GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 20: Canucks vs Dallas

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs DALLAS STARS

7:00PM PST ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: DEFENDING BIG D

After dropping 5 of their first 6 games in November, the Canucks needed to respond with a big game and they got it Tuesday against Nashville, thanks in big part to a big night from the power play. Tanner Pearson and Elias Pettersson scored twice, and Adam Gaudette had the other as the Canucks won 5-3 over the Predators. It was a match that we were watching closely not just to see how they would respond after a tough loss to New Jersey Sunday afternoon, but also to see how they matched up against a team with a similar record.

And while we’d love to be able to heap praise on them, there’s no time for that, as they have another tough team to square off with tonight: the Dallas Stars. They’re 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, though you wouldn’t know it by all of the fooferah in the media about Dallas GM Jim Montgomery laying into Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn for their lack of performance (again). Add in a pile of injuries, and after a small sputter at the start, the Stars are back to where we left them last season, looking very much like a team that could give someone trouble in the early rounds of the playoffs. They were impressive in a 3-1 win in Calgary last night, so maybe the Canucks can take advantage of a tired Stars squad tonight?

The Stars aren’t exactly shooting the lights out when it comes to scoring, but they don’t let in a lot of goals either, so it might be a little bit much to ask for the Canucks to put up big numbers again tonight. The big story for them so far is Roope Hintz, who has 9 goals and is tied for the team scoring lead of 11 points with Seguin. Hintz was impressive in the Stars playoff run this past spring, and seems to be continuing to turn into a gem for them. It’s kind of surprising to see Jamie Benn with just one goal this season, and 1-3-4 numbers from John Klingberg. They added a couple big free agents in the offseason, bringing in Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry. Pavelski’s doing well so far, but Perry has just 2 goals and 2 assists, and by all reports is still a giant bag of garbage.

LINEUPS:

A couple injuries to the bottom 6 means some shuffling for the Canucks. Brandon Sutter’s been placed on the IR after suffering a strained groin, and Jay Beagle is listed as day to day. So that means Adam Gaudette will take the center slot on line 3, and Tyler Graovac, who was called up yesterday from Utica, is in on the 4th line. It’s Graovac’s Canucks regular season debut, and good to see him get a look after a strong training camp and solid performance in Utica for the Comets. Jacob Markstrom will get the start tonight.

Courtesy nhl.com, here’s what we can expect tonight:

Stars projected lineup

Alexander Radulov -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry

Jamie Benn -- Justin Dowling -- Tyler Seguin

Nick Caamano -- Joe Pavelski -- Denis Gurianov

Rhett Gardner -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau

Esa Lindell -- Andrej Sekera

Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen

Roman Polak -- Taylor Fedun

Anton Khudobin

Ben Bishop

Scratched: Joel Hanley

Injured: Andrew Cogliano (lower body), Roope Hintz (lower body), Mattias Janmark (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body), Stephen Johns (post traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

Canucks projected lineup

Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen

Sven Baertschi -- Adam Gaudette -- J.T. Miller

Tim Schaller -- Tyler Graovac -- Loui Eriksson

Alexander Edler -- Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes -- Christopher Tanev

Jordie Benn -- Troy Stecher

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Oscar Fantenberg, Zack MacEwen

Injured: Jay Beagle (lower body), Brandon Sutter (groin strain), Tyler Motte (foot), Antoine Roussel (knee), Micheal Ferland (concussion protocol)

GAME DAY CHATTER:

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Some old school Texas metal for ya today as we offer up a track off Arlington, TX’s GAMMACIDE off their ‘Victims Of Science’ release from 1989. Here’s ‘Chemical Imbalance’, enjoy the game!