Nikolay Goldobin is scratched as Canucks visit Stars; D Jett Woo signs ELC (jack rathbone)

jack rathbone

Nikolay Goldobin is scratched as Canucks visit Stars; D Jett Woo signs ELC

By Carol Schram

Mar 17, 2019 • 3:00 pm

0comment-bubble

Sunday March 17 - Vancouver Canucks at Dallas Stars - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet - Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 71 GP, 29-32-10, 68 pts, sixth in Pacific Division Dallas Stars: 71 GP, 37-29-5, 79 pts, fourth in Central Division

Just as they started getting healthy, the Vancouver Canucks are undermanned again as they play out the string with their second-last road trip of the season.

It starts on Sunday in Dallas, where the Stars are trying to solidify a playoff spot with the help of starting goaltender Ben Bishop.

Bishop had been riding a three-game shutout streak and was 26:33 into extending that run to four games when he suffered a lower-body injury that forced him to leave the Stars' Thursday-night game in Minnesota. Anton Khudobin stepped in to help the Stars earn a 4-1 win, then took the loss as the Stars fell 2-1 to Vegas at home on Friday.

Bishop is now day-to-day, so Khudobin will get the start on Sunday against Vancouver. Though his personal numbers are very good—a 2.54 goals-against average and .925 save percentage—the offensively challenged Stars have had trouble earning wins for their backup. He's 13-15-3 for the year, while the team is 10 games above .500 when Bishop's in net.

This is Bishop's third injury of the year—which seems normal for him, although nothing has kept him out for more than a couple of weeks this season. The Stars are sitting in a playoff position even though they've been one of the most-injured teams in the league—way more banged up than the Canucks:

Once again, Dallas has struggled to get offensive production out of players below their Big Three of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. Add in the fact that Seguin and Benn are scoring below their usual pace this year and you've got a team that's 29th overall with just 2.52 goals scored per game. Even the Canucks are better than that: 26th at 2.68.

One player to watch: Finnish rookie Roope Hintz, who has been seeing top-line deployment and has four goals in his last three games.

Here's how the lines are expected to shake down for the Stars:

As for the Canucks, Jacob Markstrom will get the nod once again to kick off the back-to-back games on this quick road trip, and it looks like righty Luke Schenn will sub in for injured Chris Tanev on the blue line.

Here's the full rundown from Sunday's morning skate:

Tim Schaller was a late sub for Jay Beagle against New Jersey on Friday, after Beagle fell ill. Schaller had a relatively engaged game by his standards. He was noticeable, throwing his body around, and finished with two shots, two hits and a takeaway in just 6:53 of ice time.

Looks like Beagle's back against the Stars and Schaller stays in, with Nikolay Goldobin as the odd man out. With Sven Baertschi and Ryan Spooner also cleared and probably available as soon as Sunday against Chicago, Travis Green is sounding the warning that we might not see Goldy again for awhile:

Since his last healthy scratch, Goldobin has seen plenty of top-six and power-play ice time, but has just one goal and one assist to show for his efforts over the last 10 games. Goldy was also in never-neverland on the Devils' tying goal on Friday night, which may have sealed his fate today.

Elsewhere—in the NCAA playoffs, both Tyler Madden's Northeastern Huskies and Jack Rathbone's Harvard Crimson are advancing in their respective conference playoffs after first-round sweeps.

Northeastern beat Maine 2-1 on Saturday to advance to the Hockey East semifinal, while Rathbone picked up an assist as Harvard knocked off Dartmouth in overtime by a score of 4-3 in the ECAC. Both clubs will be back in action in their one-game conference semifinals next Saturday and will play for the title on Sunday if they advance.

As I mentioned yesterday on Twitter, I've become accustomed to following the college hockey playoffs at this time of year since the Canucks have had so many of their top prospects come through that system and "When will he sign?" adds extra drama. We saw Brock Boeser (and Troy Stecher) win a Frozen Four title with North Dakota in 2016, and have also followed the progress of Thatcher Demko, Adam Gaudette and Will Lockwood as well as Quinn Hughes, Madden and Rathbone this year.

So I have a bit of a tendency to gloss over the Canucks' CHL prospects—which means I didn't give Jett Woo the props he deserves for his solid season before he signed his entry-level contract with Vancouver on Saturday.

Chosen 37th overall by the Canucks in 2018, Woo has taken huge strides with the Moose Jaw Warriors this season—jumping from a 9-16-25 performance in 44 games in his draft year, when he struggled with injuries, to 12-53-65 in 62 games this year. He finished fifth in scoring on the Warriors, and tied for fifth in scoring among all WHL defensemen.

And offense isn't even Woo's calling card! Listed at 6'0" and 203 pounds, Woo is best known for his heavy game and punishing hitting.

Woo doesn't turn 19 until July, so he won't be eligible for the AHL next season. The Canucks will be able to play him in up to nine NHL games before returning him to junior, so we may see him in some limited NHL action. After missing the cut for World Juniors with Team Canada this year, he'll be eligible again for the 2020 tournament and should get a long look this time around.

Because Woo's contract with the Canucks won't kick in until next season at the earliest, Vancouver still has two slots open to sign NCAA prospects or free agents if they choose to do so. I'm hoping we'll hear positive news on Will Lockwood sometime next week!

After finishing third in the WHL's East Division with a record of 40-20-6-2, Woo's Moose Jaw Warriors will kick off their first-round playoff series on the road against the Saskatoon Blades on Friday.

To close today, a note from the Canucks' sick bay:

It's too bad the Canucks will miss out on having Roussel in the lineup against his old team—you know how he gets when he's fired up!

Sunday's game is Vancouver's only visit to Dallas this year, so Roussel didn't get a chance to return to his old stomping grounds. The Canucks dropped a 2-1 decision to the Stars back in December at Rogers Arena and will play their third and final game of the year against the Stars back in Vancouver on March 30.

Enjoy the game!

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
Loading sidebar...
0
Show comments for this article