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Canucks Army Game Day 6 – Canucks @ Penguins (Lucky Edition)
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Photo credit: © Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Always90four
Oct 16, 2018, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 16, 2018, 12:21 EDT
THE INTRO
Don’t look now Canucks fans, but your team went undefeated in Florida and they’re a win back of third place in the conference. The Vancouver Canucks are in Pittsburgh tonight to take on Sidney Crosby of Tim Hortons fame and his Pittsburgh Penguins. Brock Boeser is once again the big star leading the Canucks hype train and you can bet your bottom dollar Matt Murray, Penguins top goaltender, will have studied up on the man that effortlessly burned him a season ago.
We’re ready for this, we all need a feel-good story tonight.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SN1 / SN 650 / 4:00 PM
LINEUPS
Vancouver called up Adam Gaudette from Utica after an impressive start to the season of 2G/2A through four games. Welcome back, Adam! Tyler Motte will get back in after Jay Beagle went down with a broken wrist blocking a shot on Saturday. How does it get any worse after the Elias Pettersson injury? That’s how. Everything else looks the same.
Anders Nilsson has to be the guy still, right?
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
LWCRWForwards
Sven Baertschi

SVEN BAERTSCHI
Rating: 73.6#44 LW
Bo Horvat

BO HORVAT
Rating: 74.2#58 C
Brock Boeser

BROCK BOESER
Rating: 78.5#13 RW
FL1 Rating
Rating: 75.43#25 FL1
Nikolay Goldobin

NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN
Rating: 71.5#88 LW
Adam Gaudette

ADAM GAUDETTE
Rating: 72.4#101 C
Loui Eriksson

LOUI ERIKSSON
Rating: 72.8#60 RW
FL2 Rating
Rating: 72.20#30 FL2
Antoine Roussel

ANTOINE ROUSSEL
Rating: 70.8#102 LW
Brandon Sutter

BRANDON SUTTER
Rating: 71.2#134 C
Jake Virtanen

JAKE VIRTANEN
Rating: 70.2#91 RW
FL3 Rating
Rating: 70.71#28 FL3
Tim Schaller

TIM SCHALLER
Rating: 69.3#133 LW
Markus Granlund

MARKUS GRANLUND
Rating: 71.6#123 C
Tyler Motte

TYLER MOTTE
Rating: 68.7#110 RW
FL4 Rating
Rating: 69.85#25 FL4
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGSDefense
Alexander Edler

ALEXANDER EDLER
Rating: 74.0#35 LD
Chris Tanev

CHRIS TANEV
Rating: 71.1#75 RD
DL1 Rating
Rating: 72.52#28 DL1
Ben Hutton

BEN HUTTON
Rating: 70.0#107 LD
Erik Gudbranson

ERIK GUDBRANSON
Rating: 68.9#94 RD
DL2 Rating
Rating: 69.42#30 DL2
Derrick Pouliot

DERRICK POULIOT
Rating: 70.6#98 LD
Troy Stecher

TROY STECHER
Rating: 70.3#84 RD
DL3 Rating
Rating: 70.45#27 DL3
The Infirmary didn’t pass over the Penguins, either. Justin Schultz is out for nearly four weeks, maybe longer with leg fracture surgery. Matt Murray is finally back in the Penguins lineup but will back up Casey Desmith. That also could change though. Derek Grant was recalled from Scranton-Wilkes Barrie.
Is it Murray or Casey? Mike Sullivan might want to protect his goalie and play the backup to save Murray from embarrassment.
Penguins lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
LWCRWForwards
Jake Guentzel

JAKE GUENTZEL
Rating: 79.5#13 LW
Sidney Crosby

SIDNEY CROSBY
Rating: 86.6#4 C
Derick Brassard

DERICK BRASSARD
Rating: 73.9#65 RW
FL1 Rating
Rating: 80.00#7 FL1
Carl Hagelin

CARL HAGELIN
Rating: 72.2#81 LW
Evgeni Malkin

EVGENI MALKIN
Rating: 85.4#6 C
Phil Kessel

PHIL KESSEL
Rating: 79.0#11 RW
FL2 Rating
Rating: 78.86#1 FL2
Patric Hornqvist

PATRIC HORNQVIST
Rating: 77.9#20 LW
Riley Sheahan

RILEY SHEAHAN
Rating: 69.8#162 C
Bryan Rust

BRYAN RUST
Rating: 73.1#58 RW
FL3 Rating
Rating: 73.60#4 FL3
Dominik Simon

DOMINIK SIMON
Rating: 70.7#105 LW
Matt Cullen

MATT CULLEN
Rating: 68.7#175 C
Daniel Sprong

DANIEL SPRONG
Rating: 75.2#30 RW
FL4 Rating
Rating: 71.56#10 FL4
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGSDefense
Brian Dumoulin

BRIAN DUMOULIN
Rating: 74.7#28 LD
Kris Letang

KRIS LETANG
Rating: 81.5#4 RD
DL1 Rating
Rating: 78.10#6 DL1
Jack Johnson

JACK JOHNSON
Rating: 71.0#90 LD
Jamie Oleksiak

JAMIE OLEKSIAK
Rating: 71.2#72 RD
DL2 Rating
Rating: 71.11#26 DL2
Olli Maatta

OLLI MAATTA
Rating: 72.9#49 LD
DL3 Rating
Rating: 72.86#8 DL3
INFORMATION YOU NEED AND SOME YOU DON’T
  • No Pettersson means Sven Baertschi and Alex Edler are the leading Canucks scorers still in the lineup. Baertschi will get a chance to re-ignite the chemistry he, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser celebrated one season ago. All eyes will be on this line now that the Sedins no longer patrol the second line and Loui Eriksson doesn’t scream “contain me”.
  • A season ago in Pittsburgh, Loui Eriksson scored his second goal of the season, one night after scoring a goal and an assist in Philadelphia. In fact, Eriksson had quite the November last year putting five goals and five assists on the board. For a player that three registered shots on goal this season through five games, he’ll need a miracle to even get an assist tonight. He does have Adam Gaudette and Nikolay Goldobin as linemates so it’s possible.
  • While Brock Boeser was lighting the lamp against the Penguins last season, Bo Horvat had a run himself. Bo put up four points himself but went scoreless in the final meeting. Time to do Captain things, Captain Bo.
  • Since the last time these two teams played, the Canucks only have 11 of the 18 players from that game in the lineup. The Sedins retired, Sam Gagner was waived, Alex Biega was waived, Brendan Gaunce as well, Michael Del Zotto is still a healthy scratch, and Thomas Vanek has moved on to greener pastures. This may play in the Canucks favour this evening with a handful of new faces that the Penguins don’t have a book on.
  • Travis Green needs to embrace the win and you stay in mentality for his goaltenders. Through two games played, Anders Nilsson is among the league-leaders in both GAA and SV%. Jacob Markstrom is not. He isn’t even close. Markstrom has the seventh-worst GAA and ranks 32nd of 45 goaltenders that have played so far for save percentage. Again, it’s very early in the season but one goalie has embraced the challenge and one hasn’t. Everyone was shocked when Cory Schneider was shipped off to New Jersey and furious when Roberto Luongo was dealt back to Florida but would anyone have guessed Anders Nilsson could back up the eventual starter, Thatcher Demko? Could we see Jacob Markstrom waived and have a Demko/Nilsson tandem? Makes you think.
MY 94 CENTS
Elias Pettersson is on the shelf so the Canucks have to respond with the guys that are still there. Brock Boeser had his way with the Penguins last season and I guess we’ll find out how “lucky” he really is. Brock’s shot is a piece of art and the Canucks need Bo Horvat to get him the puck tonight. There are times to step up and tonight is the first chance the Canucks will get to prove that they aren’t a one-man team (they kinda are, but work with me here).
Canucks hang in this one. To what degree is anyone’s guess.
THE FINAL WORD
Read this thread. Take a minute and read this. Carcillo was a gong show from time to time and he has a great response to Saturday’s incident. The NHL missed on this one and who knows when they get it close enough. You can’t have a league if you don’t have players.