Saturday December 9 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - 7 p.m. - CBC, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 29 GP, 14-11-4, 32 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Calgary Flames: 29 GP, 15-12-2, 32 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
New guy Nic Dowd has joined the Vancouver Canucks ahead of their crucial four-pointer against the Calgary Flames tonight at the Saddledome.
Dowd wore Thomas Vanek's No. 26 with the Kings in L.A. Looks like the Anton Rodin era is now officially over.
(Rodin, by the way, is 1-4-5 in his first four games with the Swiss team Davos. We'll get a chance to see how he's fitting in with his new club over the holidays, during the Spengler Cup.)
Back with the Canucks, Thomas Vanek missed practice on Friday with what's being called a maintenance day. It sounds like Vanek, Dowd and recent call-up Michael Chaput will all be in the lineup tonight.
One of Dowd's strengths is said to be his penalty killing—an area where the Canucks can definitely use help without Brandon Sutter, Derek Dorsett and now Bo Horvat. The Flames' power play is currently 13th in the league with a 20.2 percent efficiency rate but has gone cold recently—just 2-for-18 in their last six games.
The Flames are 2-3-1 through that stretch while the Canucks are 3-2-1 in their last six games, so there isn't much to choose between the two teams. Vancouver, Calgary and San Jose are all deadlocked in the Pacific Division standings with 32 points each. With the Dallas Stars at 33 and the Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks all at 31, right now we basically have seven teams fighting for three playoff spots—third place in the Pacific and the two wild cards.
It's not too early to be freaking out about about the standings, which could be part of the reason why Travis Green went the toughlove route at practice on Friday.
I'm sure the flat effort against the Flyers on Thursday night was also a catalyst. I'm glad to see Green making changes and trying to nip the problem in the bud before a losing streak takes hold.
We'll see whether it works tonight, when the next chapter of the Matthew Tkachuk story unfolds. Two days before his 20th birthday, the superpest will return to the Calgary lineup after serving a one-game suspension for poking Matt Martin of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the bench last Wednesday.
This is Tkachuk's second one-game suspension of the year and already the third of his 103-game NHL career, so it's no exaggeration to say that he is developing a reputation for his antics.
His 65 points in those 103 games also put him third in his draft class in scoring to date, behind only Auston Matthews (95 pts) and Patrik Laine (89 pts). When all is said and done, Clayton Keller, Alex Debrincat and Pierre-Luc Dubois may have something to say about that, but Tkachuk has been quick to make an impact at the NHL level.
Still, I feel like these cheap little spears don't help his team—they just show he has a bit of a problem with impulse control. Maybe he'll grow out of it, but he has a target on his back and I feel like he's going to do something that'll seriously hurt his team before much longer.
What do you think?
bike trails
In net, 35-year-old Mike Smith will play his 500th career game for Calgary, while Anders Nilsson gets the nod for the Canucks after a three-game break. His last outing was the win in Nashville at the end of the road trip.
Here's how the forward lines look for the Flames at their morning skate:
Jaromir Jagr is expected to miss his third-straight game with a lower-body injury.
As always, keep an eye out for that top line. Johnny Gaudreau's currently tied for third in league scoring with 37 points and Sean Monahan is tied with John Tavares for third in goals, with 17. The teams have met twice already this season, with Calgary taking a 5-3 win in Rogers Arena back in October while the Canucks replied with a 5-2 victory at the Saddledome on November 7.
Finally, if you missed it, another accolade for Elias Pettersson:
Pettersson is up to 35 points in 25 games, leading the entire Swedish Hockey League. His team, Vaxjo, is also at the top of the league standings with a 16-6-4-0 record.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»