Canucks At Wild Game Preview: Nature Is A Whore

CANUCKS		WILD
	AT

Time	Sun. 5:00 PM PST	TV	Sportsnet Pacific
Season Series	2-0 Canucks	Last Meeting	2-1 Canucks Feb. 12/13
The Enemy	Hockey Wilderness	Scoring Leaders	D. Sedin: 8-15-23 Koivu: 4-15-19

CANUCKS	CATEGORY	WILD
11-6-6	SEASON RECORD	12-9-2
28	POINTS	26
3rd	CONFERENCE POSITION	9th
Lost 3	STREAK	Won 1
3-3-4	LAST 10	6-3-1
5-3-3	ROAD RECORD / HOME RECORD	8-2-1
2.70 (17)	GOALS PER GAVE AVERAGE	2.22 (27)
2.52 (11)	GOALS AGAINST PER GAME AVERAGE	2.44 (7)
1.19 (8)	5 ON 5 GF / GA	0.88 (22)
15.7 (22)	POWER PLAY %	15.7 (23)
80.7 (17)	PENALTY KILL %	85.7 (6)
48.6 (22)	FACEOFF WINS %	53.0 (3)
489 (22)	HITS	447 (27)
272 (29)	BLOCKED SHOTS	295 (25)
98 (15)	MINOR PENALTIES TAKEN	77 (2)
NHL.COM

OK, so it finally comes down to this. The Wild won their game tonight so if the Canucks lose to Minnesota on Sunday, in regulation, the Wild will take over #1 spot in the Northwest Division, as they have more wins. Yea, damn all those shootouts the Canucks have gone to and lost in.

So the Canucks feeble power play now goes up against the 6th-best penalty kill in the NHL. The Wild are also the 2nd-best disciplined team in the League, so we'll see how many PP chances the Nucks get. Vancouver is far better 5 on 5 than Minny is so it would be best for them to stay disciplined. Especially considering the Wild have an 8-2-1 record at home. Will the Wild be a bit fatigued in a back to back situation? I don't know. But that would favor the Canucks as the game goes on since Vancouver has had 2 days off.

Roberto Luongo dominates the Wild usually, but AV will ride the Schneid for this one. The Wild will likely play 23 year-old Matt Hackett, who, believe me, is no slouch.

Speaking of...

PROJECTED ROSTERS

Schneider

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows

Higgins - Raymond - Hansen

Booth - Lapierre - Kassian (let's see if the Booth-Kass chemistry can continue)

???? - Schroeder - Weise (Lepisto is day to day with a hip flexor)

Edler - Tanev

Hamhuis - Garrison

Barker - Ballard (Ballard a game-time decision) / Alberts

For the Wild

Matthew Hackett (likely starter)

Parise - Koivu - Coyle

Jason Zucker - Cullen - Setoguchi

Bouchard - Granlund - Heatley

Rupp - Brodziak - Mitchell

Suter - Brodin

Falk - Gilbert

Spurgeon - Stoner

TRENDS

• Canucks are 42-13 in their last 55 vs. Northwest.
• Canucks are 0-8 in their last 8 Sunday games. (Remember to blame Jesus, kids)
  
• Wild are 4-1 in their last 5 Sunday games. DOOOOOOOMED THE CANUCKS ARE!
  
• And that's the bottom line, cuz Stone Cold said so!

YOU MADE MY SHITLIST

Anyone not named Booth, Kassian, Hansen, Raymond, Higgins, Schneider and Alberts for that shit showing in Columbus.

I LOVE YOU, MAN

Ughhhhh. None of them. I would like to commend David Booth for his efforts against Columbus but most of them were selfish, probably because his sister was watching live in Ohio. If he was getting results from going in 1 on 2 and not passing I would sing a different tune. But if you are NOT getting results, you come across as a selfish - looking player. HOWEVER, at least Booth was playing balls-out for 60 minutes. Now put the bastard on the top PP unit, AV god dammit!

Henrik Sedin! Thank you for pointing him out and calming my anger, raincity. Hank has 4 goals and 5 assists in his last 8 games. I love this guy! Captain Hank for the win, motherfuckers!

SCORE-PREDICTING WIZARDS UPDATED LIST

Once again, no change after last game. Not enough numbskulls out there, obviously.

VIDEO

The last meeting:

Clutterbuck fail never gets old:

What the fuck, man. Seriously:

The title of this preview post has been brought to you by Nirvana:

GO CANUCKS GO!