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VANCOUVER CANUCKS @ CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
5:30PM PST UNITED CENTER, CHICAGO, IL
TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.
OPPOSITION BLOG: SECOND CITY HOCKEY
What was the most bitter taste from Tuesday night? Was it how the Canucks were the better team for most of the game but lost after a goof play in the Blues end gave them a 3-0 in OT, or the sour, sour grapes of Jordan Binnington complaining about not winning the Calder Trophy despite having won the Stanley Cup a mere 5 months ago? Wanna trade, crybaby?
Anyway, enough about those a-holes til the next time we play them, we have different a-holes to deal with tonight. And yes, while the rivalry may never be what it once was, there will always be a special place in our hearts for these guys. At least when we beat them.
There are some signs of hope for the future for the Hawks. Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach are gonna be great players for them, and Robin Lehner is probably gonna steal the starter’s job from Corey Crawford if the team has any sense at all. But in the mean time we can enjoy seeing their once vaunted lineup drifting into their twilight years, and know that until he leaves this mortal coil, Duncan Keith should expect to get booed by Canucks fans no matter where he is.
LINEUPS:
Morning skate lines for the #Canucks in Chicago:
— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) November 7, 2019
Pearson-Horvat-Gaudette
Miller-Pettersson-Boeser
Leivo-Sutter-Virtanen
Schaller-Beagle-Eriksson
Edler-Myers
Hughes-Tanev
Benn-Stecher
Baertschi-Fantenberg
5:30pm puck drop on @Sportsnet650 pic.twitter.com/LeYdTPTC6E
My anger over seeing Baertschi in the pressbox again given how absolutely meh Loui Eriksson has been is reaching peak levels. Jacob Markstrom will start tonight, and we should see Thatcher Demko tomorrow night in Winnipeg.
And courtesy of our pals over at Second City Hockey, here’s what we should see from the hosts tonight:
Nylander — Toews — Saad
DeBrincat — Strome — Kane
Shaw — Kampf — Dach
Caggiula — Carpenter — Smith
Keith — Boqvist
De Haan — Seabrook
Maatta — Gustafsson
Crawford
Lehner
And because these types of things always happen to the Canucks, Keith is sitting on 99 goals, so you know he’ll score tonight because the hockey gods are merciless.
GAME DAY CHATTER:
"It shows a lot of character and it's what you need to be able to do in this league to have confidence." Tanner Pearson discusses the #Canucks ability to comeback. pic.twitter.com/rQpKxYOuny
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) November 7, 2019
"Building confidence and building trust in each other, we've been doing a good job of that as of late." @BoHorvat comments on the team believing in themselves. pic.twitter.com/3yHI9PH9rd
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) November 7, 2019
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:
The metal world lost a good one this week as original MERCYFUL FATE bassist Timi Hansen died after a long battle with cancer. Hansen played on a number of the band’s albums, as well as a few King Diamond releases, including the hugely influential MF albums ‘Melissa’ and ‘Don’t Break The Oath’. He passed on Monday, a week after his 61st birthday. From DBTO, here’s ‘A Dangerous Meeting’ and ‘Desecration Of Souls’.