Sunday November 13 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars - 1 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 15 GP, 5-9-1, 11 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Dallas Stars: 15 GP, 6-6-3, 15 pts, sixth in Central Division
First things first—it's game day, and it's an early game at that.
The Vancouver Canucks return to Rogers Arena for a 1 p.m. date with the surging-but-banged-up Dallas Stars. It's going to be a busy afternoon in the rain in downtown Vancouver—the B.C. Lions' Western Division playoff game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is scheduled for a 1:30 start next door at B.C. Place.
It's do-or-die for the Lions. The Canucks are finally getting a bit of a respite in their schedule, starting a nicely spaced-out four-game homestand that will also see them facing the New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks.
After finishing first in the Central Division last season, the Stars have been off to a bit of a rocky start. They're coming into today's game riding their first two-game winning streak of the season after victories on back-to-back nights earlier in the week against Calgary and Edmonton.
Today's game is the last date of a five-game, eight-day road trip for Dallas—a team that's undermanned and could be showing some signs of fatigue.
From Mark Stepneski's game preview
on the Stars' website, here's a look at their injured list:
RW Patrick Sharp (concussion) and C Jason Spezza (lower body) are doubtful. RW Jiri Hudler (illness), C Cody Eakin (knee), C/LW Mattias Janmark (knee) and RW Ales Hemsky (hip) are on injured reserve.
Dallas Morning News beat writer Mike Heika confirms that Sharp and Spezza are both doubtful. He suggests that Kari Lehtonen will likely get the start in net after making 40 saves and earning first-star honours in the Stars' 3-2 win over the Oilers on Friday.
Today's game will mark Dan Hamhuis' return to Rogers Arena for the first time since signing his new two-year free-agent contract with the Stars over the summer. He has four assists and is a minus-2 in 14 games with the Stars so far, and seems to be settling into his spot on a team that's transitioning to a younger group overall on defense. During the Stars' last two wins, he has logged over 22 minutes of ice time each night, playing on the team's top pairing with offensive dynamo John Klingberg.
The Stars are undermanned and should be fatigued but they've had Vancouver's number for years. The last time the Canucks beat the Stars was on February 21, 2013. Cory Schneider got the win, Alain Vigneault was the Canucks' coach and Loui Eriksson was still a member of the Stars.
That brings up another interesting subplot. Eriksson will be facing his old team for the first time since moving on from Boston, which will line him up against the main player he was traded for, Tyler Seguin.
Despite the Stars' struggles as a team, Seguin has now climbed into a tie for third in NHL scoring with 17 points. Eriksson's slow start as a Canuck has been well-documented—he has just one goal and four assists in his first 15 games in Vancouver.
After Eriksson picked up 10 goals and 17 points on the power play last year with Boston, Willie Desjardins has had a tough time successfully integrating him in Vancouver—odd, considering the success that he has had playing with the Sedins internationally at the 2013 World Championship and the World Cup of Hockey.
Jason Botchford of
The Province talked to Desjardins about why Eriksson hasn't clicked with the twins with the man advantage.
“Him and Danny (Sedin) do the same thing,” Desjardins reasoned when asked why Eriksson hasn’t been playing with the twins on the power play.
“That’s the same spot, they both play. We tried (Eriksson with the Sedins) early where we had Danny high, on the backside.
“But Danny and Hank (Sedin) have always had so much success together, that’s a tough combination to break up, when they’ve been so good for years.
“So then you move (Danny) back down. Where do you put Loui? His spot is in front of the net, that low spot.
“It’s about trying to find the right mix, I guess.”
Willie did mix up his groups at practice on Saturday. The Canucks' power play is now 4-for-46 on the season which puts them last in the league with an efficiency rate of—yikes—just 8.7 percent. That's significantly worse than last season, when they finished tied for 26th with a success rate of 15.8 percent.
Is it any wonder that the buzz is getting louder that change is coming in Vancouver?
Out of nowhere during the Hockey Night in Canada Headlines segment on Saturday, Elliotte Friedman denied reports that Trevor Linden is considering stepping down from his role as Canucks' president. That was odd, considering there hadn't been any whispers that Linden was even considering such a move.
Elliotte's pretty plugged in, so this is something to keep an eye on.
Linden's last media appearance was on TSN Radio on Thursday.
One thing that stands out to me here is that he doesn't seem to be on the same page with the rest of the organization regarding Jake Virtanen.
We've now seen that Virtanen's visit to Utica unfolded exactly as Jim Benning initially promised—a quick two games. He has been recalled today by Vancouver—though Travis Green did praise Virtanen for a much better effort in his second game with the Comets—the first-ever AHL win for Thatcher Demko in net as Utica beat Hartford 3-2 in overtime.
I guess we'll see on Tuesday whether Green's crash course is really enough to make a difference in Virtanen's NHL game. After playing Saturday night, there's no way he'll be back in town in time to play today.
There's no morning skate due to the early game. No reason to expect any lineup changes from the group that played in Detroit on Thursday. Ryan Miller will be back in net—hopefully still fired up after that phenomenal late-game save he made at the Joe.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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