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Tampa Bay Lightning at Vancouver Canucks - January 1 - 7:00 pm - TSN, SUN
Vancouver Canucks 23-11-7 fourth in Pacific Division
Tampa Bay Lightning 23-12-4 second in Atlantic Division
First off—can't believe I was so obsessed with breaking down the Flyers game yesterday that I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year! Hope you had a great night whether you were on the party train or enjoying a quiet night at home. It was a good one for me, with lots of positive energy—though it did run pretty late.
All the best for 2014! My New Year's wish is for a secure playoff spot for our Canucks. As much as it's stepping into the fire, I sure wouldn't mind seeing a first-round meeting with the Blackhawks...
As I type this, the Winter Classic is well underway in the snow from Detroit. After the game, Team USA will make its Olympic roster announcement, where we'll expect to hear Ryan Kesler's name called. I'll be posting a story at Bleacher Report on the strengths and weaknesses of the US Olympic Team after the announcement comes down.
There's one other game today—that's our Canucks hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks are coming off their disappointing shootout loss to the Flyers on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay hasn't played since they lost to the Rangers on Saturday, so they should be well-rested. They've been in town since Monday as they start a four-game western-Canadian road trip.
Despite losing leading scorer Steven Stamkos to a broken leg back in November, the Lightning are continuing their strong play, hanging near the top of the Eastern Conference. Martin St. Louis still leads the offensive side, but Tampa Bay has built a strong young defensive core and seen a big improvement in net thanks to the acquisition of Ben Bishop at last year's trade deadline.
Bishop has made 29 appearances for Tampa Bay so far this season, posting a .935 save percentage and a 1.89 goals-against—impressive numbers, but probably not a big enough body of work to earn the 27-year-old a spot on the U.S. Olympic roster.
Tonight's game would have been the first chance for Canucks fans to see Sami Salo since he signed a free agent contract with the Lightning in 2012, but (of course) he's out with an upper-body injury suffered just before the Christmas break. Obviously, Stamkos won't play tonight, but he is traveling with the team and doing some on-ice drills. I wonder if I'll catch a glimpse of him in the press box at the game?
Here's some video of Stamkos skating at Rogers Arena yesterday. Looks pretty good!
The Lightning haven't come out of the gate well since the Christmas break. They went 5-0-0 before the holiday, but have returned with an OT loss to Montreal as well as the 4-3 defeat by the Rangers. It's also worth noting that, despite their strong overall performance this season, Tampa Bay was 0-3-1 on their first western road swing of the season back in November.
As for the Canucks, there's also some good news on the injury front from today's morning skate:
Torts described all these players as 'day-to-day' on Wednesday.
Jeremy Welsh was sent down to Utica on Tuesday—for ice time, says Torts, but maybe also to open up some roster space. It would be great to have Burrows and/or Edler—and Luongo—back in the lineup when the team visits L.A. and Anaheim this weekend.
Despite Torts' assertion that it's impossible to practice the shootout, the team did spent some time doing shootout drills on Wednesday. Glad to hear it.
Look for Eddie Lack to get the call in net once again for Vancouver.
I'm looking forward to getting back to the rink tonight. Will have a recap for you tomorrow, as well as starting our player grades for December.
Quick Hits:
- Great stuff from Bo Horvat and Team Canada yesterday at World Juniors. The 3-2 win over Team USA was impressive from start to finish, and sets the stage nicely for the medal round. First up—Switzerland, at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. This is where it gets interesting.
- The trade's not official yet, but
TSN is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs have strengthened their blue line with the acquisition of Tim Gleason from Carolina. John-Michael Liles and defensive prospect Dennis Robertson are heading the other way.
Not exactly a blockbuster, but it does get the NHL's trade wheels turning. Will we see more teams start to address their needs for the stretch run in the days and weeks to come?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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