GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 43: Canucks @ Tampa

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

4:00PM PST AMALIE ARENA, TAMPA BAY, FL

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: RAW CHARGE

There are times when a team goes on a run, and they look invincible throughout the course of the streak. This is not one of those times. In a way, it makes the 7 game win streak the Canucks have been on even more impressive, because they’ve been presented with adversity in a myriad of forms, and been able to overcome it in these games.

They’re getting scoring from throughout the lineup, and apart from a somewhat off night against Chicago, goaltending at a level we haven’t seen since Roberto Luongo manned the crease, from Jacob Markstrom. They’re still struggling defensively, but Marky’s been up to the challenge, giving them All Star level goaltending. It’s like he wants us to have a #CanucksGoaltendingControversy simply because he’s playing so well Thatcher Demko can’t get a start right now. I am sure that will change on this trip, but when you’re hot you’re hot and no one can fault Travis Green for going with the guy on the roll.

On the other side of the redline are the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have lost just 5 times since November 23rd. It would appear that they’ve recovered from that 6 game losing streak they had back in October, and now sit in 3rd in the Atlantic, just one point behind Toronto. Considering their next opponent is Arizona, one of the teams the Canucks are chasing in the Pacific, a win tonight is massive towards their goal of securing a playoff spot.

LINEUPS:

Courtesy nhl.com, here’s what we should see tonight.

Canucks projected lineup

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

Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson

Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Jake Virtanen

Tyler Motte -- Jay Beagle -- Tim Schaller

Quinn Hughes -- Christopher Tanev

Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher

Oscar Fantenberg -- Tyler Myers

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Jordie Benn, Zack MacEwen

Injured: Josh Leivo (fractured kneecap), Brandon Sutter (upper body), Micheal Ferland (upper body), Tyler Graovac (lower body)

Lightning projected lineup

Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Ondrej Palat -- Anthony Cirelli -- Tyler Johnson

Pat Maroon -- Cedric Paquette -- Alex Killorn

Carter Verhaeghe -- Mitchell Stephens -- Yanni Gourde

Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta

Braydon Coburn -- Erik Cernak

Kevin Shattenkirk -- Mikhail Sergachev

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Curtis McElhinney

Injured: Ryan McDonagh (upper body)

Scratched: Luke Schenn

No changes from the Canucks, but at some point you have to think that win or lose they’re going to try and get Zack MacEwan in the lineup. One thing the Canucks will need to do tonight is not give Tampa opportunities on the power play. If you think the Canucks PP is scary, you should see this one. Best not to play with fire.

GAME DAY CHATTER:

Also, I would expect that this game is gonna have some snarl to it, especially if we see the same level of garbage from some of Tampa’s depth players that we saw the last couple meetings from these teams.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

When it comes to death metal, there’s no one location in the world as prolific to producing influential bands as Tampa Bay. Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Monstrosity, Hate Eternal and today’s choice: Atheist. Taking a more progressive approach than a straight forward one, along with Death they used virtuoso-level musicianship mixed with brutality to create some truly memorable albums. From ‘Piece Of Time’, here’s ‘Room With A View’.