Thursday September 25 - Vancouver Canucks 3 at Calgary Flames 1
In a game with many parallels to Vancouver's home win on Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks, the Canucks once again were badly outshot in the early going, but survived to post a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Here are your highlights:
The Canucks survived a first period in which they were outshot 13-3, thanks to another strong outing from Eddie Lack. He was perfect again in his half game and has stopped all 36 shots he's faced so far in the preseason.
Nick Bonino showed his playmaking abilities in setting up Vancouver's first two goals. At the end of a second-period power play, he flipped a nice pass from behind the net onto Chris Higgin's stick to open the scoring, then fed Nick Jensen midway through the frame for what proved to be the winning goal.
The Canucks took over in the third period, outshooting Calgary 11-5. Hunter Shinkaruk added an insurance marker in the final frame, continuing his strong play in front of family and friends in his hometown of Calgary.
In his NHL debut, Sam Bennett lived up to his hype, showing tremendous speed and skill as he led the game with with seven shots on goal.
The Canucks and Flames get right back at it in Vancouver tonight. I'll get to the lineups in a moment, but the big news of the morning is that Jacob Markstrom has been placed on waivers today.
I caught TSN's Bob McKenize on TSN1040 yesterday, discussing the Canucks' goalie situation with Sekeres and Price. He seemed to think that it was unlikely that Markstrom would get claimed, since there are experienced free agents like Tomas Vokoun and Martin Brodeur still on the market, and Montreal is facing a similar three-goalie conundrum with Price, Budaj and Tokarski.
I thought this move would come, but expected it to happen next week, towards the end of preseason. I don't think the Canucks want to lose Markstrom, but it doesn't make sense to carry three goalies into the regular season.
News1130 spoke with Markstrom's agent, Peter Wallin about the move:
Around the league, it seems like teams are pretty well set in net and won't be willing to use a roster spot of their own to take a gamble on Markstrom. I expect that he'll clear and be sent down to Utica tomorrow.
Markstrom made just one preseason appearance, giving up two goals on 21 shots in Stockton on Tuesday.
There are plenty of nuances surrounding this issue, but I'll keep the poll question relatively simple:
Camp Cuts
Markstrom's not the only player to have left Vancouver's preseason squad. On Thursday, the Canucks reduced their roster by eight more players.
Defenseman Jeremie Blain and forwards Dane Fox, Alex Grenier, Kellan Lain, Alex Mallet and Mike Zalewski were all assigned to the Utica Comets. Defenseman Spencer Humphries and center Curtis Valk were both released, but will also head to the Comets' training camp.
Humphries and Valk both played well in the YoungStars tournament. If they can show well in Utica, they may still get a shot at signing a minor-league contract.
Injured forward Jake Virtanen was also re-assigned to his junior team on Friday:
Game Day: Friday September 26 - Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet 1, TSN1040
You'll find tonight's game on Sportsnet 1 instead of Sportsnet 360, at the usual gametime of 7 p.m., as the Canucks and Flames face off again.
The exhibition slate will be more than half over by the end of tonight's game, and Willie Desjardins is moving closer and closer to icing his projected lineup.
As I expected, Ryan Miller will make his Canucks debut in net tonight, with a solid defense corps in front of him:
After being injured in Tuesday's game, Edler's expected to be back in the lineup soon.
Here's the list of tonight's forwards. Hunter Shinkaruk gets a day off while Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce and Nick Jensen will all play. Tom Sestito's also in the lineup again.
Here's the Flames lineup. Sam Bennett will try to follow up his strong debut with another good game. No sign of Johnny Gaudreau.
I'm very disappointed to say that I won't be at the rink for Ryan Miller's Canucks debut, but my other duties call tonight. Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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