THE ROUNDUP- Nov 8/18: The Canucks Hit Beantown, Malkin Strikes Again and more...

CANUCKS NEWS: It isn’t even a question of “will he or won’t he?”, but what will he do and when will he do it? The thought of Brad Marchand gooning Elias Pettersson tonight fills me with dread, as it should you. The other question that looms large: When he does something, how will the Canucks respond? There was a ton of debate over the lack of response by the Canucks over cheapshots dealt to Pettersson and Sven Baertschi this season, and you have to believe every man on that bench knows they’ll be under the microscope as to how they react to any type of line-crossing by the NHL’s number one rat.

The last time these teams met, Pettersson was still injured, and a banged-up Canucks squad, having just returned from that road trip pulled out an emotional 3-2 OT win that seemed to be affected by the sheer will of Bo Horvat. The Bruins sit 3rd in the Atlantic, sandwiched between the 2nd place Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens in the Wild Card 1 slot. They’ve only played 14 games so far, so a win tonight won’t move them up the standings, but a regulation loss could drop them into the wild card spot.

The Canucks are in 3rd in the Pacific, and an ROW win combined with a Sharks loss will see them regain 1st in the division. In November. It’s still a little bizarre. Let’s take a look at your morning reading, shall we?

For a team with no captain, one guy certainly seems to be shouldering the load...

Part of the problem in Detroit was running into a hot goalie. It looks like they could be in for more of the same tonight in Boston...

Former GM Mike Gillis was on TSN1040 again and shared this story about Alain Vigneault... Jett Woo’s been turning heads at the WHL’s turn during the CIBC Canada/Russia Challenge, and it could help him secure a spot on Team Canada’s backline for the World Juniors at Christmas... Brian Burke continues to be groomed as Don Cherry’s replacement as they await an open spot in the Sportscasters’ Retirement Home... You may have seen some of Clay Imoo’s Canucks-themed song parodies on Twitter. He’s back with a new one and it’s all about Dekey Pete...

Tanner Kero scored twice, but it wasn’t enough as the Utica Comets dropped a 4-3 decision to the Laval Rocket

I know we all want to be positive and enjoy that the Canucks are playing a far more exciting brand of hockey right now, but this rebuild isn’t over and there’s a lot of reasons why (paywall on this one, but worth the read if you can) according to the Athletic’s JD Burke

AROUND THE NHL: Milan Lucic received a $10k fine for his actions against Tampa Tuesday night. Meh... Evgeni Malkin was given 5 and a game last night for this hit on TJ Oshie but will not face supplemental discipline for some reason...

The DoPS stated they felt Malkin was “bracing for a hit” from Oshie, but Uncle Bob lays out the facts that make all of that irrelevant:

How is this different than the kind of hits that Tom Wilson’s been doling out for his entire career? And what exactly will it take to get Malkin, who has a long history of shady af hits (just ask Willie Mitchell) Oshie went on to get the last laugh, scoring the GWG with 1:14 left to give the Capitals a 2-1 win. Alex Ovechkin scored for the Caps, while Sidney Crosby opened the scoring for the Penguins...

The Nashville Predators continue to roll, and the Colorado Avalanche continue to cool off as the Preds cruised to a 4-1 win over the Avs last night. Colton Sissons led the way with the hatty for Nashville...

After coughing up a 2 goal lead, Ryan Getzlaf responded to mark Jankowski’s tying goal 27 seconds later and it stood up as the winner in a big 3-2 Ducks win over the Calgary Flames. Ryan Miller stopped 37 of 39 Calgary shots to help secure the victory in this one...