GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 35: Canucks vs Montreal

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs MONTREAL CANADIENS

7:00PM PST ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: HABS EYES ON THE PRIZE

After dropping two fairly important divisional games over the weekend, the Canucks find themselves in the situation of needing to rattle off 3 big wins this week or potentially accept that their playoff dreams have been snuffed out before the New Year.

But with this game tonight being the only remotely winnable game given the records of the teams they’re facing and the performances the Canucks have put up against the next two, we need to start talking about the draft lottery again. Call me negative if you want, but this team simply can’t run with the big dogs yet. Maybe you’re disappointed because there were glimmers of hope. I’m not. This is a process, and it’s not going to be fixed overnight. There were concerns about the defence heading into this season, and despite a strong start, it’s clear they were justified.

LINEUPS:

Via nhl.com:

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen -- Max Domi -- Joel Armia

Nick Cousins -- Nick Suzuki -- Jordan Weal

Ryan Poehling -- Nate Thompson -- Riley Barber

Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber

Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry

Mike Reilly -- Cale Fleury

Carey Price

Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Christian Folin, Lukas Vejdemo

Injured: Jonathan Drouin (wrist), Paul Byron (knee), Victor Mete (ankle), Matthew Peca (leg), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (concussion)

Canucks projected lineup

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

Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Josh Leivo

Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Jake Virtanen

Tyler Motte -- Jay Beagle -- Brandon Sutter

Jordie Benn -- Christopher Tanev

Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers

Oscar Fantenberg -- Troy Stecher

Jacob Markstrom

Michael Dipietro

Scratched: Loui Eriksson, Jalen Chatfield, Tim Schaller

Injured: Thatcher Demko (concussion), Micheal Ferland (upper body), Alexander Edler (upper body), Tyler Graovac (lower body)

The Canucks sent Guillame Brisebois back to Utica and recalled Jalen Chatfield. Not likely he’s gonna get into the lineup, but right now I would say anything is possible.

GAME DAY CHATTER:

Also, Antoine Roussel had some things to say, and it was refreshing that he didn’t try to sugar coat it:

It’s on them to keep the Habs fans silent though...

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

I stumbled across this. I’m sorry but I had to put this festive little ditty here to help you celebrate the holidays. Or not.