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The Sedins' celebration & 2 big points up for grabs as Canucks host Hawks

February 12, 2020, 5:03 PM ET [209 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wednesday February 12 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks - 6 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 57 GP, 31-21-5, 67 pts, first in Pacific Division
Chicago Blackhawks: 56 GP, 25-23-8, 58 pts, seventh in Central Division

The puck won't drop until 7:42, but I've put a start time of 6 p.m. at the top of this blog because that's when the Sedins' jersey-retirement ceremony will begin on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.

There is an early game on some of the Sportsnet channels, but my understanding is that Sportsnet Pacific will carry the full proceedings, right from 6 p.m.

It has been a wonderful week of nostalgia, and it'll be exciting to see the large group of former players assembled to honour the twins.



After ending their losing streak with such a spirited performance against Nashville on Monday, it seems like the current group is energized by all the fanfare — although Antoine Roussel admitted to me this morning that he's glad the scheduling allows the teams to take warmup *after* the ceremony concludes, at 7:00, so they won't be skating on dead legs during the first period.

Looks like everything is status quo for the Canucks, as far as line deployment goes:



The Blackhawks are off the ice Wednesday, in the midst of a back-to-back after dropping a 5-3 decision in Edmonton on Tuesday night. That moved the Oilers just one point behind Vancouver in the Pacific Division standings, with a game in hand, while a 4-0 win for Minnesota over Vegas leaves Chicago alone now at the bottom of the Central Division standings, six points out of the second wild card.

Though the Blackhawks have a long list of young players on their roster and are in the middle of a quasi-rebuild, there's a feeling around the organization that it's time to get back into the playoffs and not waste any more prime years from the team's core of stars like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith. Kane's currently tied for eighth in league scoring with 69 points and is on pace for yet another 100-point season, and while Robin Lehner has tallied more wins, he and Corey Crawford both have solid personal numbers.

Lehner took the loss in Edmonton on Tuesday, so the Canucks will see Crawford, who's 10-14-3 with a .912 save percentage and 2.92 goals-against this season — and, most importantly, has stayed healthy after having previously dealt with some serious post-concussion issues.

Here's how Chicago's lines rolled on Tuesday in Edmonton.



When the Canucks beat Chicago 7-5 at Rogers Arena on Jan. 2, Domink Kubalik was in the midst of a tear that saw him named the NHL's rookie of the month for January, with 10 goals and 14 points in 10 games. This month has not been so kind to him — he has just one goal so far in five games in February.

Veteran defensemen Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan are both out for the season after having surgery, but 19-year-old rookie Adam Boqvist returned to the lineup on Tuesday and picked up his fourth goal of the year after missing one game with a shoulder injury. Andrew Shaw is also currently sidelined as he deals with concussion symptoms.

I'll leave it there for now, since we're not far away from Go Time.

I'll be at the rink tonight and will be writing on the ceremony for the Canadian Press, so keep an eye out for that story.

That's why this blog is late, too. After Jay Bouwmeester's cardiac event last night in Anaheim, I was asked to go to Rogers Arena this morning to get some thoughts from Jordie Benn and Antoine Roussel on what it's like to watch a teammate go through something like that. They were both members of the Dallas Stars when Rich Peverley went through a similar incident back in 2014, and were very candid in sharing their thoughts with me.



Good to hear the latest reports on Bouwmeester are positive. As both Benn and Roussel said, some things are bigger than the game and the competition.

Of course, both players also said they're very much looking forward to tonight's celebration — and the game itself.

Enjoy!
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