GAME DAY PREVIEW- GAME SEVENTY-SEVEN: Canucks vs Ottawa- Apr 19, 2022

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (38-28-10) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (28-41-7)

ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

7:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: SILVER SEVEN SENS

The Canucks have rattled off some fairly noteworthy wins since Bruce Boudreau took the reins in December, but this one might have been the most impressive of the bunch. With their season hanging in the balance, the Vancouver Canucks have put together a six game win streak, with three of those six coming against teams they’re chasing to try to make the playoffs.

But, and forgive us if you’ve heard this, but if they don’t keep it going, it doesn’t mean shit, as Elias Pettersson said a few days ago. This has become a rallying cry of sorts, as this team, written off by everyone (and yes, that means us, too) have been one of the league’s best since December. They’ve done it on the back of some fantastic seasons from their best players. They’ve done it thanks to another stellar year from Thatcher Demko. And they’ve done it with roleplayers stepping up when they were needed the most, and a defensive rebirth that may be the most startling part of their transformation under Boudreau. I mean, even if you saw the Canucks going on a run, did you have Tyler Myers turning into a solid, night after night defenceman after what we’d seen from him under Travis Green?

And they’re getting it done without some of their best players, too. They’ve had a ton of injuries again this year, and right now are missing Bo Horvat, Tanner Pearson, Nils Hoglander and Tucker Poolman. What we’ve seen when someone goes down though, is that whoever gets plugged into that hole fills in seamlessly, and this crazy run shows no sign of stopping.

A win tonight will see the Canucks leap frog the Vegas Golden Knights into fourth place, and move them to within two points of the Los Angeles Kings, barring a Kings win over Anaheim tonight, and the Canucks will still retain a game in hand. And much like we saw last week against Arizona, they’ll need to come out and dismiss any notion that this Sens team is going to play spoilers.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of nhl.com, this is tonight’s disasterpiece blueprint, so to speak...

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk — Josh Norris — Connor Brown

Alex Formenton — Tim Stutzle — Drake Batherson

Austin Watson — Dylan Gambrell — Parker Kelly

Adam Gaudette — Chris Tierney — Zach Senyshyn

Erik Brannstrom — Artem Zub

Michael Del Zotto — Travis Hamonic

Nick Holden — Nikita Zaitsev

Filip Gustavsson

Anton Forsberg

Scratched: Victor Mete

Injured: Mathieu Joseph (undisclosed), Shane Pinto (upper body)

COVID-19 protocol: Colin White

Canucks projected lineup

Jason Dickinson — Elias Pettersson — Brock Boeser

Vasily Podkolzin — J.T. Miller — Conor Garland

William Lockwood — Juho Lammikko — Matthew Highmore

Nic Petan — Brad Richardson — Sheldon Dries

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes — Luke Schenn

Brad Hunt — Travis Dermott

Jaroslav Halak

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Kyle Burroughs

Injured: Alex Chiasson (illness), Bo Horvat (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body), Tucker Poolman (upper body), Nils Hoglander (lower body)

It’s Halak for the Canucks and Gustavsson for the Sens in goal tonight, as Thatcher Demko rests for big games later this week against Minnesota and Calgary. Alex Chiasson missed last night’s contest, but could be a go for tonight. If he does, expect Nic Petan to sit. It’s also the first time we see Travis Hamonic since he was dealt at the deadline to the Sens, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see a little bit of fireworks related to all this, given the rumblings that he wasn’t the most popular guy in the dressing room.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

A little banger from the OG’s from Venice Beach today. From the ‘Feel Like Shit... Deja-vu’ EP, this is SUICIDAL TENDENCIES with ‘Master Of No Mercy’.

Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Canucks Go! Slava Ukraini!