GAME DAY IN THE BUBBLE PREVIEW- CANUCKS VS GOLDEN KNIGHTS: GAME FIVE

VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

6:45 PM PDT THE BUBBLE @ ROGERS PLACE, EDMONTON, AB

TV: SPORTSNET, CBC,NBCSN. RADIO: SN650.

OPPOSITION BLOG: KNIGHTS ON ICE

Before all this started, I said that I was happy no matter what happened, because getting to see the Canucks play some meaningful hockey games after 5 years of missing the playoffs was an unexpected surprise. And yes, they won their way in over the Minnesota Wild, then took out the defending Champion St Louis Blues. They did this with a defence and bottom 6 that is terrible. You can win a series, maybe 2 with poor defence. But against a team like Vegas, healthy and getting all the bounces going their way? It could very well be the end of the line for Vancouver tonight.

And that’s okay. I’m not gonna lose my mind over them being out, and you shouldn’t either. This whole experience will serve the young core of this team well in the future, and hopefully it has highlighted, in giant flashing lights with loud sirens, that GM Jim Benning has to change the bottom 6 and a good chunk of the defence if this team wants to do this again next season.

The Canucks played better, but a 3rd period collapse have them in a must win situation the rest of the way. Are they going to lose tonight? Oh, probably. Coming back from being down 3-1 is rare, and it’ll be a minor miracle if we’re getting ready for Game 6 Thursday. They’re going to literally have to play the best game of their season tonight. No biggie.

LINEUPS:

Courtesy nhl.com here’s what we’ll probably see tonight.

Canucks projected lineup

Tanner Pearson — Elias Pettersson — Tyler Toffoli

J.T. Miller — Bo Horvat — Jake Virtanen

Antoine Roussel — Adam Gaudette — Brock Boeser

Tyler Motte — Jay Beagle — Brandon Sutter

Alexander Edler — Troy Stecher

Quinn Hughes — Christopher Tanev

Oscar Fantenberg — Tyler Myers

Jacob Markstrom

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Olli Juolevi, Justin Bailey, Jalen Chatfield, Louis Domingue, Tyler Graovac, Brogan Rafferty, Loui Eriksson, Jordie Benn

Unfit to play: Micheal Ferland, Josh Leivo

Golden Knights projected lineup

Max Pacioretty — William Karlsson — Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault — Paul Stastny — Reilly Smith

Nick Cousins — Nicolas Roy — Alex Tuch

William Carrier — Chandler Stephenson — Ryan Reaves

Alec Martinez — Shea Theodore

Brayden McNabb — Nate Schmidt

Jon Merrill — Zach Whitecloud

Robin Lehner

Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched: Dylan Coghlan, Oscar Dansk, Reid Duke, Deryk Engelland, Nicolas Hague, Keegan Kolesar, Peyton Krebs, Nick Holden, Gage Quinney, Patrick Brown

Unfit to play: Tomas Nosek

And contrary to what this says...

Let me be crystal clear: This is not Chapter 327 of the #CanucksGoaltendingControversy. Either something’s wrong with Jacob Markstrom, or Travis Green is looking to shake up the ³⁄₄ of his lineup who haven’t scored in this series. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, it’s Thatcher’s moment to come up big like he did so often in Utica.

PREGAME CHATTER:

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN:

More old school Testament for ya. Crank This. If they’re gonna go out, make sure it’s with a bang, not a whisper. Go Canucks Go!