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VANCOUVER CANUCKS (16-18-3) vs COLORADO AVALANCHE (19-14-3)
7:00 PM PST
ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC
TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC, SN1 RADIO: SN650
After yet another lacklustre performance on home ice, getting their lunch fed to them, the Canucks have one more at Rogers Arena before hitting the road for a tough 5 games in 8 days stretch. This trip features two early afternoon games, and a back to back at the tail end in Florida and Carolina. It’s the first of three back to backs this month, and with the strength of the schedule for the rest of January, if it hasn’t hit you that we really need to be thinking about the draft lottery and nothing else right now, I don’t know what else to tell you. There’s two completely winnable games (Chicago, Columbus), six of the twelve are against teams currently not in the playoffs (the aforementioned two plus two against Colorado, then Florida and Pittsburgh). Two pretty much sure things of twelve, and if they want to stay in the mix, they can probably lose no more than two.
At the risk of beating a dead orca, this team is simply not good enough, and there is nothing that suggests the core is something that will get better. Again, we find ourselves wondering why there’s such bitter resistance to admitting this, and doing what is best for the long term. Francesco Aquilini’s desire to win now is as delusional as it is maddening, and the fans of this team deserve so much better than this.
Of course, we could see them come out and win tonight, and some will feel it’s a sign that they’re not dead yet. The last time these teams met, the Canucks played what was probably their best game of the season, coming back in the third with goals from Sheldon Dries and Ethan Bear to steal a 4-3 win in Denver on November 23rd.
The Avalanche are still suffering from their Stanley Cup hangover, sitting a point back of the Oilers for the last wild card slot in the West, and have lost four straight heading into tonight’s contest. They ended 2022 with losses to Arizona on the road, then at home to Los Angeles in a shootout, and a blowout loss to the Leafs before kicking off 2023 with a 3-2 loss to Vegas on Monday night.
LINEUPS
Avalanche projected lineup
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook — J.T. Compher — Denis Malgin
Andrew Cogliano — Ben Meyers — Logan O’Connor
Kurtis MacDermid — Darren Helm — Martin Kaut
Scratched: Jacob MacDonald
Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Bowen Byram (lower body), Josh Manson (lower body), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Valeri Nichushkin (ankle), Evan Rodrigues (upper body)
Canucks projected lineup
Andrei Kuzmenko — Elias Pettersson — J.T. Miller
Ilya Mikheyev — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser
Conor Garland — Sheldon Dries — William Lockwood
Dakota Joshua — Jack Studnicka — Curtis Lazar
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers
Scratched: Lane Pederson, Riley Stillman, Kyle Burroughs
Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Tanner Pearson (hand), Tucker Poolman (undisclosed)
GAME DAY CHATTER
Delia will start tonight and Studnicka will be in the lineup as confirmed by Head Coach Bruce Boudreau.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 5, 2023
"Stepping back and looking at the team aspect is really important. We've done that the last couple days and really had our focus in that area. And just working hard for each other."
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 5, 2023
Travis Dermott meets with the media ahead of facing the Avalanche@theprovince | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/zgNPzTArrt
Head Coach Bruce Boudreau discusses what to expect from the Avalanche, changes to game day routines, and some adjustments to the lineup.@theprovince | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/QcZ3zZG8vD
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 5, 2023
Head Coach Bruce Boudreau speaks with the media following Wednesday's practice at Rogers Arena. pic.twitter.com/uYVsuPKEWp
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 4, 2023
"We had a tough but good meeting today with the whole team. We just got to learn from it and learn from these games and be better."
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 4, 2023
Elias Pettersson meets with the media post-practice pic.twitter.com/h0INuNFzmK
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Today we go back over 40 years to revisit a piece of metal history. A band from San Francisco (via LA) was creating waves, unleashing a metal attack unlike anything ever heard on North American shores. Before what we knew as the classic METALLICA lineup, the band released a couple legendary demo tapes, that helped them get signed to Megaforce Records. One was the ‘No Life Til Leather’ demo, which may be the most famous demo tape in metal history. The other was ‘Power Metal’, released in 1982. Featuring Ron McGovney on bass and some guy named Dave Mustaine, the tape featured four songs, all of which would appear on the band’s ‘Kill Em All’ debut, though you may recognize ‘The Mechanix’ in its original form, which went on to be ‘The Four Horsemen’ (though Mustaine performed this one on MEGADETH’s debut ‘Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!’). It’s an amazing time capsule that shows the birth of a genre, a bunch of crazy California kids who would go on to become some of the biggest rock stars in the modern era.
Enjoy the game everyone! Go Canucks Go. Oh, and sell the team, Francesco!
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