|
Vancouver Canucks Game Day: Nov 2 vs. Philadelphia Flyers, Luca Sbisa Out |
|
|
|
|
|
Vancouver Canucks vs. Philadelphia Flyers - Monday November 2 - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 11 GP, 5-2-4, 14 points, second in Pacific Division
Philadelphia Flyers: 10 GP, 4-4-2, 10 points, sixth in Metropolitan Division
After Sunday's announcement that Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen have earned full-time spots on the Vancouver Canucks roster, it's back to work tonight as the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
For the Flyers, Monday's game is the second in a five-game road trip that kicked off on Friday night with a 3-1 loss in Buffalo.
New coach Dave Hakstol ran the bench at the University of North Dakota for 11 years before moving into his first-ever NHL position and is expected to change up the vibe surrounding the team. So far, his results have been eerily similar to Craig Berube's from last season.
After hitting a hot streak for a few games, the Flyers are now winless in their last three. Part of the change in fortune could be attributed to the loss of Sean Couturier on October 21, when he suffered a concussion on a hit from his old teammate Zac Rinaldo. Couturier has been left behind in Philadelphia, so he won't play at all on this western swing.
Scoring has been an issue for the Flyers this season—they're ranked 28th overall offensively.
Jakub Voracek was in the mix for the Art Ross trophy for most of the 2014-15 campaign but has just three assists in 10 games this season and is a team-worst minus-4. Voracek was split from Claude Giroux for Philadelphia's last game on Friday night, but it looks like they practiced together on Sunday.
Philadelphia's leading scorer this year is defenseman Mark Streit, who has seven points in 10 games.
Special teams have also been an issue. The Flyers rank 24th on the power play and 23rd on the penalty kill. The Canucks could have a chance to make some hay with the man advantage tonight—they have power-play goals in each of their last five games.
The Canucks may see some of their injured bodies back in the lineup soon. Chris Higgins, Dan Hamhuis and Jacob Markstrom all took part in practice on Sunday.
Here's the update from today's optional morning skate.
Update on Luca Sbisa—it sounds like he'll be out for a bit.
I guess that means Yannick Weber will get to stay in the lineup when Hamhuis is ready to return. Alex Biega is also with the team and could jump in if necessary.
To accommodate Higgins and Markstrom, all the Canucks need to do is return Richard Bachman to Utica. With Brendan Gaunce playing in place of the injured Brandon Prust, the roster is still at 22 players, so Higgins can slide right back into the lineup.
Once that happens, Willie will likely continue to juggle his lines and slide players in and out of the lineup depending on the opposition. Vancouver has a back-to-back coming up next weekend, starting off its seven-game road trip with a Saturday morning game in Buffalo followed by a Sunday afternoon contest in New Jersey.
A couple of other random notes about tonight's game:
Also, tonight is Grizzlies night, where Shareef Abdur-Rahim will be the guest of honour as part of the Rogers Arena "20 in 20" celebration.
Shareef ranks fourth on the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies' all-time list with 7,801 points in 375 games, but is tops among players from the Vancouver era.
Drafted third overall in the Grizzlies' second season, 1996, Abdur-Rahim played five seasons in Vancouver before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks during the summer of 2001—the same summer the team relocated to Memphis. It seems amazing to me that the Memphis Grizzlies have now been in existence for 14 years, while our Grizz lasted just six seasons here in Vancouver!
It'll be interesting to see if anybody heeds the Canucks' request to wear Grizzlies gear to tonight's game.
Movember is also kicking off, where Ryan Miller does his best Super Mario Bros. impersonation:
I look forward to seeing how the kids do in their attempt to grow their first NHL Mo's.
I'm also hoping at some point we get to see the hazing session where Willie Desjardins and the veterans rake McCann and Virtanen over the coals before telling them that they've made the team.
Bo Horvat says yesterday's meeting was "pretty harsh," compared to what he went through last year in a similar situation:
Bo mentions that he was "hiding the mic," so hopefully at some point we'll get to see the live footage of the moment.
McCann insists that he had no idea that he was being set up:
He's still a bit stiff with his answers but his confidence is impressive. When asked if it's his mindset to play in every game, even though he may not always be in the lineup, he's quick to say "Yep." Given how hard he worked to be ready for training camp after that injury at the Summer Summit, I'm inclined to believe that he has the work ethic to make it happen.
Jake Virtanen actually speaks for a minute straight, describing the incident:
He said he tried to prank his dad and tell him that he was going back to Calgary, but Pops had already seen the news on Twitter before he got the call from his son.
He also mentions that "Millsy, Dorse and then Burr" were the veterans who continued to pile on before Bo got up and welcomed them to the team, though he admits that he was "too shocked" to remember the moment very clearly.
I'm curious to see what kind of performance we get from the Canucks tonight. On paper, this should be a reasonably easy game—and Vancouver had no trouble disposing of the Flyers in both their meetings last season. But this year's bunch has shown a tendency not to always follow the logical path. I guess that's why they play the games.
Enjoy!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»