GAME DAY PREVIEW: Game Thirty-Two- Canucks @ Ottawa

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (13-16-2) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (10-20-1)

CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE- OTTAWA, ON

4:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC, TSN5. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: SILVER SEVEN SENS

The roller coaster ride that is this Canucks season continues as they head out East for 4 on the road over the next 6 days starting tonight in Ottawa. This could be good, as the Canucks outscored the Senators in their 3 previous meetings by a jaw-dropping 16-3 margin. The Sens have gotten a little bit better since then, however. Not enough to overtake the Canucks, but they are coming off a big win over the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, where Joey Daccord stopped 33 of 36 Leafs shots to notch his 1st NHL victory as the Sens hung on to beat Toronto 4-3.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com here’s what to expect on the ice tonight:

Canucks projected lineup

Nils Hoglander — J.T. Miller — Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Jake Virtanen

Marc Michaelis — Brandon Sutter — Jayce Hawryluk

Loui Eriksson — Adam Gaudette — Zack MacEwen

Alexander Edler — Nate Schmidt

Quinn Hughes — Travis Hamonic

Jordie Benn — Tyler Myers

Thatcher Demko

Braden Holtby

Scratched: Jalen Chatfield, Jay Beagle

Injured: Elias Pettersson (upper body), Justin Bailey (upper body), Tyler Motte (undisclosed), Micheal Ferland (head), Antoine Roussel (undisclosed)

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk — Josh Norris — Connor Brown

Nick Paul — Chris Tierney — Evgenii Dadonov

Tim Stutzle — Matthew Peca — Drake Batherson

Ryan Dzingel — Clark Bishop — Austin Watson

Thomas Chabot — Nikita Zaitsev

Mike Reilly — Artem Zub

Christian Wolanin — Erik Gudbranson

Joey Daccord

Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Josh Brown

Injured: Marcus Hogberg (lower body), Derek Stepan (upper body), Colin White (lower body), Artem Anisimov (upper body), Matt Murray (upper body)

Injuries continue to be an issue for the Canucks, as Elias Pettersson is not with the team on this trip. After missing Saturday’s game, Antoine Roussel is with the team, as is Tyler Motte, who’s been out for a while now, but neither of them will return to action tonight. Ottawa is without both of their regular starters Matt Murray and Marcus Hogberg, though Murray could be a game time decision. If he can’t go, it will be either Daccord or Filip Gustavsson for the Sens.

Thatcher Demko will start his 6th straight for the Canucks, and barring a total disaster tonight, will likely get the nod on Wednesday, and then we can expect Braden Holtby to do one of the games in Montreal.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

It’s been a strange year. Here’s a Japanese band (UNLUCKY MORPHEUS) doing a cover of Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s ‘Far Beyond The Sun’ on violin. You’re welcome.