Wednesday September 25 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 650

PRESEASON:

Vancouver Canucks: 6 GP, 4-2-0, 8 pts, second in Pacific Division
Ottawa Senators: 4 GP, 2-2-0, 4 pts, sixth in Atlantic Division

As Vancouver Canucks fans are well aware, injuries are part of hockey. But the preamble to the Canucks' 50th anniversary season had been proceeding without much serious injury discussion - until Monday night.

The team announced Tuesday that both Brock Boeser and Oscar Fantenberg are in concussion protocol after taking hard hits during the win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday in Abbotsford.

Fantenberg was knocked to the ice and did not return after this first-period collision.

Here's the hit on Oscar Fantenberg. Jordan Szwarz got five and a game for his part in the hit, which was in the numbers. #Canucks #Senators pic.twitter.com/K0efMKoKax

— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) September 24, 2019

Boeser stayed in the game after this third-period check by behind by Chris Tierney, with the Sens already shorthanded.

Tierney hit on Boeser #Canucks pic.twitter.com/F40X0v8YiL

— Matthew (@dooley_matt_) September 24, 2019

Bo Horvat scored Vancouver's sixth and final goal of the night on the ensuing 5-on-3 powerplay.

Though Boeser stayed in the game, Thomas Drance of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that he was "in treatment," starting Monday night. Travis Green added on Tuesday that Boeser felt OK until there were about three minutes left in the game, and said Wednesday that Boeser is currently considered day-to-day.

As we're aware, players who go into concussion protocol have to stay out of action for a least a week - and possibly longer, of course, depending how their symptoms progress.

The first night of the regular season is now exactly one week away. If Boeser and Fantenberg are on IR longer for more than seven days, that could give Jim Benning a little more flexibility regarding his roster decisions, at least in the short term.

Revenge is always on fans' minds after one of their stars gets injured, especially on a hit from behind, but that will have to wait. Chris Tierney is not on the Sens' roster for the rematch on Wednesday at Rogers Arena.

Roster update: The #Sens have published a 22-player roster ahead of tonight's pre-season game @Canucks. pic.twitter.com/BPsNQVN3WV

— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) September 25, 2019

Here's how the Canucks will roll out their lines.

Lines in AM skate for #Canucks:

Pearson-Horvat-Miller
Goldobin-Sutter-Virtanen
Baertschi-Gaudette-MacEwen
Schaller-Beagle-Motte

Hughes-Tanev
Benn-Stecher
Brisebois-Chatfield

Markstrom
Demko

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) September 25, 2019

Micheal Ferland did skate with the team at 8 Rinks on Tuesday but he and Elias Pettersson won't dress against the Sens. The Edler-Myers pairing also gets a night off, with Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield taking over third-pairing duties.

Both Jake Virtanen and Nikolay Goldobin will play, and Adam Gaudette's audition continues in a third-line centre role. Home fans will also get a looks at Schaller-Beagle-Motte again, after they had such a good game last week in Edmonton.

Thatcher Demko is expected to get the start, after Jacob Markstrom went the distance on Monday in Abbotsford.

It's a shame that Boeser only saw two games of action - neither of them even available on regular television - and didn't even get a game at Rogers Arena before he was injured. From what we saw, he looked fit and was skating well, but probably needed a few more reps to get his shot to maximum accuracy.

In other news - chatter about whether the Canucks will name a captain this year is heating up ahead of opening night.

all quiet on the #canucks captain front, but I believe one will be named for their 50th anniversary season. Pretty sure Roberto Luongo is not coming out of retirement to get it again - even though he's on the payroll.

— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) September 24, 2019

Though Jim Benning was non-committal with him during training camp, Iain MacIntyre is all in on Bo Horvat.

Iain MacIntyre on the #Canucks captaincy - It's going to be Bo Horvat. I think its a great decision... Jim Benning said to me last week in Victoria that they would meet again and make a decision and if they name a captain Bo would be his choice... I think Bo is ready for it. pic.twitter.com/oDffMaWiCh

— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) September 24, 2019

GM Benning said at camp Canucks hadn't decided whether to name a captain, but: "Bo’s a mature person, a mature player. I know all his teammates respect him. For me, he’d be the guy.”
It appeared on https://t.co/IQBE8Sg8er nine days ago.https://t.co/fc4OfhCX0c

— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) September 24, 2019

And Elias Pettersson himself squashed talk of his one-timer spot being nicknamed "Area 51." I don't blame him - I'm not the biggest fan of "The Alien," as a nickname, either - and Area 51 is a bit confusing - it sounds like it should be Troy Stecher's magic spot. If anything, maybe it could have been adapted to "Area 40?"

But never mind. The boss gets the last word.

Elias Pettersson has weighed in and he prefers the Petterzone.

— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) September 24, 2019

Since we won't get any Petterzone action in tonight's game, let me leave you with this to roll through the rest of your day. Check out these goal descriptions!

"Do you remember all of your goals from last year?"

"I do believe so, yeah..."

James Duthie puts Elias Pettersson's photographic memory to the test on some of his 28 goals scored last season: https://t.co/7tbLjEeCBn #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/Y5LNGaTGWQ

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 24, 2019

And enjoy the game!

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