearly, the stats don’t tell the whole story because Vancouver is the one being taken away most nights with a loss in tow. Still, they’re good at something at least.
THE TWITTER TAKE
*Searches for that Spiderman pointing at Spiderman tweet*
MY 94 CENTS
Wow, the Canucks sure have been underwhelming! It’s really something to see that a team is infinitely better with just one more key player in the lineup. The Canucks were bad prior to Brock Boeser joining the team but man, this is not fun. Hopefully, a collective head shake occurs and the team picks up their heads and realizes that being awful just isn’t acceptable.
Do they have a team to be the opposite of terrible? Not really, but they can’t be that bad… can they?
OVER / UNDER
Canucks total shots (+/- 25.5) The Canucks have averaged 24.75 shots in their last four games with a game under 18 and a game over 30. Take the over if only for the possibility of two bottom feeders in a slugfest to the finish.
Henrik Sedin scores a goal (+/- 0.05) I suppose an assist would count as half a goal? Take the over. Tonight, and I’ve said this before, Henrik get’s his third goal of the year and Vancouver rejoices.
The Pint is your home for all things game day. Come down for game day specials like $5 mugs of bud and bud light and get 20% off food if you’re a season ticket holders.
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