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WHERE: HERE, the ROG
WHEN: Too Soon (4PM PST)
WATCH: CBC, TVAS, SN1
Tonight the Canucks are back in their happy home hunting grounds to extend their home winning streak. At 4PM PST in afternoon.
Just another road game played at home in an eastern time zone. Yes, it’s true as it ever was. The NHL is controlled by the eastern media. When the Nucks play out east they have to start early and ruin afternoons across the west. When the Nucks play at home against eastern block teams they have to start early and ruin afternoons across the west.
Oh well. Could be worse. Could be coming back to the ROG on 3 4 game losing streak with Pete in a points slump, the PK in holey shambles and the popgun PP firing blanks.
Even the Canucks razzle dazzle PR department is firing blanks. The best stat they could post about facing Les Habs was this:
Brandon Sutter leads the Canucks in career points against the Canadiens, with 14 points (10-4-14) in 27 games.
Sutter won’t be playing tonight this afternoon. Or Brock. Or Beagle. Or Sven. Or Nillie. Or Eddie.
We’re no longer on top in the Pacific, but we can still cling to #1 in a vital stat:
NHL top 5 teams, man-games lost. Number in brackets is their league ranking when injuries are quality adjusted (Lost-ps metric). Vancouver Canucks 1st in Lost-ps.
— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) November 17, 2018
ANA 129 (29)
PHI 97 (31)
OTT 87 (4)
VAN 83 (1)
DAL 82 (5)https://t.co/USl4TVmmlg
The Canucks
Forwards
Antoine Roussel - Bo Horvat - Jake Virtanen
Nikolay Goldobin - Elias Pettersson - Loui Eriksson
Darren Archibald - Markus Granlund - Tyler Motte
Tim Schaller - Adam Gaudette - Brendan Leipsic
Defence
Derrick Pouliot - Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton - Erik Gudbranson
Michael Del Zotto - Troy Stecher
And Marky gets the start.
The Canadiens
Forwards
Tomas Tatar - Phillip Danault - Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin - Max Domi - Andrew Shaw
Kenny Agostino - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Artturi Lehkonen
Nicolas Deslauriers - Matthew Peca - Charles Hudon
Defence
Jordie Benn - Jeff Petry
David Schlemko - Noah Juulsen
Xavier Ouellet - Victor Mete
Carey Price takes the start - which is good for us since he has a terrible record (10-2-0-2) against the Canucks. Let’s hope Pete can make that record even more terrible. Please.
Game Day Battle Hymn
Since Kent has foolishly handed me the keys to the preview and I’m still bitter about Road Trip Hell, where the Nucks secured 30th place in GA and GF - only Chris can express our home road dread.