|
Vancouver Canucks Game Day: Ryan Miller sidelined, Jake Virtanen scratched |
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday October 18 - Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Vancouver
Vancouver Canucks: 2-0-0, 4 points, first in Pacific Division
St. Louis Blues: 3-0-0, 6 points, first in Central Division
It's a little early to make this declaration, but I'm going with it anyhow: Tonight, the two titans of the Western Conference will face off at Rogers Arena in a battle to see which team can remain unbeaten as the 2016-17 NHL season curls into its second week.
After a run to the Western Conference Final in last spring's playoffs, it's not terribly surprising that the St. Louis Blues are off to a good start. Still, the Blues lost some key playoff performers over the summer, trading goaltender Brian Elliott and losing forwards David Backes, Troy Brouwer and Steve Ott in free agency. Also, St. Louis is in an unusual situation with the knowledge that Ken Hitchcock is in his last season behind the bench, with Mike Yeo being groomed to take over in 2017-18.
So far this season, Jake Allen has shown that he is, indeed, ready to take over as the Blues' No. 1. He started off the season by allowing just two goals on back-to-back nights in wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild before new backup Carter Hutton delivered his first win as a Blue, also giving up two goals, against the New York Rangers.
It's not confirmed yet, but it's likely that Allen will get the start tonight against Vancouver.
At the other end, it sounds like Jacob Markstrom will be forced into action for a second straight game. Ryan Miller was not on the ice for today's morning skate at Rogers Arena.
UPDATE: UBC's Matt Hewitt will serve as tonight's emergency backup. Miller won't dress.
For his part, Markstrom sounds unfazed.
Jack Skille makes his regular-season debut in Canucks colours tonight, subbing in for Jake Virtanen with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi.
Jake has had an eventful start to his season, but not necessarily for the right reasons.
First, he suffered a shoulder injury in preseason that seems to have left him reluctant to throw his trademark big hits.
Second, he has taken some rough hits of his own in the first two games. This one by Lance Bouma led to him getting pulled off the ice by the concussion spotters on Saturday.
On Sunday, Virtanen got pasted by Elias Lindholm against the end boards in the first period. Later in the game, he retaliated with this shove on Joakim Nordstrom:
The play did not end up getting reviewed by the Department of Player Safety, but it certainly didn't show the best judgement on Virtanen's part.
Seems like Virtanen is already a bit of a marked man around the NHL. The kid needs to relax and play his game, but that's tough when he's such a lightning rod.
For tonight, his replacement Skille brings good size and good speed. Let's see what he can do!
Other than the Miller issue and the rehabbing Anton Rodin, the Canucks are still healthy (knock on wood). The Blues are expected to be without forwards Jori Lehtera and Kyle Brodziak, as well as defenseman Carl Gunnarson. Jaden Schwartz is recovering more quickly than expected from a broken elbow suffered in training camp and could be in the lineup tonight.
St. Louis' first line is expected to be made up of Paul Stastny between rookie Ty Rattie and sophomore Robby Fabbri. Stastny's off to another good start, with two goals and six points in his first three games as he drives the St. Louis offense. Fabbri is a 20-year-old who impressed during his debut season with 18 goals and 37 points, as well as a strong playoffs. Rattie is 23—a second-rounder from 2011 who has played just 26 NHL games so far in his career. He'll be playing his first game of the season tonight.
The Canucks lost all three games they played against the Blues last season, and were shut out by Brian Elliott in the last two games, last March. Hopefully, with a healthy roster and no Elliott to contend with, things will go better tonight.
A couple of other notes to wrap up today.
First—an inspiring story of how Luca Sbisa's honeymoon trip to Mount Kilimanjaro has helped his mindset for this season:
And finally, looks like we don't have to worry about Roberto Luongo's retirement (and the eventual cap-recapture penalty that will come with it) just yet. Loo's off to a good start with a 2-0-0 record and a .957 save percentage after offseason hip surgery, and was named the NHL's Third Star for the first week of the season.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»