Team

Navigation

Canucks News

Nation Sites

The Nation Network

CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA

Canucks Army THE PLAYOFF GAME DAY: Canucks Vs. Blues G1

Photo credit: © Anne-Marie Sorvin |

By Always90four

Aug 12, 2020, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 12, 2020, 01:52 EDT

Comments

THE INTRO

Well now, isn’t this a surprise? The Canucks are in the real NHL playoffs for the first time in five long years. There isn’t a single player from the 2015 Flames team on the current Blues roster so this series has a chance to be less disappointing than that one did. Quinn Hughes will hopefully continue his utter dominance on the sport of hockey and we can only ask that Jacob Markstrom has gotten the yips out of his game.

Beating the defending Stanley Cup Champions will not be easy but they did it twice this season, so how hard could it be?

Let’s Do This!™

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The odds for tonight’s game are: VAN +130/ STL -150 courtesy of OddsShark.com

TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP

SN / SN 650 / 7:30 PM

LINEUPS

Don’t expect Olli Juolevi to start this game and same probably goes for Jordie Benn who is completing his quarantine in the Bubble™. That most likely means Oscar Fantenberg is back and doesn’t that just warm your heart? A Brogan Rafferty start wouldn’t be the worst, would it?

Upfront, everything should remain the same.

Jacob Markstrom will be in net to start the series.

CANUCKS lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
J.T. MILLER Rating: 78.5#7 LW	ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 77.7#14 C	BROCK BOESER Rating: 74.1#41 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 76.78#14 FL1
TANNER PEARSON Rating: 73.7#38 LW	BO HORVAT Rating: 74.8#34 C	LOUI ERIKSSON Rating: 69.7#123 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 72.73#23 FL2
ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 71.0#97 LW	BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 70.1#131 C	JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 72.0#78 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 71.07#20 FL3
TYLER MOTTE Rating: 68.8#144 LW	JAY BEAGLE Rating: 68.4#163 C	ZACK MACEWEN	FL4 Rating Rating: 68.57#30 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.3#26 LD	TROY STECHER Rating: 71.9#63 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 73.11#22 DL1
QUINN HUGHES Rating: 75.2#15 LD	CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.0#90 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 73.12#17 DL2
OLLI JUOLEVI	TYLER MYERS Rating: 72.6#50 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 72.56#10 DL3

Ivan Barbashev left the playoffs to be with his wife who was expecting their first child. No word if he’ll be available this evening. The Blues have a pretty big team and the Canucks will be in tough against them. If the Canucks had fits with Minnesota, they may want to up the ante in this one.

Jordan Binnington will be the man between the pipes for the Blues.

BLUES lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
JADEN SCHWARTZ Rating: 77.0#12 LW	BRAYDEN SCHENN Rating: 76.6#22 C	VLADIMIR TARASENKO Rating: 80.4#3 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 78.03#7 FL1
ZACH SANFORD Rating: 73.3#43 LW	RYAN O’REILLY Rating: 75.8#28 C	DAVID PERRON Rating: 75.3#27 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 74.79#8 FL2
SAMMY BLAIS Rating: 70.6#105 LW	ROBERT THOMAS Rating: 72.7#66 C	TYLER BOZAK Rating: 73.0#59 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 72.14#13 FL3
ALEX STEEN Rating: 70.7#104 LW	OSKAR SUNDQVIST Rating: 72.2#76 C	TROY BROUWER Rating: 69.6#122 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.80#11 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
CARL GUNNARSSON Rating: 72.6#60 LD	ALEX PIETRANGELO Rating: 78.5#4 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 75.55#9 DL1
MARCO SCANDELLA Rating: 72.3#66 LD	COLTON PARAYKO Rating: 76.9#11 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 74.63#5 DL2
VINCE DUNN Rating: 76.0#10 LD	JUSTIN FAULK Rating: 74.1#30 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 75.07#1 DL3

NOTES TO START THE SERIES

Tyler Myers has played six career playoff games against the St. Louis Blues. He has 14 shots and 4 PIM. This is the Tyler Myers we can all support. Looking at his career regular-season stats vs. the Blues, he has a goal and seven assists along with 23 PIM in 25 games. Trying to decide if this is good or not.
Quinn Hughes leads all defensemen in points in the playoffs thus far. What? What else should be added to this? Was that not enough of a wow-factor for you? THE ENTIRE LEAGUE! There, now we’re satisfied.
Vancouver holds the lifetime record against St. Louis in the playoffs with a 12-6 record, averaging 3.1 goals-per-game and allowing only 2.9. They stopped counting decimal points after the first lockout so the Canucks will need to win this one outright by at least a full goal.
Not like you needed another thing to love about Quinn Hughes but he is also the league-leader in powerplay points with four. Connor McDavid technically has five but he’s not in the playoffs anymore.
Jordan Binnington finished second to Elias Pettersson in Calder voting a season ago. It can’t be denied that a Stanley Cup is a much better prize but it took seven games to win it for the Blues. If Binnington deserved the trophy don’t you think he would have locked it up in five or so games?

THE TWITTER TAKE