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Canucks Army THE GAME DAY – Canucks @ Oilers

Photo credit: © Perry Nelson | 2019

By Always90four

Nov 30, 2019, 15:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 29, 2019, 23:41 EST

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THE INTRO

Even though the Canucks are about to embark on the final game of their six-game road trip, they have a game tomorrow too so it won’t truly be over until Sunday night. Tonight, Vancouver takes on the surging Edmonton Oilers, a team that has a phenomonal 7-2-2 home record and is 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.

The Canucks, on the other hand, have played a few stinkers, lost two straight and are 3-6-1 in their last 10. They could salvage a .500 road trip but they’ll need to own tonight’s game.

Both Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are having insane seasons and even the slick Elias Pettersson is 16 points behind McDavid, who is 2nd in the league in scoring. THIS is a statement game.

Let’s Do This!

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN +115/ EDM -135) courtesy of OddsShark.com

TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP

CBC / SN 650 / 7:00 PM

LINEUPS

Loui Eriksson swapped with Nikolay Goldobin at practice yesterday which means Tim Schaller, Tyler Graovac, and Zack MacEwen will team up. The wise choice is to see what Goldy can do in a face-paced game. Eriksson brings the PK game with him but that’s about it. He is essentially a zero-result player so the Canucks won’t be further ahead or behind with him in the lineup. At some point, they’ll need to decide if that will put them in a better position.

Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter were not at practice. West Edmonton Mall is close by though so it’s believable they were at the waterslides.

Jacob Markstrom should be good to go after fighting the flu last game. He’ll be chomping at the bit to get his team back in the win column.

Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
TANNER PEARSON Rating: 72.2#79 LW	BO HORVAT Rating: 75.0#42 C	BROCK BOESER Rating: 76.4#12 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 74.53#24 FL1
J.T. MILLER Rating: 74.9#32 LW	ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 78.7#15 C	NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN Rating: 70.7#100 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 74.78#12 FL2
JOSH LEIVO Rating: 72.3#78 LW	ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.3#158 C	JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 70.8#98 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 71.13#26 FL3
TIM SCHALLER Rating: 69.1#149 LW	TYLER GRAOVAC Rating: 73.2#77 C	ZACK MACEWEN	FL4 Rating Rating: 71.16#16 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 76.4#11 LD	TROY STECHER Rating: 72.8#56 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 74.56#17 DL1
QUINN HUGHES Rating: 75.1#22 LD	TYLER MYERS Rating: 71.9#80 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 73.54#18 DL2
JORDIE BENN Rating: 72.0#82 LD	CHRIS TANEV Rating: 72.3#70 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.14#17 DL3

Edmonton has hit a brick wall when it comes to injuries. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out with a hand injury for both weekend games, Alex Chiasson is also out for the weekend games after being slammed against Colorado.

Mikko Koskinen could definitely start tonight.

Oilers lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
LEON DRAISAITL Rating: 84.4#2 LW	CONNOR MCDAVID Rating: 86.5#1 C	ZACK KASSIAN Rating: 71.9#81 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 80.93#2 FL1
ALEX CHIASSON Rating: 71.5#85 LW	SAM GAGNER Rating: 72.3#104 C	JAMES NEAL Rating: 72.7#71 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 72.14#29 FL2
JUJHAR KHAIRA Rating: 70.4#131 LW	RILEY SHEAHAN Rating: 69.3#174 C	JOSH ARCHIBALD Rating: 69.6#120 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 69.74#31 FL3
MARKUS GRANLUND Rating: 71.3#109 LW	GAETAN HAAS Rating: 73.2#81 C	PATRICK RUSSELL Rating: 72.3#78 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 72.24#6 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
DARNELL NURSE Rating: 74.5#33 LD	ETHAN BEAR Rating: 73.3#43 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 73.89#23 DL1
OSCAR KLEFBOM Rating: 75.2#21 LD	CALEB JONES Rating: 72.8#55 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 73.97#16 DL2
KRIS RUSSELL Rating: 71.7#89 LD	ADAM LARSSON Rating: 71.1#92 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 71.39#25 DL3

GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO

As atrocious as the road trip has been, most of it, the Canucks can skate away with six of a possible 12 points. Not bad. Imagine blowing a massive lead, playing like you had molasses in your skates, and yet you can still call it a successful road trip? This is a possible scenario.
With the Oilers injuries mounting, the time is absolutely perfect for the Canucks to embarrass Edmonton… at home. That sounds like a trap-game scenario but if the Canucks actually show up, they could win this one.
The Oilers have surrendered the fourth-most CA in the NHL with a whopping 1228 shots against. Vancouver, even though high-event hockey calls their name, is 18th at 1117. Edmonton does have the whole “two best players in the league” thing but they’ve only scored two more goals than the Canucks this season. A lot to digest with that, especially if you also celebrate American Thanksgiving and have just finished your second turkey.
If this game is decided via special teams, the final score will be 9-8. Edmonton has the #1 PP at 32.0% while the Canucks enjoy a modest 26.7% efficiency at 4th. One can only hope it doesn’t actually get that far. It was hard enough, watching the Penguins dismantle the Canucks the way they did.
The one they call Quinn Hughes is a wonder to behold. He’s about two months away from his own Audi commercial. Hughes has an incredible 0.76 A/GP, which is good for third among all defensemen in the league. This shouldn’t come as much surprise considering all he does is set his teammates up for goals. Quinn Hughes does the hockey well.

#CANUCKSTWITTER

Could you imagine?

Daniel Wagner

@passittobulis

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Since the dawn of the Original Six, two defencemen have never finished first and second in rookie scoring. Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are currently first and second.