GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 15: Canucks vs St Louis

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs ST LOUIS BLUES

7:00PM PST ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: ST LOUIS GAME TIME

To say the Canucks have gotten off to a good start is a bit of an understatement. They have just one regulation loss in their last dozen games, and are among the best teams in the league at the moment by pretty much every statistical and analytical measurement. That’s a surprise, for sure and one that is welcome in this special anniversary season for the team. It also should fill you with dread if you’ve been a Canucks fan since before 2013. This is a team that has made blowing things, or having fate deal them a shitty hand, or both, into an art form. It sucks, because as enjoyable as the Canucks are to watch right now (and holy hell, are they a fun team) we’re so scarred from the past that we have trouble enjoying this. At least I do, anyway.

Tonight is another special night, as they will pay tribute to the original NHL Canucks, the teams of the 70’s. The stick in rink jersey. Orland Kurtenback. Dennis Kearns. Even members of the 1975 squad that made the franchise’s first playoff appearance and actually gave their opponent, the Montreal Canadiens all they could handle despite bowing out in 5 games (yes, hockey was weird in the 70’s).

But let’s not lose sight of the task at hand, as the Canucks have another showdown with the St Louis Blues, a team that sits one point ahead of them in the Western Conference at the moment. The Canucks took the first game of the season series a couple weeks ago in St Louis, charging back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it in the 3rd before winning it in the 6th round of the shootout on a Josh Leivo beauty.

The Blues are looking every bit as hungry to repeat, and this will once again be a good test for a Canucks team that is going to be dealing with a much tougher schedule than they had to start the season, right up until the end of the calendar year.

LINEUPS:

J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen

Josh Leivo -- Adam Gaudette -- Brandon Sutter

Tim Schaller -- Jay Beagle -- Loui Eriksson

Alexander Edler -- Tyler Myers

Jordie Benn -- Christopher Tanev

Quinn Hughes -- Troy Stecher

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Sven Baertschi, Ashton Sautner, Oscar Fantenberg

Injured: Tyler Motte (foot), Antoine Roussel (knee), Micheal Ferland (concussion protocol)

PROJECTED LINEUP

Forwards

Schwartz - Schenn - Thomas

Sanford - O’Reilly - Perron

Blais - Bozak - Steen

MacEachern - Barbashev - Sundqvist

Defense

Gunnarsson - Pietrangelo

Bouwmeester - Parayko

Dunn - Faulk

Goalie

Binnington

The big news for the Canucks is that Quinn Hughes has been cleared to play and will make his return to the lineup tonight. That’s good news for the Canucks and especially good news for their power play, which is noticeably better when he’s running it. I would like to believe that Sven Baertschi gets into the lineup at some point, because Loui Eriksson’s been utterly invisible in the appearances he’s had since returning to the lineup, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Also good to see that Sautner didn’t appear to be worse for wear after that garbage hit by Brendan Dillon of the Sharks on Saturday night.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Gonna mix things up a little bit today and throw down a track that’s absolutely not metal. I will give you time to get over the shock, while you listen to this one. Daz Tha Punk is a new hiphop artist out of my old hometown of Kamloops (though my metal friends will know him for his work with Vancouver’s NECROHOLOCAUST). Daz and I were vocalists in a shortlived band back in the day, and while this may not be metal, I couldn’t be prouder of his work, and the struggles he’s overcome. A shoutout to my buddy Sean Luciw as well, who worked with Daz on the production on this. If you like hiphop, please go check this out at https://dazthapunk.bandcamp.com/releases .