New faces in sick places. The Canucks signed free agent Drew Shore, and he will be in the lineup tonight. I wonder if you can place a prop bet on how long it is before he gets the mumps/food poisoning/injured?
Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins
7:00 PM PT - Rogers Arena- Vancouver, BC
TV: SNP - Radio: TSN 1040
The Penguins ran roughshod over the Canucks Saturday night, and it would have been much worse had Ryan Miller not turned in a performance that was one of his best as a Canuck. But with the number of regulars out of the lineup thanks to illness and injury, they simply couldn't hang with a team like the Penguins. That brings us to tonight's game, and another team currently tearing it up in the East: The Boston Bruins. Oh yeah, this one is gonna bring back some pretty awful PTSD-like memories for a lot of us. The Bruins are rolling after the coaching change that saw Claude Julien replaced with Bruce Cassidy, and they're being led by Brad Marchand, who is having a hell of a season when not being a total bastard. The only way it could get worse for the Canucks is if ol' Timmy Thomas crawled out of his survival bunker to play tonight.
THE OPPOSITION
10-3-0 in the last 13 games is pretty much how you hope things will go when you make a coaching change, and that's what the Bruins are getting out of their charges right now. That being said, they're far from locked in to the playoffs, and with the Toronto Maple Leafs just 2 points back, they are going to be trying to make sure they don't get bumped down to the wild card spot the Leafs are currently in, or worse.
As mentioned, the Bruins are being led this year by Brad Marchand, who built on his outstanding play at the World Cup Of Hockey for Canada, having notched 32 goals and 38 assists so far this year. They also have David Pastrnak sitting 2 away from the 30 goal mark, and Patrice Bergeron should clear 20 before seasons' end. There's not too many guys left from the 2011 Champians, but they've managed to transition nicely with players like Pastrnak, Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano, who's hit the 10 goal mark in just 34 games for the B's.
THE CANUCKS
It's safe to say that one of the positives of the Canucks has been the play of the two Calgary castoffs: Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund. The Canucks are looking to possibly strike gold again (well gold paint, anyway) as they signed Drew Shore, a former Flames prospect who had been playing in Switzerland for the rest of this season. Shore put up 24 goals and 24 assists in 50 games for Kloten HC of the Swiss A-League this year, and was originally drafted by the Florida Panthers.
#Canucks Drew Shore is on the ice.
He will wear 42
Optional morning skate #CanucksOn1040
— Jon Abbott (@HockeyAbbs) March 13, 2017
After getting shutout by Pittsburgh Saturday, the thought of having another player in the lineup with offensive ability (especially with Nikolay Goldobin out with what we can only assume is some strain of Monkey Pox, because they are trying to hide the truth from us!!1!) is something that could make tonight's game endurable.
What's interesting is that though the chances of the Canucks making the playoffs currently sit at 0.03%, we're seeing a bit of panic in Edmonton, where the Oilers are struggling, and now the confidence that their decade long playoff drought is over might have been premature. While I don't think they'll tumble that far, I do think it's a wild card berth for them, though even as a draftist, you have to admit that the Canucks somehow making the playoffs and being the ones who knocked the Oilers out would be pretty amazing. Not gonna happen, but fun to think about.
Chris Tanev did not skate this morning, and this is not a good sign for a team that really struggled defensively (and with this team, that's saying something) Saturday, giving up 48 shots against the Penguins. Tanev was taken to the ER on Saturday with what is rumored to be food poisoning. No word yet on whether we'll see Markus Granlund return to the lineup, also a victim of food poisoning.
There are rumblings that we could hear about another free agent signing by the Canucks today, and it could be a defenseman, though highly coveted winger Zach Aston-Reese is being mentioned as someone who could be a Canuck by the end of the day.
After working his damn ass off Saturday night, we shouldn't be surprised if we see Richard Bachman get the nod tonight against the Bruins. Then again, we've all been wrong about these things before, and there's a possibility they play Miller tonight and go with Bachman Thursday against his former team, the Dallas Stars.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Took a while to come up with today's track, because I tumbled down a crossover Youtube rabbit hole, but I should have just thought about Boston, because when I think Boston, I think Gang Green. Skateboards, thrash and beer. This band is so 80's it's ridiculous.