GAME DAY PREVIEW- GAME THIRTY-TWO: Canucks @ Anaheim- Dec 29, 2021

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (14-15-2) vs ANAHEIM DUCKS (17-9-6)

HONDA CENTER, ANAHEIM, CA

7:30PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: ANAHEIM CALLING

It’s been thirteen long days since the Canucks took their scarcely plausible winning streak to six games with a win over the San Jose Sharks, and after a few postponements, they appear to be ready to go for a seventh straight win tonight in Anaheim as they take on the Ducks for the second time this season.

They were supposed to host Anaheim back on the 23rd, but with the NHL shutting down over the holidays to give teams time to get their respective outbreaks under control, that one and four other games will be rescheduled during February, when the league would have been taking a break for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. With NHL participation now cancelled, it could allow them to finish the season on schedule, though with the way teams are still being affected by COVID, taxi squads and call ups may not be enough to keep them all going.

It’s been a remarkable stretch to say the least, and while some of them may not have been what you would call dominant performances, they were definitely full value for every one of these six wins. They did it playing through injuries to key players, especially on the back end, all while trying to adjust to new systems.

The last time the Canucks played the Ducks, it was another one to forget. A 5-1 loss that saw Anaheim do what everyone was doing at the time: scoring two power play goals against the Canucks. Since Bruce Boudreau’s arrival, the Canucks have killed ten of twelve penalties, and one of those goals they surrendered was on a 5 on 3 against Boston.

We would have been previewing Canada’s game against Germany at the 2022 IIHF World Juniors tonight as a nice lead in to this game, but news broke a little over an hour ago that the tournament has been cancelled for health and safety concerns. Two games had already been forfeited today, and it’s the right call here. The health of the players outweighs all, and that’s something we hope the NHL keeps in mind.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, this is probably what these teams will roll out tonight:

Canucks projected lineup

Tanner Pearson — J.T. Miller — Nils Hoglander

Jason Dickinson — Bo Horvat — Conor Garland

Vasily Podkolzin — Elias Pettersson — Tyler Motte

Justin Dowling — Juho Lammikko — Alex Chiasson

Quinn Hughes — Luke Schenn

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Kyle Burroughs — Tucker Poolman

Thatcher Demko

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Brad Hunt

Injured: Guillaume Brisebois (undisclosed), Travis Hamonic (lower body), Matthew Highmore (upper body), Brandon Sutter (illness), Brady Keeper (leg)

COVID-19 protocol: Brock Boeser, Philip Di Giuseppe

Ducks projected lineup

Vinni Lettieri — Ryan Getzlaf — Troy Terry

Sonny Milano — Isac Lundestrom — Rickard Rakell

Derek Grant — Jakob Silfverberg — Sam Carrick

Nicolas Deslauriers — Buddy Robinson

Hampus Lindholm — Jamie Drysdale

Cam Fowler — Josh Manson

Simon Benoit — Kevin Shattenkirk

Jacob Larsson

John Gibson

Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: None

Injured: Adam Henrique (lower body), Max Jones (upper body), Josh Mahura (undisclosed)

COVID-19 protocol: Trevor Zegras, Sam Steel, Max Comtois

The Canucks will be missing Brock Boeser tonight as he and Phillip DiGiuseppe were placed in COVID protocol. It’s a big loss for the Canucks, as he’s been fantastic since the coaching change. It’s nice to see a mostly healthy defence lineup there, with just the injured Travis Hamonic out of the rotation. The Ducks have three of their youngsters in protocol including Trevor Zegras, but are still a formidable opponent.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Found a great live version of the title track of FLOTSAM AND JETSAM’s 2nd album ‘No Place For Disgrace’, recorded live in Japan in 2008. Crank this one up as we welcome the Canucks back tonight, eh?