Tuesday April 21 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - Game 4 - 7:00 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
Flames lead best-of-seven series 2-1
Don't worry, Canucks fans! Calgary castoff Sven Baertschi has ridden in on his white stallion to score some goals and save the day for Vancouver tonight at the Saddledome.
I'm not too sure what this means in terms of line-juggling for Vancouver tonight. If Baertschi plays, he'll need to be in a goal-scoring role to be useful. He did show some chemistry with Radim Vrbata and Nick Bonino when he filled in for Chris Higgins on Vancouver's second line during the last game of the regular season.
It's never easy to read anything into the players that are missing from Willie's practices, but here's who was absent on Monday:
Here's who's skating this morning:
Matthias is also accounted for:
Have not, however, had a Brad Richardson sighting:
It wouldn't be surprising if Richardson's not able to go after three tough games on an ankle that we know isn't 100 percent. His ice time dropped to 11:20 in Game 3 and his work in the face-off circle has been substandard after a strong performance in Game 1—he went 2-for-7 in Game 2 and 3-for-9 in Game 3.
I had been thinking that I wanted to see Vrbata moved back up to the Sedin line tonight to add a little extra scoring punch, but if Baertschi plays, I think it's more important for those two guys to play together. Move Higgins down to the third line and put Matthias in the middle if Richardson is out, maybe?
Wait—this just in—Burrows has left the ice...
As I expected, Willie says Baertschi will be a "game-time decision."
Also:
No idea how this will shake down at game time. What do you think?
survey software
Hopefully this roster drama doesn't cause the Canucks to lose sight of the fact that they need to come out with some ferocity in Calgary tonight.
Vancouver has bounced back well after disheartening losses throughout the second half of the regular season—even against tough, physical opponents. If the Canucks can make the necessary adjustments to counteract Calgary's aggressive forecheck, they should be able to open up some ice and get some chances.
Right now, the most important thing might be to get the power-play turned on again. The Canucks have gone just 1-for-10 with the man advantage during the first three games of the series and not coincidentally, Chris Higgins' power-play goal came in the first period of the Game 2 win.
By contrast, the penalty kill has not delivered as expected. The Canucks have done a good job of limiting the Flames' chances but they've tallied two power-play goals on seven tries for a success rate of 28.6 percent. Kris Russell's goal at the end of Game 2 did nothing but wipe out Eddie Lack's shutout, but Sean Monahan's third-period goal in Game 3 made the score 4-1 and effectively wiped out any hope of a Vancouver comeback.
There has been lots of talk about the Sedins' good possession numbers so far in the series, but I want to see them put up some points!
Wille is finally answering those who say the twins haven't had enough ice time. He says he will play them more tonight:
Earlier in the week, he pointed out that the main reason for the twins' low ice-time numbers has been their short shifts.
The stats back this up. Daniel leads all forwards with an average of 24 shifts per game, Henrik is second at 23 and Burrows is third at 22.3.
The twins need to get into their patented turbo-boost mode where they dominate possession in the offensive zone for a minute or more, eventually leaving the opposing defensemen begging for mercy. That's what I want to see tonight!
The rough stuff has made for an emotional series but I'd to see a more businesslike approach tonight. Don't worry about style points or sending a message—just get the job done and come back to Vancouver with home-ice advantage in a best-of-three!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»