GAME DAY PREVIEW: Game Eighteen- Canucks vs Calgary

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (6-11-0) vs CALGARY FLAMES (7-5-1)

ROGERS ARENA- VANCOUVER, BC

7:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET, CBC. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: MATCHSTICKS AND GASOLINE

It’s Hockey Day In Canada. Traditionally, we’ve written about what the game means to us, as Canadians, and told personal tales of how we came to love this sport. I don’t feel like doing that this year. Honestly, watching this team is exhausting me mentally, and at times I wonder if I need to step away because everything this franchise does just makes me want to scream right now.

Maybe that’s a little dramatic. We’re all a little frazzled as we move into year two of this pandemic, and some things just aren’t helping. Like the Canucks. The playoff run really lifted the spirits of Canucks fans, as we all tried to adjust to a radical shift in how we live day to day. 6 months down the road, the Canucks are so far removed from the team that took out St Louis and almost did the same to Vegas. It makes me wonder if it actually really happened, or was it a very intense Mandela effect thing?

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, here’s what to expect tonight:

Flames projected lineup

Matthew Tkachuk — Elias Lindholm — Dillon Dube

Johnny Gaudreau — Sean Monahan — Sam Bennett

Milan Lucic — Mikael Backlund — Andrew Mangiapane

Joakim Nordstrom — Byron Froese — Josh Leivo

Mark Giordano — Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin — Christopher Tanev

Connor Mackey — Juuso Valimaki

Jacob Markstrom

David Rittich

Scratched: Brett Ritchie, Zac Rinaldo, Nikita Nesterov

Injured: Derek Ryan (hand)

Canucks projected lineup

J.T. Miller — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Nils Hoglander

Antoine Roussel — Brandon Sutter — Adam Gaudette

Loui Eriksson — Jay Beagle — Jake Virtanen

Alexander Edler — Nate Schmidt

Quinn Hughes — Jordie Benn

Olli Juolevi — Tyler Myers

Thatcher Demko

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Zack MacEwen, Jalen Chatfield, Jayce Hawryluk

Injured: Justin Bailey (upper body), Tyler Motte (undisclosed), Travis Hamonic (upper body), Micheal Ferland (head)

So, we’re at the ‘Play Loui Eriksson, Jake Virtanen and Jay Beagle on a line together’ phase of this losing streak. You will also notice that Jayce Hawryluk is off the injured list and is a healthy scratch. I would imagine he’ll be in the lineup for Monday’s loss. The Canucks are also going with Thatcher Demko again tonight, who probably deserved a better fate than that 3-1 loss, with two of the three Flames goals deflecting in off Canucks players. These are the kinds of things that happen to teams in the Canucks situation. When it rains, it pours.

GAME DAY CHATTER

At some point, they have to get a bounce, right? I think back to that lengthy losing streak in the 2008-09 season. The Canucks were playing the Carolina Hurricanes, when Alex Burrows scored a short-handed goal to give them a win, end that streak and actually ended up turning their whole season around. This team needs an Alex Burrows to step up and do something, or this season is done.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

This track dropped yesterday and damn near ripped my head off! BALA are Anxela Baltar (guitars/vox) and Violeta Mosquera (drums/vox), and the Spanish duo’s 3rd album, and 1st for Century Media Records is entitled ‘Maleza’. It hits stores on May 14th, but til then, check out the raw power that two people can exude. Absolutely love this track!

Enjoy the game, and Go Canucks Go!