GAME DAY PREVIEW- GAME FIFTY-TWO: Canucks vs Seattle- Feb 21, 2022

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (23-22-6) vs SEATTLE KRAKEN (16-31-4)

ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

7:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET, SPORTSNET ONE. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: DAVY JONES’ LOCKER ROOM

The door is closing a little more each time the Canucks lose a game, and let’s be honest: We do know they’re not supposed to be getting a sniff at the post-season. It feels torturous to drag this out, when there are some tough decisions that need to be made for the good of this team moving forward. We’ll have to say goodbye to some players we really like, because it has to be about the big picture after a near decade of visionless floundering from the previous ‘brain trust’.

While we all want this team to be a contender again, deep down inside, do we really want to see them squeak in and get annihilated in the first round? They’ve stayed in the hunt thanks to some stellar goaltending from Thatcher Demko, but we’re kidding ourselves if we think the team as it is right now can do anything beyond the first round if they make it that far.

Tonight they finally welcome the new rival to Rogers Arena, but as far as rivalries go, this one’s been pretty lukewarm so far. Much like the way there’s not going to be a storybook playoff run for the Seattle Kraken, the rivalry between these teams will need to grow and develop. We’ve hardly seen anything that resembles animosity so far, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see things heat up a bit if it looks like the Canucks are going to win their third straight over the Kraken.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, here’s what tonight’s disasterpiece should bring us:

Kraken projected lineup

Marcus Johansson — Jared McCann — Jordan Eberle

Calle Jarnkrok — Yanni Gourde — Mason Appleton

Ryan Donato — Alex Wennberg — Joonas Donskoi

Riley Sheahan — Morgan Geekie — Colin Blackwell

Mark Giordano — Adam Larsson

Vince Dunn — Jeremy Lauzon

Carson Soucy — Jamie Oleksiak

Chris Driedger

Philipp Grubauer

Scratched: Austin Czarnik, Haydn Fleury

Injured: Jaden Schwartz (upper body), Karson Kuhlman (upper body)

Canucks projected lineup

Jason Dickinson — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser

Tanner Pearson — J.T. Miller — Conor Garland

Vasily Podkolzin — Elias Pettersson — Nils Hoglander

Tyler Motte — Juho Lammikko — Matthew Highmore

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes — Travis Hamonic

Brad Hunt — Luke Schenn

Thatcher Demko

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Alex Chiasson, Madison Bowey

Injured: Kyle Burroughs (upper body), Tucker Poolman (headaches), Brady Keeper (leg), Brandon Sutter (illness)

Saturday night’s win was a costly one, not just in the standings, but to the defensive depth as Kyle Burroughs will be out for a couple months after suffering broken ribs on that hit by Nicolas Deslauriers of the Ducks. Brad Hunt will draw into the lineup, but the toughness that Burroughs brought will be missed in his absence. Oliver Ekman-Larsson will be in tonight, after missing nearly half of the third period Saturday with an undisclosed injury.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Back to the Bay Area for an old school mosh fest from VIO-LENCE. Here’s “Calling In The Coroner” from their debut album “Eternal Nightmare”.

Enjoy the game, folks! Go Canucks Go!