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Canucks Army Game Day 9 – Canucks vs. Capitals (Beat the Champs Edition)
Photo credit: RIC ERNST / THE CANADIAN PRESS
By Always90four
Oct 22, 2018, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 22, 2018, 01:58 EDT
THE INTRO
Your Vancouver Canucks are one of the hottest teams in the NHL. You read that correctly. Goaltending has been strong, depth players have been providing depth scoring, and the future Captain Bo Horvat is putting the team on his back and going for broke. The Canucks are an interesting team to watch. Tonight, the Washington Capitals are in town to break up the party with Alexander Ovechkin leading the way.
This may be one of the best games of the season to tune into, I suggest you do just that.
Let’s Do This!™
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:00 PM
LINEUPS
Tough to say if Loui Eriksson was demoted to the Brandon Sutter line but if he isn’t on the top two lines, it probably looks that way on the surface. That being said, as a depth shutdown role, that line has faired quite well. Eriksson isn’t restructuring his contract so we’ll all have to move on from the numbers but if he can prove his worth in a depth role, there might be hope for him yet.
Elias Pettersson skated on Sunday with the skills coach and word is the Canucks would like him to practice with the team first; we shall see on that one. Michael Del Zotto is STILL out of the lineup and it has to be a matter of time before his cap hit is buried in Utica.
Aside from a Petterson move into the lineup, expect the same look from Saturday.
Jacob Markstrom was excellent against the Bruins and deserves the start tonight.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 70.4#113 LW |  BO HORVAT Rating: 74.7#56 C |  BROCK BOESER Rating: 79.9#8 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 75.01#26 FL1 |
 SVEN BAERTSCHI Rating: 74.5#38 LW |  ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 73.0#95 C |  JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 70.1#88 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 72.55#24 FL2 |
 ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 70.9#105 LW |  BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 71.5#140 C |  LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 71.7#77 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 71.36#24 FL3 |
 TIM SCHALLER Rating: 70.2#118 LW |  MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 71.1#146 C |  TYLER MOTTE Rating: 68.4#106 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.91#23 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.1#33 LD |  CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.2#72 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 72.65#26 DL1 |
 BEN HUTTON Rating: 70.0#113 LD |  ERIK GUDBRANSON Rating: 68.6#95 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 69.28#30 DL2 |
 DERRICK POULIOT Rating: 70.7#104 LD |  TROY STECHER Rating: 71.5#67 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 71.10#20 DL3 |
Nothing to speak of for the Capitals. Oh, that guy that blew in Lebron’s ear in the NBA Playoffs that one time is on the top line with Ovechkin. No way, that was LANCE Stephenson. I apologize.
Braden Holtby will be the starter tonight.
Capitals lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ALEX OVECHKIN Rating: 86.9#1 LW |  EVGENY KUZNETSOV Rating: 83.5#7 C |  CHANDLER STEPHENSON Rating: 68.3#107 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 79.59#8 FL1 |
 JAKUB VRANA Rating: 71.6#93 LW |  NICKLAS BACKSTROM Rating: 79.3#21 C |  T.J. OSHIE Rating: 78.3#14 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 76.41#8 FL2 |
 ANDRE BURAKOVSKY Rating: 71.7#92 LW |  LARS ELLER Rating: 73.4#86 C |  BRETT CONNOLLY Rating: 72.2#70 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 72.43#16 FL3 |
 DMITRIJ JASKIN Rating: 70.1#121 LW |  NIC DOWD Rating: 69.4#184 C |  DEVANTE SMITH-PELLY Rating: 68.4#105 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 69.29#29 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MICHAL KEMPNY Rating: 72.6#57 LD |  JOHN CARLSON Rating: 81.6#5 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 77.09#8 DL1 |
 DMITRI ORLOV Rating: 74.5#30 LD |  MATT NISKANEN Rating: 75.1#28 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 74.78#11 DL2 |
 BROOKS ORPIK Rating: 69.9#116 LD |  CHRISTIAN DJOOS Rating: 71.0#79 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 70.44#29 DL3 |
THE INFORMATION YOU NEED AND A LITTLE BIT THAT YOU DON’T
- He doesn’t play for the Canucks but Nicklas Backstrom’s next two assists will put him at 600 career helpers. Knowing the Canucks, records are waiting in the rafters this evening.
- Sven Baertschi has feasted on the Capitals in his last three games against them. Two goals and two assists. Enough said. Both goals came on the PP as did one assist. Only Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat had the other two PPG scored in those games.
- Dig deep enough and the gold is just waiting to be discovered. Everyone thinks Alex Edler is the blocked shots champion but against the Capitals in his last four games, Erik Gudbranson is the man sitting on the throne. Gudbranson has 13 blocked shots to the next closest teammate Alex Edler with six. If Edler found out about this, he’d dedicate his first ten shifts to getting one stop each time.
- Braden Holtby has been anything but dominant this season at 5v5. His 14 goals-against is second only to Frederik Andersen of the Leafs. The Canucks might have struck the iron hot tonight.
- Bo Horvat has taken the mantle as the Canucks best player, for the time being anyway. His five goals are tied with Pettersson for first on the Canucks. The significant part about this is that when Pettersson comes back, the scoring threats are beginning to add up and the Canucks might trend in the right direction. Brock Boeser hasn’t taken apart the league yet but when that starts happening, there are more things to be excited about this season.
MY 94 CENTS
Most people know me as the “optimistic guy” but I have also occupied the role of “when will this team show us they’re better guy?” The Canucks have passed a few tests already this season and I’m on the fence if I think they can hang with the Cup champs. If Vancouver plays as they did against Boston, this should be a fascinating game. If they don’t, it could be 7-1 Washington.
I hope the former is true.
THE FINAL WORD
I could watch this video for many, many minutes. I laughed pretty hard last night and I’m still laughing.
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