Vancouver Canucks at Edmonton Oilers - Thursday October 2 - 6:00 p.m. - Sportsnet 360, TSN1040
With just two games remaining in preseason, the Vancouver Canucks will travel to Edmonton on Thursday to take on the Oilers in the first half of a home-and-home series.
After Wednesday's practise, Willie Desjardins said that he doesn't like to talk too much about lineups, but he will be keeping the Sedin line at home—giving the other forwards a chance to step up and produce.
One tweak we'll see among the forwards is Linden Vey on the wing, playing with Burrows and Bonino, while Shawn Matthias takes a turn at centre.
We need to use our detective skills to determine just what Willie means when he says a player is "out for a little bit." Frank Corrado sounds like he'll be out longer than Brad Richardson or Zack Kassian, but even Corrado's injury sounds like it's more a matter of days, rather than weeks. A healthy lineup to start the season will make those remaining roster decisions that much tougher.
The Canucks are practising at Rogers Arena today before flying to Edmonton. As I type this, Richardson and Kassian are on the ice for a pre-practise skate. I'd assume they're pretty close to be being game-ready, but likely won't go tonight.
Canucks.com
reports that Eddie Lack will get the start tonight, which means Ryan Miller will likely draw back in for Saturday's home game—when the forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of showers.
As for the Oilers, they're coming off a 3-2 win over Arizona on Wednesday night and are 4-2 so far in six preseason games. The Canucks are 3-2 through five games.
Click here for a look at tonight's Oilers lineup. Nail Yakupov will be playing on the top line with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and we'll get our first look at big Leon Draisaitl as he centres the second line between Jesse Joensuu and Teddy Purcell. Joensuu scored twice last night and is looking like he might finally be ready to stick at the NHL level.
2013 first-rounder Darnell Nurse will also be in the lineup, playing in the second pairing with Brad Hunt. Expect to see Victor Fasth get the start in goal.
The Oilers are still a long way from nailing down their starting lineup. After cutting two players today, their preseason roster is now down to 35.
Roughly seven forwards, four defensemen and a goalie will still need to be reassigned before the new season begins.
Note that game time is 6:00 Pacific time from Edmonton and will be broadcast on Sportsnet 360.
Ben Kuzma
has a good piece in
The Province, talking about Desjardins' desire for a better battle level from his team, and some details on the shift in defensive style from last year's shot-blocking zone coverage.
I thought the Canucks were second-best to Arizona on Monday night in terms of effort, so I hope that Mr. Motivation can convince his players to take things up another notch.
It’s why the Canucks staged 2-on-2 battle drills in the corner at the culmination of an 80-minute practice Wednesday. Willie Desjardins has shown some disdain over a wavering level of preseason competitiveness, and the coach drove home the message with a post-practice summation that his club has “got to be more hungry.”
Kevin Bieksa sounds like he has thoroughly bought into the new defensive system.
With this system we’re going to be able to engage in the battle. We’ll be able to support each other and kill the cycle so teams can’t cycle on us on the outside while we hold our position. And hopefully that will let us get out of our zone quicker.
If you can get the puck out, you’re fresher, you can beat a guy out of your zone and you can jump into the play.
It's a New Game
I noticed yesterday that, according to
Canucks.com, the team's theme is no longer "Change is Coming." The primary slogan on the website is now "It's a New Game."
I think it was a good call to shift the mission statement. Time to stop thinking about change and start working with the assets we have.
Yesterday's poll showed that most of you are basically satisfied with those assets. More than 70 percent of the votes indicated satisfaction with the team as it stands right now, though more of you think it'll still take some time to get back to the playoffs.
I was most impressed by just four percent of you feeling more concerned now that you've seen the team on the ice. That number was lower than I'd expected—especially coming off a somewhat disheartening loss.
Sounds like management has done a solid job of selling hope so far.
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