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With the news that Micheal Ferland is heading back to Vancouver, he joins Tyler Toffoli and Adam Gaudette on the Canucks injured list and it means Travis Green may have to dip into the black aces for some help in this afternoon’s game. We don’t know yet if Antoine Roussel will be good to go after taking a puck to the face in Tuesday night’s win over Minnesota, and the possibility of seeing Zack MacEwan, Justin Bailey and/or Tyler Graovac in the lineup is very real.
One thing’s for certain, the Canucks need another effort from their top 6 like we saw in Tuesday’s game. It could also mean a bigger role for Jake Virtanen, who looked very much like he didn’t want to be coming out of the lineup again in limited minutes on the 4th line, though injuries saw him get some time on the 2nd PP unit later in the game.
The Wild have somehow come through this unscathed injury-wise, and that’s going to be a definite advantage in this series for them. Another advantage? The red-hot Kevin Fiala, who just seems to be scoring at will right now. The Canucks have to find a way to shut him down if they hope to take the series lead today.
*PROJECTED* LINEUPS (Courtesy of NHL.com)
Canucks projected lineup
J.T. Miller — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser
Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Loui Eriksson
Antoine Roussel — Brandon Sutter — Zack MacEwen
Tyler Motte — Jay Beagle — Jake Virtanen
Quinn Hughes — Christopher Tanev
Alexander Edler — Troy Stecher
Oscar Fantenberg — Tyler Myers
Scratched: Justin Bailey, Jordie Benn, Jalen Chatfield, Louis Domingue, Tyler Graovac, Olli Juolevi, Brogan Rafferty
Unfit to play: Tyler Toffoli, Adam Gaudette, Micheal Ferland, Josh Leivo
Wild projected lineup
Jordan Greenway — Eric Staal — Kevin Fiala
Zach Parise — Joel Eriksson Ek — Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno — Alex Galchenyuk — Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato — Mikko Koivu — Ryan Hartman
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched: Matt Bartkowski, Louie Belpedio, Luke Johnson, Kaapo Kahkonen, Gerald Mayhew, Brennan Menell, Victor Rask, Kyle Rau, Mat Robson, Nico Sturm
Unfit to play: Greg Pateryn
PREGAME CHATTER
Here’s a great look at the behind the scenes work by Canucks staff, getting the team ready to play inside the bubble:
Like clockwork. Unprecedented times call for unique measures, go behind-the-scenes inside the #Canucks bubble setup and take a look at how it all goes down. pic.twitter.com/WLzF67hujl
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) August 5, 2020
"We found a way to create more, our compete level was high and we defended extremely hard." - Coach Green reflects on the #Canucks efforts in Game 2 against the Wild. pic.twitter.com/IRWFk3Yy1R
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) August 5, 2020
"As for the day game, I can't wait. These night games have been late and it's been challenging, so I can't wait to get going here." - Bo Horvat looks ahead to the matinee matchup against Minnesota for Game 3. pic.twitter.com/V8QZKa1Khu
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) August 5, 2020
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Some old school Vancouver metal for ya today, with some live CAUSTIC THOUGHT, shot live at the Town Pump. This band featured Jed Simon and Byron Stroud, who would go on to bigger things with STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and ZIMMERS HOLE. One of the better local bands of the era, and a great pump up song for today’s game. Go Canucks Go!