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Canucks Army GDT #53 – Canucks @ Blackhawks
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Rhys Jessop
Feb 11, 2015, 16:30 ESTUpdated:
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The Vancouver Canucks visit the once reviled Chicago Blackhawks to finish up their short two-game road swing. The Hawks are just 5-4-1 in their past 10 games, but they still have the NHL’s best goal differential and are atop the puck possession standings once again. On the other hand, Vancouver will play without their second and third line centres, as well as two key penalty killers.
It will be a tough task to get a win tonight and continue to hold off the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference playoff race. Read past the jump for a preview.

Broadcast Info

  • Puck Drop: 5:00 PM PST
  • TV: Sportsnet
  • Radio: TSN 1040

Lineups

Courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com
LWCRW
 
Daniel Sedin
 
Henrik Sedin
 
Alexandre Burrows
 
Chris Higgins
 
Linden Vey
 
Radim Vrbata
 
Derek Dorsett
 
Shawn Matthias
 
Zack Kassian
 
Ronalds Kenins
 
Bo Horvat
 
Jannik Hansen
Defensive Pairings
 
Alexander Edler
 
Chris Tanev
 
Dan Hamhuis
 
Luca Sbisa
 
Ryan Stanton
 
Yannick Weber
Nick Bonino is out, so Shawn Matthias will move to C. Derek Dorsett will move to line 3, and Ronalds Kenins will take his place on line 4. Adam Clendening will face his former team, as he will draw back into the lineup. Eddie Lack will start in goal.
Defensive Pairings
 
Niklas Hjalmarsson
 
Brent Seabrook
 
Duncan Keith
 
David Rundblad
 
Johnny Oduya
 
Michal Rozsival
Kris Versteeg will return from IR tonight. Corey Crawford will start in goal.

Head to Head

Storylines

  • Centres of Attention – Nick Bonino will miss tonight’s game with an apparent foot injury, meaning that Shawn Matthias will play centre. Matthias has traditionally been a centre for most of his NHL career, but he also hasn’t been very good at it. He was finding some traction on the wing this season, and for the first time in his career, really looking like an assertive presence on the ice, beginning to drive play in the right direction in a depth role. With him in the middle and Nick Bonino joining Brad Richardson on the shelf, the Canucks centre depth has basically eroded to Henrik Sedin and three possession liabilities, which is less than ideal against arguably the most dangerous team in the NHL.
  • Back to Lack  – The Ryan Miller rollercoaster hit another trough on Monday, as the Canucks streaky starter gave up 5 goals on 18 shots against to the Minnesota Wild. Miller is 2-3 with one shutout and an 0.883 save percentage in his last 5 outings, so Willie Desjardins will turn to Eddie Lack tonight to try and hold one of the NHL’s most potent offenses off the scoresheet. Lack stopped all 14 shots he faced in relief of Miller on Monday, and has a strong game against the Winnipeg Jets in his last start, stopping 26 of 28 shots in a 3-2 overtime win.
  • Playoff Race Getting Closer – With two recent losses to the scorching hot Minnesota Wild, Vancouver’s lead on the final wild card spot is down to just two points. They can vault themselves back up to second place in the Pacific with a win tonight, but another loss would be very costly. They’ll be tied with both the Kings and Wild in games played after tonight, but hold just a 3 point lead on LA and a one-win lead against Minnesota – two teams you do not want chasing you. Micah McCurdy’s model still gives Vancouver a ~70% chance at the playoffs based on their play this season, but continuing to flounder can drop that number extremely quickly.

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