WILD		CANUCKS
	AT

Ed. Note: This preview is posted prior to the Wild - Flames game tonight (Feb. 11).

The Canucks are going through the slowest portion of their schedule. Opposite for Minnesota. This will be their 3rd game in 4 nights. We'll see how much of a role that will play in this one.

The Wild's solid penalty kill may not help the Canucks power play woes. Jordan Schroeder bagged a PP goal last game vs Calgary, and the team did look better with the man advantage with the revamped lines and quicker puck movement. I would love to see Jason Garrison unload more if his 101 mph slappers though. The Canucks did score a PP goal against the Wild last week (Mason Raymond). But no one's really saying much about a failed PP when the team is winning, and tops in the NHL 5 on 5.

Statistically, the Canucks are moving up the charts (above) except for the power play and blocked shots. A 5-game winning streak will do that for you.

PROJECTED ROSTERS / LINES

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 217

Born: Apr 04, 1979

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows

Raymond - Schroeder - Hansen

Higgins - Lapierre - Kassian

Weise - Ebbett - Volpatti

Garrison - Bieksa

Hamhuis - Edler

Ballard - Tanev

Darcy Kuemper

#35 / Goalie / Minnesota Wild

Height: 6-3

Weight: 195

Born: May 05, 1990

Just some kid who has never played in the NHL before, meaning he's gonna stop everything a get a shutout in his first NHL game.

Parise - Koivu - Charlie Coyle

Heatley - Granlund - Setoguchi

Cullen - Brodziak - Clutterbuck

Rupp - Konopka - Bouchard (what the? 4th line?)

Suter - Jonas Brodin

Gilbert - Stoner

Prosser - Faulk

QUOTED

Too slow. Too soft. Too Swedish.

You name it and the labels stuck like gum to Henrik and Daniel Sedin for far too long. Now that Henrik is on the cusp of passing countryman Markus Naslund as the franchise career points leader — the Vancouver Canucks captain is one shy of the 756 points standard — those labels have been shed like outdated clothing. And if not for a foot injury sustained by Daniel in 2009, the 32-year-old telepathic twins would be doing what they’ve done in their 12th seasons, chasing each other to make it a points podium for the Swedish trio from Ornskoldsvik.

TRENDS

• Wild are 1-9 in their last 10 Tuesday games.
• Wild are 1-10 in their last 11 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
• The Wild suck, and really should not suck.
• Canucks are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. a team with a losing record.
• Canucks are 41-12 in their last 53 vs. Northwest.
• Canucks are 36-15 in their last 51 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400.
• More at Covers.com.

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS UPDATED LEADERBOARD

Twin Terror: 7

Bobby Canuck: 5

andrew21nz: 4

FormerHab: 4

Meat Mayos: 4

raincity: 4

marcness52: 3

ChuckinNux: 2

EvianBubble: 2

Nathaniel Perlow: 2

patrik e (hugs kittens): 2

PeaceJo: 2

Sean Zandberg: 2

seedvt: 2

westy99: 2

YorkAveOrca: 2

beardstache: 1

dshaps: 1

Geordie Nuck: 1

Kent Basky: 1

KYCanuck: 1

radepalma: 1

Thursday: 1

Twitchy2010: 1

vancitydan: 1

Vancouverguy: 1

You can enter this competition by entering your prediction for a Canucks game in the Game Preview Posts comments.

You get:

• 2 points for correctly guessing the correct score and winning team. But you have to get both right. There's no points for getting one right and not the other.
  

• 1 point for predicting the correct game-winning goal scorer.

FUNNY

VIDEO

Highlights from last week's Canucks-Wild game:

I miss Salo:

I miss the KesLord too:

The title of this preview post has been brought to you by The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly:

Wiser words were never spoken.

GO CANUCKS GO!