GAME DAY PREVIEW- Game Forty Two: Canucks vs Ottawa

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (19-19-3) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (17-27-4)

CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE- OTTAWA, ON

4:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC, TSN5. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: SILVER SEVEN SENS

After a fairly predictable let down game by the Canucks on Thursday night, the team responded with another solid outing from Braden Holtby and some good nights from the Canucks top 2 lines to seal the deal after letting the Senators tie it up in the 3rd period. I would think that more of the same would be a good idea tonight, especially given the news that Thatcher Demko is back on the injured list with a lower body injury, and when your choice is former Stanley Cup champion Braden Holtby or Arturs Silovs, no offence to Silovs, but it’s gonna be Holtby the rest of the way til Demko returns.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing. If there’s one that the Canucks need to pull off this seemingly improbable quest for a playoff spot, it’s a hot goaltender. And getting into the groove since the team returned from its COVID related pause might make Holtby’s first couple months as a Canuck a little easier to forgive.

The Sens have their own goaltending issues, as they lost Matt Murray to an LBI in that game Saturday night, leaving them with their 3rd and 4th string goalies to hold down the fort for what seems like the umpteen millionth time this season. So it’ll be Marcus Hogberg against Holtby tonight as these teams square off for the 3rd straight contest.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, this is what we’re probably gonna see on the ice tonight:

Canucks projected lineup

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander — J.T. Miller — Zack MacEwen

Tyler Motte — Brandon Sutter — Jayce Hawryluk

Matthew Highmore — Travis Boyd — Jake Virtanen

Quinn Hughes — Travis Hamonic

Alexander Edler — Nate Schmidt

Olli Juolevi — Tyler Myers

Braden Holtby

Arturs Silovs

Scratched: Jalen Chatfield, Madison Bowey, Jimmy Vesey, Marc Michaelis

Injured: Antoine Roussel (lower body), Elias Pettersson (upper body), Jay Beagle (undisclosed), Justin Bailey (shoulder), Micheal Ferland (head), Thatcher Demko (lower body)

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk — Josh Norris — Drake Batherson

Tim Stutzle — Colin White — Evgenii Dadonov

Alex Formenton — Shane Pinto — Connor Brown

Nick Paul — Chris Tierney — Ryan Dzingel

Thomas Chabot — Nikita Zaitsev

Erik Brannstrom — Artem Zub

Victor Mete — Josh Brown

Marcus Hogberg

Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Artem Anisimov, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Michael Amadio

Injured: Austin Watson (hand), Matt Murray (lower body), Anton Forsberg (lower body)

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Legendary Arizona thrashers FLOTSAM & JETSAM have a new release coming out this June on AFM Records called ‘Blood In The Water’, and this track from that upcoming disc is an absolute beast. Great to see them still going strong. Check out ‘Burn The Sky’, and enjoy this afternoon’s game. Go Canucks Go!