Thursday December 7 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Philadelphia Flyers - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 28 GP, 14-10-4, 32 pts, third in Pacific Division
Philadelphia Flyers: 28 GP, 10-11-7, 27 pts, eighth in Metropolitan Division
The Vancouver Canucks are going to need to get by without the services of Bo Horvat—not just tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, but probably into the new year.
Click here to see a GIF of the moment that Horvat was injured on Tuesday, from Patrick Johnston at
The Province.
That's Noah Hanifin who threw the hit in his defensive zone. Though Horvat was instantly on the limp, he still managed to come out of the corner with the puck.
Of course, Horvat's absence is going to create a huge hole for the Canucks up front. He's second on the team behind Brock Boeser in goals (10) and points (20). He leads all forwards with an average of 18:36 of ice time per game—and it's not even close. He's tops at even strength (13:58) and fourth on the penalty kill behind Brandon Sutter, Markus Granlund and Loui Eriksson (1:51)—but has been tops during the five games that Sutter has been out injured (2:54).
Horvat's also fourth in power-play ice time behind the twins and Boeser (2:47). He has been a key part of the resurgent power-play unit since he and Boeser were matched up with the twins in L.A. three weeks ago.
He's also the Canucks' best faceoff man, winning 52.44 percent of his draws. His 593 draws are the most on the Canucks and seventh-most in the entire league—more than twice as many as Henrik Sedin (292), who has a 46.23 percent success rate this year.
I'm expecting to see Alex Burmistrov draw back in as the lines are shuffled tonight. My guess is that Sam Gagner will get first crack at taking over some of Horvat's offensive responsibilities, while Markus Granlund will probably get an even heavier defensive assignment.
Derek Dorsett has not yet been placed on the long-term injured reserve list, so Demko's recall helps the Canucks make the best use of their salary-cap space before making such a move.
Chaput is third in scoring on the Comets this season, with 15 points in 20 games. This is his second recall of the year—he spent 11 days with the Canucks back in October but did not see any game action. Barring further injuries, I expect he'll take over Burmistrov's seat in the press box.
The Man-Games Lost website is now behind a paywall, but does still offer small teases of its info via Twitter. Though the Canucks' issues this year have been nowhere near as severe as what Vegas and Anaheim have gone through, they do estimate that as of last week, the Canucks had lost 3.2 points this season due to injuries—fourth-highest in the league.
That number will definitely go up with the loss of a player as important as Horvat.
The injury is especially disappointing when things have been going so well for the team. The Canucks are riding a three-game winning streak and are coming into Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers looking for their third-straight win at home for the first time this season. This next stretch will be a real test of whether the extra depth on the roster this year will help get them through this rough patch.
As for the Flyers—this Western road trip has shaken them out of their slump and possibly saved the job of coach Dave Hakstol, who was under increasing pressure as his team went through a 10-game winless streak. It has been pointed out that last year, the Flyers won 10 in a row but failed to make the playoffs. I'd like to point out that their 0-5-5 record through this recent rough patch is pretty good compared to last year's Canucks. They posted eight-straight outright losses twice in 2016-17—once in October, and again at the end of the season.
The Flyers started this season with a loaded big line of Claude Giroux on the wing with Sean Couturier in the middle and Jakub Voracek on the right side. With all the losses, Hakstol now has Wayne Simmonds skating with Giroux and Couturier, while Voracek is with Valtteri Filppula and Michael Raffl.
It has worked well in Alberta. The Flyers have nine goals in their last two games in wins over Calgary and Edmonton, and Brian Elliott has played well in both contests, surrendering just two goals each night—including a 43-save effort against his old team, the Flames, on Monday.
Michal Neuvirth is currently on the injured list so Elliott was backed up in Edmonton by Alex Lyon, an undrafted 24-year-old who's in his second pro season and has never played an NHL game. So, expect Elliott to get the start tonight despite the back-to-back situation.
The Flyers will also be without Radko Gudas, whose 10-game suspension will conclude after tonight's game. We'll likely get a look at Dale Weise, who scored on Wednesday in Edmonton but was a healthy scratch in the Canucks' 5-2 win over the Flyers in Philly a couple of weeks ago.
It'll also be our first chance to see 2017 second-overall draft pick Nolan Patrick at Rogers Arena. He missed nine games earlier this season with what is suspected to have been a concussion and has seen limited action in the Alberta games—less than nine minutes a night.
Mr. Shutout returns to the net tonight. Love this photo!
Apparently Markstrom took some time to work with goaltending coach Dan Cloutier last week when Anders Nilsson took his turn in the net. It seemed to pay dividends—he was outstanding against the Leafs on Saturday and on Tuesday against Carolina.
To finish up today, here are a couple more sweet photos:
Great to see Gino back on skates!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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