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CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 30 – CANUCKS VS. RANGERS
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Always90four
Dec 9, 2015, 14:00 ESTUpdated:
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It was a win and it felt good. Fresh off a big confidence booster against the Sabres, the Canucks take on the New York Rangers and former coach Alain Vigneault. The Rangers as a unit don’t impress me a whole lot and they have Tanner Glass; he is great at scrabble, but he’ll fan on a sure goal when it matters the most. Canucks/Rangers has taken a backseat to the latest team to beat Vancouver in the Finals but there’s still something intriguing about the Big Apple’s hockey team. Hopefully, we get a treat tonight.

BROADCAST INFO

TV: SNET (WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOCKEY)
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 7 PM

LINE COMBOS

First and foremost, Jake Virtanen has been sent to the Comets on a conditioning stint so we won’t be saying any “murders” for a few games. Radim Vrbata tapped into his streakiness again with the hatty against Buffalo. He’s been known put together a few games of lamp lighting. The Sedin line clicked in a huge way on the PP last game and it brought some renewed life into what visibly looked like it had gone stale. And wouldn’t you know it, Brandon Prust put his name on the score sheet as well with his first goal this year. Dan Hamhuis is surprisingly alive after a monster hit into the boards on Monday so it looks like he’s a go again.
Ryan Miller played pretty well against the Sabres so he’ll start again.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
Defensive Pairings
 
Alexander Edler
 
Chris Tanev
 
Dan Hamhuis
 
Alex Biega
Derek Stepan (ribs) and Kevin Klein (Dave) will not be in the lineup, but you know who is? My former favorite player Rick Nash, but once I knew he’d never wear the Orca, it was over. Zuccarello leads the blue shirts in points, but he isn’t appreciated enough apparently; he’s on their 2nd line! AV is a crazy cat like that still.
GQ Man of the year Henrik Lundqvist will start. Unless of course, his suit isn’t ready in time.
New York Rangers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

REASONS TO WATCH THIS GAME

  • The Rangers quite enjoyed their last visit to the Rog in 2014 with a 5-1 drubbing of the Canucks and back then we sure didn’t like our defense…and Luca Sbisa. Since then, oh…still the same but we kinda like Sbisa now. Cut the mental breakdowns in half at the very least and I’d say they have a shot.
  • Ryan Miller was sporting his Luongo wannabe Johnny Canuck mask last year and again, he was brutalized for 5 goals against. He has some kinda Haida whale now and I think it’s done him alright. Miller’s ok, we should really give him a break sometimes.
  • New York is pretty even steven lately going 4-4-2 in their last 10 so I’m guessing the Canucks could take these goons. If the Canucks have been slumping and just not playing up to their potential “potential” they could string a few together. Beating the Rangers with Lundqvist in net is always a chore but we used to do pretty well when Luongo was here.
  • Last season, the Sedins and Vrbata did not fancy stat very well against the Rangers and it wasn’t even close. They had a combined PDO of 78.9; you can imagine that will change and I’m hoping tonight. Both Henrik and Daniel were above 60% on CF% so at the very least shots were being taken. These advanced stats are intriguing, why, I’m not sure, but I bet it gets someone a job someday. (courtesy of puckalytics.com)
  • Willie got his games mixed up, THIS is the “Must” game. Or maybe it was last game…hmmm. Well if they don’t play #musthockey this team will get to play with Stone Cold Auston Matthews sooner than they think. (World Championships was the joke there)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

1994 will follow this team forever, fitting these are available for this game! If anyone wants to buy me one, I’m a large.

MY TAKE

I’m a sucker for the feel-good story and now that the Canucks have won 1 straight games, I’m feeling the surge! Henrik Lundqvist is beatable in Vancouver and hey who knows, maybe Dorsett (former Ranger) and Brandon Prust (also former Ranger) buried some extreme hate deep down and want to unleash it on their former club. Probably pushing it a bit, Canucks take it and twitter buzzes!

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