Thursday January 1 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings - 7:00 - Sportsnet, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 21-11-3, 45 points, second in Pacific Division Los Angeles Kings: 18-12,8, 44 points, fifth in Pacific Division
I was so wound up yesterday about the win in San Jose and the excitement of World Juniors, I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year!
I hope you had a great, safe night last night and aren't feeling too rough today.
It's a day off at World Juniors before the playoff round begins, but there's still plenty of hockey. The Winter Classic rolls out from Washington at 10 a.m., then the Canucks and Kings get the national spotlight in the league's only evening game.
The Kings could be surly tonight: they ended December with a 1-1-2 record, with a loss and an overtime loss to Calgary, as well as an OTL against Edmonton two nights ago.
Wins by the Flames and the Sharks last night vaulted them both over the Kings in the Pacific Division standings, so even though L.A. is just one point back of Vancouver, they're three spots back in the rankings and currently sitting outside the playoff picture. A win tonight, of course, would vault them right back into second place and knock everybody else down a peg.
According to the Kings' "Insider" Jon Rosen, Jake Muzzin said after Tuesday's game that his team "needs to get angry and mad."
We've certainly seen that behaviour from the Kings before when they face the Canucks, but they don't always bring it—especially mid-season. Yes, L.A. trounced the Canucks 5-0 at Staples Center back in November, but last season Vancouver ended the year with a 2-1 win in a relatively low-emotion affair on April 5—just days before the Canucks would gut their franchise down to the studs and the Kings would start the turnaround that eventually led to the Stanley Cup.
Hockey's a funny game sometimes.
I'm up early because I'm heading out to do a 5k run to kick off the New Year. There's not much info about today's game floating around yet.
The Canucks held an optional skate on Thursday:
#Canucks optional has Vey/Kassian/Burrows/Stanton/Edler/Sanguinetti/Matthias/Sestito/Hansen/Horvat/Lack #TSN1040 pic.twitter.com/Da7dTrHZS9
— Jon Abbott (@HockeyAbbs) December 31, 2014They'll have a game-day skate today at 10:30.
Jon Abbott reports that Zack Kassian is cleared to play, so hopefully he'll be ready to use his big body on the Kings after being out of action since November 25.
The Department of Player Safety did look at Jannik Hansen's check to the head of Tommy Wingels in Tuesday's game. He was assessed a $5,000 fine—no further discipline.
Finally, a quick update on the World Junior playoff schedule, as we continue to enjoy strong play from all three Canucks prospects.
Team Canada has now travelled to Toronto, where they'll take on Denmark in their first knockout game on Friday at 5:00. Gustav Forsling and the Swedes take on Finland in Toronto on Friday at noon, and Thatcher Demko and the U.S. will face an underperforming Russian squad in Montreal on Friday at 10 a.m.
On paper, all three of those matchups look favourable.
I'd better leave it there for now. Enjoy the sunshine today; enjoy the game tonight, and Happy New Year! Thanks for all your support in 2014 and here's hoping for another great year!