GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game 69: Canucks vs New York Islanders

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs NY ISLANDERS

7:00PM PDT ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: LIGHTHOUSE HOCKEY

The Canucks are finding themselves in an increasingly tougher battle to stay alive in the playoff hunt, once again knocked out of a Wild Card slot thanks to a Winnipeg Jets win last night. They’ll need to snap out a terrible string of poor play that’s seen them lose 5 of their last 6 games, all in regulation as they take on another struggling club, the New York Islanders tonight.

This is the last of a 4 game homestand for the Canucks before heading down to play Arizona and Colorado in a back to back before returning to play Winnipeg at home (which will be their 3rd game in 4 nights. Even with a win tonight, they simply cannot afford to walk away from any of those games without the two points if they hope to make it to the post-season.

The last time these teams met, it was the Quinn Hughes show as he scored twice including this unreal overtime winner to defeat the Islanders 4-3.

LINEUPS:

There’s good news for a team desperately in need of some, and that is the return of Brock Boeser to the Canucks lineup tonight. Boeser had been out with a rib injury, but it turned out to be not as serious as first thought, and will be on a line with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson tonight.

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Jordan Eberle

Andrew Ladd — Brock Nelson — Josh Bailey

Anthony Beauvillier — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Leo Komarov

Matt Martin — Derick Brassard — Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy — Ryan Pulock

Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield

Andy Greene — Noah Dobson

Semyon Varlamov

Thomas Greiss

Scratched: Ross Johnston, Tom Kuhnhackl, Thomas Hickey , Otto Koivula, Michael Dal Colle

Injured: Casey Cizikas (leg), Johnny Boychuk (eye), Adam Pelech (Achilles)

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller — Elias Pettersson — Tyler Toffoli

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser

Antoine Roussel — Adam Gaudette — Zack MacEwen

Loui Eriksson — Brandon Sutter — Jake Virtanen

Alexander Edler — Troy Stecher

Quinn Hughes — Christopher Tanev

Oscar Fantenberg — Tyler Myers

Thatcher Demko

Louis Domingue

Scratched: Guillaume Brisebois , Jordie Benn

Injured: Tyler Motte (undisclosed), Jay Beagle (lower body), Micheal Ferland (concussion), Josh Leivo (knee), Tyler Graovac (lower body), Jacob Markstrom (lower body)

Tyler Motte is out - but Loui can cover for him. We also got a bit of hope for the coming weeks, as Jacob Markstrom was back on the ice skating today. No time frame for his return yet, but maybe he can get back to save the day?

Bottom line here is we have two desperate teams on the outside looking in, and it should make for a heck of a game.

GAME DAY CHATTER:

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

One of Canada’s best metal festivals is coming in May at Vancouver’s Rickshaw Theatre as the annual Modified Ghost Festival lays waste to the West Coast. The highlight of this year’s fest is an incredible night of Canadian metal on May 23rd, featuring SACRIFICE, RAZOR, WITCHES HAMMER, EXPAIN, W.M.D. and these guys. From their album ‘Violence and Force’, here’s EXCITER with ‘Saxons Of The Fire’.