GAME DAY IN THE BUBBLE PREVIEW- CANUCKS VS BLUES: GAME SIX

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs ST LOUIS BLUES

6:30PM PDT THE BUBBLE @ ROGERS PLACE, EDMONTON, AB

TV: SPORTSNET, CBC,NBCSN, FS-MW. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: ST LOUIS GAME TIME

Two big storylines are the focus as we head into the first elimination game of this series tonight in Edmonton. First, is whether Alexander Edler is ready to go after suffering a terrifying skate cut to the side of his face. He did not return on Wednesday night, but we’re hearing that he might be good to go tonight.

At the other end of the ice, there appears to be some discussion about whether the Blues should start Jake Allen or Jordan Binnington. I’m sorry, is that a -grabs a megaphone- GOALTENDING CONTROVERSY????

Imagine a world where it doesn’t involve the Canucks. That’s some wild, wacky stuff. In all honesty, I think the Canucks don’t have a preference, because they’ve shown they’re able to score on either guy, especially off the rush in this series. It’s gonna be a battle, but again the pressure is all on the Blues again tonight,

The Canucks came through with a big effort in Game 5, ticking off all the boxes that they needed to for the victory. They managed to do a decent job neutralizing the Ryan O’Reilly line. They got some clutch scoring from bottom 6 guys. They got another one of those “OMG MARKSTROM” nights out of Jacob Markstrom. And they did it all without Alex Edler for a big chunk of the game. The push is coming, but if they have Edler back in, they can do this. The winner of this series is fated to face the Vegas Golden Knights. Let’s worry about that when we need to worry about that. Tonight, it’s time to make St Louis sing the Blues.

LINEUPS:

From nhl.com this is what we will probably see tonight:

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

Oskar Sundqvist — Brayden Schenn — Tyler Bozak

Zach Sanford — Robert Thomas — Sammy Blais

Ivan Barbashev — Jacob de la Rose — Jordan Kyrou

Justin Faulk — Alex Pietrangelo

Marco Scandella — Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn — Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Jake Allen

Scratched: Troy Brouwer, Ville Husso, Mackenzie MacEachern, Klim Kostin, Austin Poganski, Niko Mikkola, Derrick Pouliot, Jake Walman

Unfit to play: Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, Carl Gunnarsson

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller — Elias Pettersson - Jake Virtanen

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat - Brock Boeser

Antoine Roussel — Adam Gaudette — Brandon Sutter

Tyler Motte — Jay Beagle — Loui Eriksson

Alexander Edler — Troy Stecher

Quinn Hughes — Christopher Tanev

Oscar Fantenberg — Jordie Benn

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Olli Juolevi, Justin Bailey, Jalen Chatfield, Louis Domingue, Tyler Graovac, Brogan Rafferty

Unfit to play: Micheal Ferland, Josh Leivo, Tyler Toffoli, Tyler Myers

Seeing rumblings they’ll go with Binnington tonight. Seems like a good night for Elias Pettersson to make them regret that. Also seeing that should this go to a Game Seven, that Tyler Toffoli could be available. This is awesome news for the Canucks, giving them that much more offensive punch and experience should they need it, and definitely in the Second Round.

GAME DAY RUMBLINGS:

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

Vancouver thrashers doing a damn fine job of covering Canadian thrash legends SACRIFICE in our GDBH today. ‘In Defiance’ is from their 2019 EP ‘No Luck For Canucks’. That changes tonight, in defiance of history. We march on, friends. Go Canucks Go!