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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: October 4 vs. Edmonton Oilers |
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Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers - Saturday October 4 - 7:00 pm - Sportsnet One
Turn that dial back over to Sportsnet One tonight. The Vancouver Canucks will host their final preseason game of 2014 when they take on the Edmonton Oilers in the second half of a home-and-home at Rogers Arena.
Game time is back to normal: 7 p.m.
With less than a week until the Canucks start playing for points, Willie Desjardins is getting close to finalizing his lineup. Here's his media availability from Friday's practise.
Is it just me, or is Willie already starting to look fatigued from the early-season grind? I heard that he had Torts' murphy bed removed from the coach's office. He looks like he's putting in some long hours.
The key items to note here:
• Desjardins seems quite relieved that Horvat didn't break a bone in his shoulder area when he took that hit from Tyler Pitlick on Thursday, but isn't sure of the timeline for him to recover from his contusion. Horvat's currently listed as day-to-day.
• Hunter Shinkaruk was sent down to Utica to get a chance to build his confidence and work on developing a complete game. Desjardins says he liked what he did offensively, maybe needs a bit of help with his defensive game, and will hopefully get enough playing time at the AHL level that when he comes back up, he'll be confident and ready to stick with the big club. He puts a nice, positive spin on the move.
• Kevin Bieksa is "sore" after Thursday's game. Desjardins acknowledged that Bieksa went into the boards hard near the beginning of the game, but was pleased that he was able to finish the game. Tom Sestito left practise early with a stiff neck. Neither will play tonight.
• Zack Kassian and Brad Richardson are ready to go, but Richardson also won't be in the lineup tonight.
Here's what we should expect to see for tonight's forward lines:
On the back end, let's keep an eye on how Luca Sbisa performs in a top-pairing role with Dan Hamhuis:
As expected, Ryan Miller gets the start in net.
I'll give Miller credit for making the most of his time on the bench during Thursday's game, tuning into guys' voices and learning more about how things are done around these parts.
I could see Bieksa being a big talker on the ice, but there are some pretty quiet characters on our blue line. Do Hamhuis, Edler or Tanev really spend a lot of time yelling for the puck or directing traffic? Or is that why it's so important to tune into their more subtle cues?
As for the Oilers, they're still in decision-making mode, so their lineup will look quite different from Thursday's affair:
Jordan Eberle draws in, but Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins won't play.
We also haven't seen prized free agent signing Benoit Pouliot during these two games.
Here's Edmonton's back end, with Ben Scrivens starting in net. No matter what happens up front, the Oilers will be a lot better between the pipes this season.
After working hard to shore up their defense over the summer, the Oilers have been playing without Andrew Ference and Jeff Petry, then added Nikita Nikitin to their injured list after he left Thursday's game with an ankle injury. Though Ference and Petry sound like they're ready to go, they'll sit out tonight, along with free agent signing Mark Fayne, as Craig MacTavish continues to assess his younger blueliners.
I didn't get much of a sense on Thursday of whether 2013 first-rounder Darnell Nurse is ready to make the team, but the feeling in Edmonton is that he's mighty close. I'll be keeping a particular eye on both him and Leon Draisaitl when the teams hit the ice tonight.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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