Vancouver Canucks vs. Arizona Coyotes - Monday December 22 - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 19-11-2 40 points third in Pacific Division
Arizona Coyotes: 11-17-4 26 points sixth in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks will head into their holiday break with a hometown matchup against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night.
First things first: Jannik Hansen took the optional skate on Monday morning. Outstanding news!
UPDATE: LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON, THE CANUCKS RELEASED A STATEMENT EXPLAINING THAT HANSEN IS BEING HELD OUT OF TONIGHT'S GAME FOR PRECAUTIONARY REASONS.
On the bright side, it sounds like Hansen was in good spirits when he bantered with the media this morning.
First, his description of what happened on Saturday night:
Nice to hear that even when he was at the hospital, he was worried about the final score of the game:
Tom Sestito and Zack Kassian also took part in Monday's skate. Willie Desjardins referred to Sestito's day off on Sunday as a "maintenance day," and Kassian's now said to be about a week away from getting back into action:
For more gory details, as well as Kassian's critical self-assessment of his season so far, you can check out
Ben Kuzma's story from Sunday's
Province.
“You never like to hear that,” Kassian said of the (trade) rumours. “I love to play for Vancouver. Is it true? I don’t know. I know I’ve under-achieved so far and from being the guy I was last year for the last stretch of the season.”
Eddie Lack was the only goalie on the ice for the Canucks this morning. This probably means that Ryan Miller is starting, if we go by some reporting from
Jason Botchford in the weekend Provies.
Miller didn't skate Saturday morning before the Calgary game either, and thinks that fatigue has been an issue for him this month:
“I felt like I had better energy today overall,” Miller said. “I worked really hard in the full practices and (then) didn’t do the game day skate because I wanted to have more energy.
“I think I felt a difference.
“I am going to have to just manage my energy a little bit over the break here and Christmas time not get too crazy with the eggnog and get some time to rest and recover.
“One more big game here and definitely get some rest.”
Sounds like 34-year-old, west-coast travel Ryan Miller is realizing that maybe being a 70-game-a-year guy isn't his best course of action. I'd say that's good news.
Did anybody catch Scott Oake's interview with Miller after Saturday's game? I didn't see it but would be interested to hear if this issue also came up in that context. Sportsnet doesn't seem to be providing video the way CBC used to with those great After Hours interviews in seasons past.
As far as tonight's game, the Coyotes have been no walk in the park for Vancouver this season. Despite their humble record, they delivered a wake-up call in preseason when they beat Vancouver 4-2 back on September 29th. Once the games were being played for real, it got worse: a depressing 5-0 shutout loss on November 14—the night when Martin Hanzal's high-stick goal changed the game's momentum.
Devan Dubnyk pitched the shutout for Arizona last game—and has gone on to challenge Mike Smith for the starter's job. He has appeared in eight games since that time, posting a 3-3-1 record, while Smith has appeared nine times and gone 1-6-1.
It's probable that Dubnyk will play tonight.
The Canucks are currently tied with the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division standings, and the Kings play Calgary tonight. The Canucks need these two points to go into the holiday on a positive note and crack this troublesome trend of losing to the Coyotes.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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