After three days off to enjoy a nice Christmas break, the Vancouver Canucks are back in action tonight, with the 28th-place San Jose Sharks in town.
We were back at the rink this morning and got all the goods to get you set for tonight’s matchup between the Sharks and the Canucks, where both teams will wear their reverse retro uniforms.
Let’s get into what we saw at Canucks morning skate!
Line Rushes
- Spencer Martin is the Canucks’ projected starter tonight after getting the night off Friday in Edmonton when Collin Delia came in and shut the door on the Oilers. Delia made 31 saves on 33 shots en route to a 5-2 Canucks victory.
- The Canucks are sticking with the Lane Pederson-Elias Pettersson-Andrei Kuzmenko trio, as the line has done a lot of good things, with AHL sniper Lane Pederson fitting in seamlessly with Pettersson and Kuzmenko in the short time the three have been together. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
- There are no real surprises with the forward group, as they remain largely the same as what they were in the Canucks’ victory in Edmonton.
- The defence pairings had a little more mystery, however, as Travis Dermott returned from his conditioning stint with the Abbotsford Canucks. Dermott played one game on Abbotsford’s third pair, and didn’t look out of place. The big thing wasn’t the result on the scoresheet, it was that Dermott could get through a full game with contact and not feel any symptoms related to the head injury he’s returning from.
- Dermott will be “an option” tonight, according to head coach Bruce Boudreau, but stayed out late with Sheldon Dries for some extra work, indicating he’ll be a healthy scratch tonight.
What was said
Head coach Bruce Boudreau talked about the easy decision to go back to Spencer Martin in goal tonight after Delia’s impressive performance in Edmonton.
“It was a difficult task we gave him and a difficult task mentally,” Boudreau said of the Canucks’ usage of Martin prior to Friday. “To have that time off and for Delia to come in and do as well as he did, I mean, that’s a great relief I’m sure for Spencer. Hopefully that little break has helped him out and then he’ll be back to form tonight. He is 10-5-1 in the 16 games he’s played — which you know, I’d like to have that winning percentage right now.”
Boudreau also talked about the status of Travis Dermott, saying “he’s an option tonight, so we’ll see.”
So I guess we’ll see!
Finally, Boudreau commented on the challenge that the first game after the Christmas break poses for teams.
“I gotta believe it is,” said Boudreau when asked if this game is typically one of the hardest games of the year for teams. “I mean, I’d have to look back and see how teams have done after that. It seems like we’re three days off, and then boom. Taking the five-day break when you’re not allowed to practice, and then coming back…usually, those games are fairly sloppy games.
“Hopefully our game that we tidied up a little bit in Edmonton rolls over to this game and we’re not as sloppy as a normal three day break would lead you to be.”
Puck drop is at 7 PM tonight from Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Lachlan Irvine will be making his debut on The Stanchies tonight as well!
