Tuesday February 24 - Vancouver Canucks at Boston Bruins - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 360, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 34-22-3, 71 points, second in Pacific Division
Boston Bruins: 29-21-9, 67 points, fourth in Atlantic Division
Ryan Miller's injury and the Vancouver Canucks' ever-growing medical issues have overshadowed the fact that the Canucks have two more games to play this week before they head home for most of March.
Just 11 days after a convincing 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena, the Canucks will visit Jim Benning's old home turf for a rematch against the Bs on Tuesday afternoon.
Here's how the lines looked at Tuesday's morning skate:
It looks like Nick Bonino will be back tonight—centring the second line between Shawn Matthias and Radim Vrbata. Still no sign of Alex Burrows.
According to the
Bruins website, Bonino spent Monday night watching his alma mater, Boston University, win the annual Beanpot Tournament with a 4-3 overtime victory over Northeastern.
Canucks' goaltending prospect Thatcher Demko got banged up in the consolation game, but his Boston College triumphed over Harvard 3-2, also in overtime.
The final games were postponed from a couple of weeks ago because of all the weather issues in the Boston area, which gave Linden, Benning and company a chance to watch Demko's performance firsthand.
Back to the Canucks. Tonight's defense pairings will remain the same because—well, why not? The Canucks shut out the high-powered New York Islanders on Sunday with the Hamhuis/Weber, Stanton/Clendening, Sbisa/Biega combinations.
Luca Sbisa left Sunday's game in the third period, bleeding, after taking a puck to the face while he was sitting on the bench. Nice to see he's okay for game action.
Looks like the blue Jofa helmet that they found last week in Manhattan is staying with the team.
Of course, tonight's game will mark the beginning of Eddie Lack's tenure as starter for 2014-15. This comes at almost exactly the same time that he was thrust into the starter's role last season: if you recall, John Tortorella chose to go with Lack right out of the Olympic Break.
He shut out the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 26 and lost a 2-1 overtime decision to the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 28 before the fateful Heritage Classic game that catapulted Roberto Luongo out of town for good.
Last year, Eddie appeared in 22 games before his late-season run, amassing a record of 8-8-3. This year, he has made 20 appearances so far, with a record of 6-7-2.
That's not as much of a disparity as I expected, to be honest, considering how much fuss has been made about his lack of ice time.
Those waiver-wire restrictions on Jacob Markstrom should certainly give Lack the edge as the starter for the immediate future. If Miller can get back within a month, the Canucks would be able to send Markstrom back to Utica without putting him back on waivers—as long as he plays less than 10 games.
There are 14 games on the schedule between now and March 25—the 30-day mark. It's a busy schedule but there's just one back-to-back—a quick weekend road trip to L.A. and Phoenix on March 21-22.
It'll be fascinating to see how Willie deploys his new pair of Swedish twins from here on out.
As for Boston, they got some bad injury news of their own on Monday when they learned that David Krejci would be out for 4-6 weeks with a partial tear of his MCL. The Bs hold just a three-point edge over the Florida Panthers for that last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and there's talk that general manager Peter Chiarelli could be fired if the team fails to reach the postseason.
After ponying up for a big contract extension for Krejci earlier in the season, he has disappointed with just seven goals and 26 points in only 38 games.
Boston also lost defenseman Kevan Miller for the season last week, with a shoulder injury, and grinder Gregory Campbell is shelved for a week or so.
Though the Bruins are just 3-5-2 in their last 10 games, they're coming off a dominant 6-2 win over Chicago last Saturday, so it's hard to know which team we'll see tonight.
The Canucks currently have a three-point cushion in the standings over the three Pacific Division teams that are chasing them. The Flames are in New York tonight to take on the Rangers and the Kings host the Red Wings, while the Sharks are idle until Thursday.
Leddy a Comparable?
One other item of note before I wrap up. The New York Islanders announced today that they've signed 23-year-old defenseman Nick Leddy to a new seven-year contract extension with a cap hit of $5.5 million a season.
That's bad news for the Canucks. Chris Tanev is 25 and, like Leddy, is headed for restricted free agency. I think it's safe to say that Vancouver is hoping to lock up Tanev for less money—and probably less term, too.
Leddy's bargaining power is increased by the fact that he was a first-round draft pick. Tanev, of course, was undrafted, but played his way onto the Canucks' top defensive pairing before being sidelined with his latest head injury. The two do make good comparables because they're similar, physically. Neither plays an especially aggressive style.
Here's a look at how their numbers compare:
Leddy: 319 GP, 28-90-118, 44 PIM, averaging 20:11/game this season
Tanev: 209 GP, 10-32-42, 28 PIM, averaging 21:05/game this season
Of course, there are many nuances in every contract situation, but Leddy's contract won't make it any easier for the Canucks to sign Tanev to another bargain-basement deal.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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