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It almost looked, to the casual observer at least, that the Canucks really were going to pull off a win last night. They got goals from Brock Boeser and Sam Gagner, and Jacob Markstrom was dialed in. But those of us who live and breathe this team just whispered “Wait for it...” as the inevitable collapse came, leading to a shootout loss. But let’s face it, Toronto may have gotten 2 points, but they have to take the L needing a shootout to put this team away. And that was also having lost Chris Tanev yet again, this time felled by a puck that knocked at least 4 of his teeth out.
#Canucks MDZ says he picked up 4 of Tanev’a teeth
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 7, 2018
So it’s on to Montreal as they have to take on the struggling Habs in a back to back situation that definitely favours the home team, especially if Tanev’s not ready to go tonight.
Canucks’ Chris Tanev leaves Toronto with less teeth and his mouth frozen. He wanted to come back and play. Undetermined if he’ll play in Montreal.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) January 7, 2018
This should mean that if he can’t, Ben Hutton finds his way back into the lineup from the press box. We should also expect to see Anders Nilssen, even though Markstrom was pretty damn good last night (save for the shootout, which may just be where the Canucks miss Ryan Miller and Roberto Luongo the most).
I won’t be able to update the SPW as I am filing this and heading off to bed, but we should have an update for you later in the week.