GAME DAY PREVIEW: Game 4- Canucks @ Columbus Blue Jackets

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (0-3-0) vs COLUMBUS (0-3-0)

NATIONWIDE ARENA, COLUMBUS, OH

4:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: JACKETS CANNON

Ah yes, the joy of being a Vancouver Canucks fan. While the team quietly unveiled a new slogan this week, it truly feels like it should have been ‘It Can Always Get Worse’. And after an inexcusable performance Saturday in Philadelphia, it appeared that the Canucks had gotten the message. They held their own in the first, and looked absolutely dominant in the second period. And then... it got worse.

One of the most gut-wrenchingly brutal third period collapses we’ve seen from this team (and believe me, that’s saying something). And to add insult to injury, the winning goal was set up by a guy who had no business still being in that hockey game. Evgeni Kuznetsov’s two hand slash to the face of Kyle Burroughs should have earned him a match penalty, but a gutless officiating crew gave him a mere two minutes for high sticking.

He helped set up the game winner, and as a final slap in the face, the Department of Player Safety handed Kuznetsov a laughable one game suspension today.

So that’s an NHL record three consecutive multi-goal lead games blown to start the year for the Canucks. There has to be a bright spot somewhere, right? Well, how about the fact the team they’re playing is struggling even worse than the Canucks?

The Columbus Blue Jackets shocked the hockey world this summer when they signed one of the biggest available free agents, luring Johnny Gaudreau away from Calgary to sign a big deal to be a Blue Jacket. The Johnny Gaudreau era in Columbus is not off to a good start. The team has a mere five goals in their first three games, and they sit in last place in the Eastern Conference.

One of two things will happen tonight. It could be that the Canucks explode against CBJ, taking out their frustrations and lighting up Elvis Merzlikins in the Columbus net tonight, getting their first win of the year, the 600th career win for Bruce Boudreau and allowing Canucks Nation to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Or... it could get worse. How bad could this one go? Let’s just say if Erik Gudbranson scores tonight, you can come and acknowledge that I called it.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, the lineup for this game was originally found in a previously undiscovered Shakespeare manuscript. No, not William. Eddie Shakespeare (no relation):

Canucks projected lineup

Vasily Podkolzin — J.T. Miller — Conor Garland

Tanner Pearson — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser

Andrei Kuzmenko — Elias Pettersson — Curtis Lazar

Dakota Joshua — Nils Aman — Nils Hoglander

Quinn Hughes — Luke Schenn

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Kyle Burroughs

Riley Stillman — Noah Juulsen

Spencer Martin

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Jack Rathbone

Injured: Travis Dermott (concussion), Tyler Myers (lower body), Ilya Mikheyev (undisclosed), Tucker Poolman (illness)

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau — Boone Jenner — Gustav Nyquist

Yegor Chinakhov — Cole Sillinger — Jakub Voracek

Justin Danforth — Jack Roslovic — Kent Johnson

Eric Robinson — Sean Kuraly — Mathieu Olivier

Zach Werenski — Andrew Peeke

Vladislav Gavrikov — Nick Blankenburg

Jake Bean — Erik Gudbranson

Elvis Merzlikins

Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Liam Foudy, Adam Boqvist

Injured: Patrik Laine (elbow sprain), Joonas Korpisalo (hip)

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

I’d been thinking about this song a lot recently after it popped up on a playlist I had on at work the other day. One of the truly underrated rock songs of the 80’s, this track from the late Gary Moore showcased both his impressive skills as a guitarist as well as a great marriage of the sounds of his Northern Irish heritage. Still one of my favorite songs to this day.

Enjoy the game, if that’s at all possible. Go Canucks Go.