Scenes from morning skate: Bruce Boudreau going for win 600 in Canucks season opener vs. Oilers
1 year ago
It’s finally time for the Vancouver Canucks to kick off the regular season!
And that means a scenes from morning skate, live from morning skate in Edmonton!
After the game, we’ll have our first regular-season edition of The Stanchies by Wyatt Arndt, and tomorrow morning, we’ll have our analytics-based recap, The Statsies, by Michael Liu.
But first, let’s get into what we saw at morning skate.
Line Rushes
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson wasn’t present at morning skate but head coach Bruce Boudreau was quick to tell media that OEL is “100% fine and will be playing tonight.”
“Just maintenance, just waking up and stretching, but he will be ready to play,” Boudreau said. - Yesterday when OEL was present at practice, he skated alongside Tucker Poolman, and Jack Rathbone was the odd man out as Riley Stillman and Kyle Burroughs found themselves on a pairing together. Given what Boudreau said about OEL’s status for tonight and Stillman and Burroughs sticking together today, it wouldn’t come as much of a shocker to see Rathbone be the odd man out of tonight’s lineup.
- Brock Boeser’s recovery from a hand injury in training camp that required surgery has gone about as well as one could hope, as Boeser is expected to play tonight.
- Thatcher Demko gets the start in goal, with Jack Campbell going for the Oilers.
What was said
Everyone knows the importance of the Canucks getting off to a good start this season given the events of the 2021-22 campaign, and Elias Pettersson spoke about his club needing to get off to a good start tonight against a strong Oilers team.
“For us, it’s to start from Game 1 and not like we did last year. We know what we can be when everybody is on top of their game and working the hardest. It’s just comes down to doing our jobs.”
Pettersson has looked locked in all preseason long and is looking to hit the ground running this season without any distractions and a full training camp under his belt.
Bruce Boudreau can hit the 600 win mark on his NHL coaching career with a win tonight, but that’s the last thing on his mind. “Honest to God, I don’t think about it, but if we get it, I’ll be really happy because that’d mean we won the game, and I’d feel more from the win that I would the number,” the Canucks bench boss said of potentially hitting the milestone.
Nils Åman says he will have friends and family back home in Sweden watching his NHL debut tonight.
“I’m just really happy and really thankful for this opportunity… I think it’s [going to be] 3 AM back home,” said Åman.
The Colorado Avalanche drafted Åman in the sixth round of the 2020 draft, but chose not to sign the 22-year-old centre this past offseason, making him a free agent.
The Canucks signed Åman to a two-year deal in June, and after some injuries to the forward group, Åman will make his debut tonight against the Oilers.
Puck drop is at 7 PM Pacific from Rogers Place in Edmonton.
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