Sedins Army THE GAME DAY – Canucks Vs. Blackhawks
By Always90four
4 years agoTHE INTRO
The Vancouver Canucks will take on their former rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks this evening. Things have been going fairly well for the Canucks aside from that little blip on the radar last week. It’s also a big night for a few other players: Henrik and Daniel Sedin will be in the building tonight, most likely bragging about their recent 5K times.
If no one will listen, fans will stay in their seats for a pretty special jersey retirement ceremony. There’s word everybody who’s anybody will be there to congratulate them and rightfully so: the Sedins were and are All-time. This is about as close to a royal ceremony as it gets and years from now hundreds of thousands will proclaim they were there despite only 18,910 seats being available.
Eventually, they’ll play a hockey game and it should live up to a classic Canucks/Blackhawks tilt.
Let’s Do This!™
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN -150/ CHI +130) courtesy of OddsShark.com
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:15 PM
LINEUPS
Brock Boeser will miss the second of two scheduled games due to injury. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that Tyler Motte and Josh Leivo are still out for awhile but the good news is that Micheal Ferland has finally been sent to Utica for conditioning.
Justin Bailey and Zack MacEwen are both in the lineup as is Jordie Benn. Tim Schaller is not. Jacob Markstrom looks to be the starter again. Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 J.T. MILLER Rating: 76.5#25 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 75.3#34 C |  ZACK MACEWEN | FL1 Rating Rating: 75.89#16 FL1 |
 TANNER PEARSON Rating: 73.5#46 LW |  ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 77.6#15 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 72.3#61 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 74.46#10 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 70.9#95 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.2#154 C |  BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 71.3#85 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 70.79#27 FL3 |
 JUSTIN BAILEY Rating: 72.4#73 LW |  JAY BEAGLE Rating: 67.1#189 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 69.5#120 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.65#26 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 QUINN HUGHES Rating: 76.1#8 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.8#72 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.94#16 DL1 |
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.1#29 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 71.3#84 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 72.71#21 DL2 |
 JORDIE BENN Rating: 70.3#108 LD |  TYLER MYERS Rating: 73.2#35 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.77#17 DL3 |
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 JACOB MARKSTROM Rating: 71.2#12 G1 | |
There isn’t a strong chance the lines change if at all. There isn’t time to change much in back-to-backs.
Corey Crawford should start after Robin Lehner played last night.
Blackhawks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 DOMINIK KUBALIK Rating: 73.7#40 LW |  JONATHAN TOEWS Rating: 76.7#22 C |  DRAKE CAGGIULA Rating: 70.3#105 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 73.56#27 FL1 |
 BRANDON SAAD Rating: 73.8#39 LW |  KIRBY DACH Rating: 72.6#89 C |  PATRICK KANE Rating: 80.5#2 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 75.64#5 FL2 |
 ALEX DEBRINCAT Rating: 74.7#30 LW |  DAVID KAMPF Rating: 70.0#158 C |  ALEX NYLANDER Rating: 71.7#71 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.13#15 FL3 |
 ZACK SMITH Rating: 69.2#120 LW |  RYAN CARPENTER Rating: 69.6#170 C |  MATTHEW HIGHMORE Rating: 71.2#86 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 70.00#23 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 DUNCAN KEITH Rating: 72.9#57 LD |  ERIK GUSTAFSSON Rating: 74.8#22 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 73.82#17 DL1 |
 NICK SEELER Rating: 68.3#117 LD |  CONNOR MURPHY Rating: 72.9#47 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 70.59#30 DL2 |
 SLATER KOEKKOEK Rating: 71.5#86 LD |  OLLI MAATTA Rating: 72.7#51 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 72.11#12 DL3 |
| GOALIES | |
|---|---|
 COREY CRAWFORD Rating: 70.2#16 G2 | |
GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO
- Quinn Hughes is in sole possession of the rookie scoring lead with 44 points. That doesn’t mean he’s going to win the Calder but he’s made the race very, very interesting. He’s also tied for fourth in the league among all defensemen in points. He won’t catch John Carlson with 67 points and that’s ok. Somehow, in his first full season, Hughes has become the greatest defenseman the Canucks have ever had. Will we be able to comprehend yet another season of Canucks stardom if Nils Hoglander repeats the process and yet again two years from now when Vasili Podkolzin takes the NHL by storm?
- Jacob Markstrom is barely in the top-30 goalies in the league in GAA. His 2.81 rating sounds high, and it is, but that speaks more to what the Canucks have allowed to get to Markstrom. His .915 SV% isn’t even remotely close to the top of the NHL but night in and night out Markstrom is denying the NHL their final chances to beat the Canucks. He has resurrected the two-pad stack and despite one of the heavier workloads in the league, he’s been on point almost every night.
- It isn’t all about the current Canucks though; Henrik and Daniel Sedin deserve some credit too! Henrik finishes his career 65th all-time in points with 1070 while Daniel sits 74th at 1041. Daniel also is 24th all-time for GWG with 86 goals. Usually, it’s Henrik edging out Daniel but it will never be disputed who the finisher between the two was.
- Elias Pettersson has one career hat-trick. It was not against the Blackhawks. Is it possible he channels the Sedins and pulls it off?
- The Canucks are currently riding a four-game win streak at home against the Hawks which started in December 2017. Vancouver is two games away from tying their record six-game streak which was set in 2005/06.
#CANUCKSTWITTER
And here it comes:
I take back my take on keeping him. If you get something big for Markstrom you’d be dumb not to:
MY 94 CENTS
Henrik and Daniel weren’t appreciated for the longest time. From being called “sisters” to “weak” and everything else, the Sedins were beyond unheralded. Their story is pretty amazing and what they were able to achieve is nothing short of perfect. The Stanley Cup eluded them but not for a lack of trying.
They did everything for the City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia and fans of the Canucks everywhere. They were humble, they were charitable, they were tough, they were relentless, and they never complained. Unfortunately, until they announced their retirement plans, the gratitude that was due to them, wasn’t delivered until that final goal.
The Sedins will be celebrated this evening with the highest honour any team can give: having their numbers removed from circulation as long as the Canucks exist. It would definitely be hard to envision anyone else wearing #33 or #22 but thankfully we’ll never need to.
Slightly ironic that the Chicago Blackhawks will be the team to face the Canucks after the drawn-out ceremony. After it’s all said and done, the Canucks will potentially play one of the greatest games in the history of the franchise.
I’m predicting Edler and Eriksson both score.
AND ANOTHER THING…
Doesn’t have much to do with the Canucks but seeing Tom Gaglardi upset because he lost again is a good feeling:
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