Monday March 13 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 68 GP - 28-31-9, 65 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Boston Bruins: 68 GP, 36-26-6, 78 pts, third in Atlantic Division
The Boston Bruins are kicking off their four-game Canadian road trip with a visit to Vancouver to take on the Canucks on Monday night at Rogers Arena. The Bruins are coming off two straight wins at home, where Tuukka Rask gave up just one goal in wins over Philadelphia and Detroit.
The Canucks took a tough 4-3 loss in Boston back on February 11, just two games into the coaching tenure of Bruce Cassidy after Claude Julien was fired on February 7. Under Cassidy, the Bruins have now gone 10-3-0. They currently sit two points ahead of Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division.
After entertaining two of the NHL's top scorers on Saturday night in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Canucks see another member of the top five tonight in Brad Marchand. In 68 games, the pesky winger is already at a career high with 70 points. With 32 goals including eight in his last 10 games, he's also on track to beat his breakout 37-goal total from last season.
Here's a quick look at the Boston lines and defense pairings from Sunday's practice in Vancouver:
Tonight will be our first chance to see David Backes in person as a member of the Boston Bruins. We'll also get our first look at big 20-year-old rookie defenseman Brandon Carlo, who has spent the season on Boston's top pairing with Zdeno Chara.
The Bruins have been pleased with their trade-deadline acquisition of Drew Stafford, who they picked up from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick. The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent is a plus-five and has four points in four games so far with Boston, including the game-winning goal with six seconds left in the third period, last Saturday against Philadelphia.
Boston's only injury of note is to forward Ryan Spooner, who is practicing with the team but still dealing with the aftereffects of a concussion. Spooner had been on a roll, with 10 points in 13 games, before his head injury against Ottawa last Monday.
As for the Canucks, the group at today's morning skate is so small, the players don't even need to use the whole ice surface!
Ryan Miller skipped Sunday's practice but is expected to suit up again after his insane 45-save performance against Pittsburgh on Saturday.
After a solid season with Vancouver, there has been plenty of talk about Miller possibly returning next year, though his current contract expires on July 1. In
The Province,
Iain MacIntyre expresses skepticism about a Miller return after watching him interact with his wife Noureen DeWulf and son Bodhi in the Canucks' dressing room after Saturday's game.
Miller and Bodhi also made an appearance on After Hours on Saturday night where, all things considered, the busy goaltender was in pretty good spirits.
When asked about his future plans, Miller didn't shy away from the topic of family and his commitment to his wife and son. He admitted that the distance between Vancouver and Noureen's home base in Los Angeles is an issue, but also said that he likes it here and reminds us that Bodhi was born here and, thus, has dual citizenship.
I'm sure Miller and his agent will explore the possibility of signing with a California team in the offseason, but those teams' needs will probably have a lot to do with how their current goaltenders perform in the playoffs. Miller made it clear that he feels good, physically, and wants to keep playing as long as he can. The 36-year-old might need to make some compromises if he hopes to extend his career.
Here's more on the Canucks' lineup for tonight. Granlund's back; Tanev's not.
And yes, barely a game goes by these days without a new Canuck to observe and assess. Tonight, it's 26-year-old centre Drew Shore, straight outta Switzerland.
A native of Littleton, Colorado, Shore has some hockey roots here in Vancouver that extend beyond the time he spent with Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund in the Flames organization.
Shore hasn't been a big force offensively since his college days back at the University of Denver, so it's interesting that he found his scoring touch this year in Switzerland, where he went 24-24-48 in 50 games.
We'll have to wait for tonight's game to see how the new guy fits in.
To close today, another note from the farm, where Thatcher Demko returned to the net after one day off to record his second shutout of the year. The Utica Comets beat the Binghamton Senators 5-0 on Sunday, improving their record to 28-24-7 and maintaining their tenuous hold on the last playoff spot in the AHL's North Division.
The Comets are 5-1 so far in the month of March, in large part because of Demko's outstanding play.
Fifteen games remain on the Comets' schedule. They wrap up the regular season one week later than the Canucks, on April 15.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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