|
Vancouver Canucks Game Day: The Playoff Journey Begins, Defending Flames D |
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday April 15 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames - 7:00 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
The quest for the Stanley Cup begins tonight with the first four games of the playoffs. Ottawa/Montreal and NYI/Washington kick things off at 4:00, Chicago/Nashville gets underway at 5:30 (seems weird that the series is opening in Nashville, doesn't it?), then the Canucks will wrap up Day 1 when they host the Calgary Flames at 7:00 p.m. at Rogers Arena.
I just checked the Ticketmaster website. Looks like the main inventory for tonight's game is now sold out, though there are still plenty of tickets left on the resale market. Here's hoping we'll have a full house and a loud building tonight!
If you are going to the game, there are plenty of activities planned. The Party on the Patio returns, starting two hours before game time and featuring live music, food trucks, alumni autograph sessions and, for the first time this year, a beer garden for fans with tickets who are 19 or over. I like it!
Canucks personalities including Dave Babych were out on the street this morning, passing out playoff towels:
If you're planning on watching on TV tonight, tune in to CBC for the broadcast team of Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson and Scott Oake. Strombo will be the in-studio host for the proceedings back in Toronto.
The Canucks are holding an optional practice this morning:
I don't expect any surprises in the Canucks lineup tonight.
I'm also feeling good about the fact that Willie Desjardins guided his Texas Stars all the way to an AHL championship just last season. It sounds like he's ready to get the team focused to start strong:
Maybe tonight would be a good time to try scoring the first goal of the game?
For their part, the Flames drew a little extra motivation from some players that were part of the 1989 Stanley Cup run:
There has been some talk about Jonas Hiller's extensive playoff experience in net compared to Eddie Lack, who will make his postseason debut tonight. Hiller played 26 playoff games during three seasons with Anaheim, but he only won two playoff series and lost his job to a rookie last year.
Hiller's .943 save percentage in 2008-09 is otherworldly, but the Ducks still fell to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the second round that year after knocking off the Sharks in six.
Last season, Hiller was part of a confusing muddle of shuffling netminders and was passed over in favour of raw rookie John Gibson for the start in the Ducks' seventh game against the Los Angeles Kings—which turned out to be a loss.
Hiller's inability to deliver in the playoffs is the precise reason why Anaheim let him move on as a free agent last summer. That's good news for Canucks fans!
And yes, it's finally confirmed that Eddie Lack will start tonight for Vancouver:
One area where Calgary has outshone Vancouver during the 2014-15 season has been in points from defensemen. The Flames ended their season with four blueliners in their team's top 10 in scoring—all of whom had more points than any Canucks defender.
4. Dennis Wideman - 15 goals, 56 points
5. Mark Giordano - 11 goals, 48 points (injured)
6. T.J. Brodie - 11 goals, 41 points
8. Kris Russell - 4 goals, 34 points
Let's look a little deeper into those numbers and see how many of those points, from the healthy players, came with the man advantage: Wideman had 21, Brodie had 9 and Russell had 14. Pretty substantial.
Here's where it gets interesting: the Flames didn't score a single power-play goal against the Canucks during the regular season. They finished the year ranked 13th with the man advantage and the only teams they didn't exploit for at least one power-play goal were Vancouver and Minnesota.
Wideman and Russell each posted just one assist against Vancouver in four games, while Brodie was pointless. The Calgary blue line really wasn't a factor against Vancouver this year.
Meanwhile, thanks to a hot finish, the Canucks' power play finished the year ranked 8th in the league. We saw offense start to come from the blueline in the late stages of the season. Alex Edler had eight points in his last four games to finish the year with 31 points and Yannick Weber had five goals and seven points in his last 12 games to hit career highs of 11 goals and 21 points.
The Flames didn't take a lot of penalties this season—they finished with the third-lowest total in the league, averaging 7.6 minutes a game, while Vancouver was 26th at 10.9 minutes a game. If Vancouver can stay lights-out with its penalty killing and keep capitalizing with the man advantage, that could prove to be the difference in the series.
Here's the traditional mayors' hockey bet, as structured between our Gregor Robertson and Calgary's Naheed Nenshi:
I'll wrap up with my first-round predictions. Feel free to share yours as we watch the hours till game time slowly tick by:
Vancouver - Calgary: Canucks in 7
Anaheim - Winnipeg: Jets in 6
St. Louis - Minnesota: Wild in 6
Nashville - Chicago: Blackhawks in 6
NY Rangers - Pittsburgh: Rangers in 5
Montreal - Ottawa: Montreal in 7
Tampa Bay - Detroit: Lightning in 6
NY Islanders - Washington: Capitals in 7
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»