Both the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights have owned the moment but tonight’s prize is up for grabs: a 2-1 series lead. Elias Pettersson has elevated his game and sits only a few points back of Nathan MacKinnon for the playoff lead. PETTERSSON, not Claude Giroux, not Mark Stone, not Jamie Benn. They’re all just guys and Pettersson is the dude of them all.

This is going to be the must-see game of the playoffs so far and the Canucks would love to be the ones with the upper hand.

Let’s Do This!™

TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP

SN / SN 650 / 6:45 PM

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The odds for tonight’s game are: VAN +170/ VGK -200 courtesy of OddsShark.com

LINEUPS

Travis Green reconstructed his lines after game one and got a healthy surprise of Tyler Toffoli back in the lineup. Might we see Tyler Myers as well this evening? Vancouver’s Tylers/60 would be through the roof. Loui Eriksson wasn’t missed despite his defensive prowess. Is this the lineup we’ll see at game time?

Jacob Markstrom will be in net this evening.

CANUCKS lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
J.T. MILLER Rating: 78.5#7 LW	BO HORVAT Rating: 74.8#34 C	BROCK BOESER Rating: 74.1#41 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 75.80#12 FL1
TANNER PEARSON Rating: 73.7#38 LW	ELIAS PETTERSSON Rating: 77.7#14 C	TYLER TOFFOLI Rating: 75.9#25 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 75.78#4 FL2
ANTOINE ROUSSEL Rating: 71.0#97 LW	ADAM GAUDETTE Rating: 70.2#130 C	BRANDON SUTTER Rating: 70.1#131 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 70.44#26 FL3
TYLER MOTTE Rating: 68.8#144 LW	JAY BEAGLE Rating: 68.4#163 C	JAKE VIRTANEN Rating: 72.0#78 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 69.73#22 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
ALEXANDER EDLER Rating: 74.3#26 LD	TROY STECHER Rating: 71.9#63 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 73.11#23 DL1
QUINN HUGHES Rating: 75.2#15 LD	CHRIS TANEV Rating: 71.0#90 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 73.12#15 DL2
OSCAR FANTENBERG Rating: 70.9#100 LD	JORDIE BENN Rating: 70.9#101 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 70.90#26 DL3

There likely won’t be any changes in the lineup. Black Aces aren’t entering this series, no way.

Is Pete DeBoer having an identity crisis in net? Will Marc-Andre Fleury see his first action of the series? Robin Lehner hasn’t been terrible but the social media frenzy is making people do some crazy things.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:

LW	C	RW	Forwards
MAX PACIORETTY Rating: 81.1#2 LW	WILLIAM KARLSSON Rating: 76.6#23 C	MARK STONE Rating: 79.8#5 RW	FL1 Rating Rating: 79.18#4 FL1
JONATHAN MARCHESSAULT Rating: 75.5#22 LW	PAUL STASTNY Rating: 74.8#36 C	REILLY SMITH Rating: 76.8#17 RW	FL2 Rating Rating: 75.71#5 FL2
NICK COUSINS Rating: 71.9#91 LW	NICOLAS ROY Rating: 72.9#59 C	ALEX TUCH Rating: 73.4#49 RW	FL3 Rating Rating: 72.71#6 FL3
WILL CARRIER Rating: 70.3#116 LW	CHANDLER STEPHENSON Rating: 71.5#101 C	RYAN REAVES Rating: 70.5#106 RW	FL4 Rating Rating: 70.75#11 FL4

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS	Defense
BRAYDEN MCNABB Rating: 73.1#55 LD	NATE SCHMIDT Rating: 75.5#18 RD	DL1 Rating Rating: 74.31#17 DL1
ALEC MARTINEZ Rating: 73.3#50 LD	SHEA THEODORE Rating: 78.2#5 RD	DL2 Rating Rating: 75.73#2 DL2
NICK HOLDEN Rating: 74.4#24 LD	ZACH WHITECLOUD Rating: 73.5#35 RD	DL3 Rating Rating: 73.95#2 DL3

GAME NOTES, STATS, AND OTHER INTERESTING THINGS

Vancouver has kept their pace of goal scoring to full steam ahead! They have 39 goals but they’ve surrendered a whopping 33! Jacob Markstrom has played amazing but he’s going to need some help on this one. If Tyler Myers returns, hopefully, they can keep at least one goal off the scoreboard that they normally would allow.
Who had Bo Horvat as the NHL leader in goals right now? The St. Louis series was a coming-out party of sorts for Bo but the way he thrived against Vegas in Game 2 should make people crave his next masterpiece. Is there an encore performance for Cap? Where has this Bo Horvat been all season? He’s amazing!
Travis Green needs to keep his lineup intact for tonight. Adding size or more physicality is not the recipe for success. Putting Toffoli and Tanner Pearson with Elias Pettersson isn’t the sexiest move but it paid immediate dividends. It freed up Bo Horvat to play with Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller. It’s not always about what we want for lines, it’s about what works.
Vegas is a possession team and that’s a problem. Jacob Markstrom has faced and saved the most shots in the playoffs by a country mile. He’s almost 100 saves/shots faced higher than the next closest netminder. Even Markstrom will have a breaking point.
Is the sword coming out of Fleury for game three? Is he day-to-day? People want to know.

THE TWITTER TAKE

Not hockey related but we need a pick me up:

MY 94 CENTS

Game one Vegas took the Canucks to the woodshed, game two the Canucks adjusted and responded, but it’s how both teams respond in game three that could define the series. Someone is taking the lead tonight and the tensions have already risen so it’s the cool-headed team that will take advantage.

The Canucks power-play was unreal in game two and they don’t look static anymore, that’s an eye-opener. I still believe Vancouver has potential that hasn’t been tapped yet.

AND ANOTHER THING…

Remember, hockey is just a game.

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