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Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Tonight the Vancouver Canucks will play host to the… Uhh am I reading that right? The Columbus Blue Jackets? You'd think CBC could have found a better matchup than that for Hockey Night in Canada. Oh well, at least they have the Canucks playing every Saturday night from here on out so I can't complain too much about the schedule.
Vancouver enters this game playing about as unmotivated as I have ever seen this team play. The Canucks are 4-4-2 in their last ten. Despite the struggles of the team, there are still two positive to take away, as the team moves forward. One, the team is healthy and fresh. And Two, Cory Schneider has got Roberto Luongo's back. I still give Lu that start in game one, but if he falters in any way, I turn the keys to the Ferrari over to the kid and let him drive until he crashes.
Columbus enters this game with a few key injuries and is really just trying to play the last string of games out. The Blue Jackets will be without Mason (I believe he'll backup), MacKenzie, Dorsett, and Tyutin tonight. Former Canuck, Curtis Sanford, should be in the net tonight which is probably for the Blue Jackets benefit. Sanford has been far and away the Blue Jackets best goalie and, in my opinion, deserves the starts down the stretch to see if he should be locked up for a few more seasons.
Playing without MacKenzie, Dorsett, and Tyutin should also take a lot of the physical bite out of the Blue Jackets. The three sit one, two, and seven on the Blue Jackets in hits and have combined for 452 this season. In past games the Blue Jackets have taken a bully like approach to playing Vancouver and have played them physical. Without those three in the line-up it will be interesting to see if Columbus plays with that same style.
Canucks 42-20-8 92pts
Blue Jackets 22-41-7 51pts
Leaders
Canucks
Goals D. Sedin 28
Assists H. Sedin 55
+/- Hamhuis +21
Hits Lapierre 204
Blue Jackets
Goals Nash 24
Assists Prospal 33
+/- MacKenzie +4
Hits MacKenzie 189
This is a game that should be no problem for Vancouver and may end up being the turning point of the season when we look back in a few months. Vancouver needs a game like this to build confidence going forward and I can see a four or five goal win doing that for this team. A win like that will put some swagger back in Vancouver and propel them forward. A game like this is one that Vancouver should dominate.
I can see all the big guns in Vancouver's line-up getting points in a lopsided win. With 11 more games after tonight, I can see them carrying the momentum forward and finishing the season out strong. Schneider has always played well against Columbus, so I can see him not giving them much. Add to that, Rick Nash is really the only scoring threat the Blue Jackets have and it should be an easy night for Schneider as long as the boys play in front of him.
While Columbus sits at the bottom of the standings they have given Vancouver a lot to handle this season. The Canucks needed a 47 save performance from Schneider in November to beat the Blue Jackets 4-1. The Blue Jackets are team of players, that are playing for jobs and while they are not as talented as Vancouver, I can see them coming to work tonight. The loss of MacKenzie, Dorsett, and Tyutin will take some of the bite out of the line-up, but the players stepping in will be playing for jobs so they will want to play well.
All in all, Vancouver is the better team, and Vancouver has the better players, so I expect we will see a good game out of them tonight. The last game against Phoenix the Canucks talked about cleaning up the odd man rushes and I suspect that will happen tonight. Even when the Blue Jackets get chances, I believe Schneider will have the answers.
Prediction- 6-1 Vancouver
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy your day.
Ian
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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