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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: October 7 at Calgary Flames, Markstrom Hurt |
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Wednesday October 7 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet, TSN1040
Hockey is back!
There are just four games on the schedule tonight for #NHLFaceoff, and the Canucks are in the spotlight against the Calgary Flames. Rather than scheduling Connor McDavid for the opening-night festivities, I think it's interesting that the schedule-maker dialled into the fact that Vancouver and Calgary played a wildly entertaining playoff series last year, and a rematch might make for some good TV.
Fort Calgary is also the home base for the league's season-opening party, toplined by a good band that I don't associate with hockey in the slightest: Fitz and the Tantrums.
Here's a snapshot of what to expect in terms of the Canucks lines tonight:
If you missed it, the kids were all assigned new numbers when they made the team:
So—the lines look similar to what the Canucks used on Saturday night against Edmonton. Brandon Sutter will start his Canucks career on the right side with the twins, Radim Vrbata will get his wish and play with Horvat and Baertschi, McCann will center the third line with Burrows and Hansen, and Dorsett will sub in for Virtanen on the right side of the fourth line.
It won't surprise me a bit if the Canucks space out the nine-game trials for McCann and Virtanen. Playing only one rookie forward a night will help to limit the number of potential mistakes, and spacing out the games will stretch out both players' trial periods—giving management more time to decide if either player should stick around for the whole season, or if it makes more sense to loan them out for World Juniors or send them back to Junior Hockey.
Though Virtanen won't play tonight, he spent some time at practice on Monday getting mentored in some of the finer points of the NHL game:
This mentoring role could turn out to be Brandon Prust's most valuable contribution to the Canucks. He was said to be a great influence on Brendan Gallagher as he developed in Montreal.
As a new No. 91, McCann has some big shoes to fill. He has the right general pedigree—a first-round draft pick from the OHL—but he hasn't been an elite prospect like Stamkos, Tavares and Seguin were when they came into the NHL.
Vladimir Tarasenko's a different type of 91, but still an elite player. Have I missed anybody?
McCann certainly seems to bring the intensity. Sounds like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
After practicing with Chris Tanev on Monday, Ben Hutton was back with Luca Sbisa on Tuesday. He'll play tonight, while Yannick Weber sits out as the seventh defenseman.
One surprising bit of news—Richard Bachman has been recalled from Utica to back up Ryan Miller tonight, as Jacob Markstrom has sustained a lower-body injury.
Here's the scoop:
Hopefully, it's nothing too serious. Miller can easily handle these first two games against Calgary, but the Canucks play back-to-backs on the road next Monday and Tuesday against Anaheim and Los Angeles. I'm sure Markstrom was pencilled in to make one of those starts.
As for the Flames, here's a look at their projected forward lines for tonight:
With T.J. Brodie still sidelined with an injury, Mark Giordano moves to the left side on Calgary's top pairing, with newcomer Dougie Hamilton:
The Flames waived Mason Raymond and Paul Byron earlier in the week, in order to keep all three of their goalies on one-way contracts on their roster. Raymond cleared, but Byron was picked up by Montreal.
Karri Ramo took over the crease from Jonas Hiller during last year's playoffs and gets the opening-night start tonight, but it's hard to know what will happen from there.
Calgary put up an unremarkable 4-4 record in preseason, including two wins against the Canucks, but all three goalies had great numbers. Hiller's GAA was 1.01 with a .965 save percentage, Ortio was 1.62 and .946 and Ramo was 1.88 and .941.
Offensively, new addition Michael Frolik led the way for the Flames with four preseason points. He'll start tonight on the right side of the second line with Lance Bouma and Mikael Backlund.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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