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Jacob Markstrom looks set to re-take the net as Canucks face reeling Ducks |
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Wednesday February 13 - Vancouver Canucks at Anaheim Ducks - 7:30 p.m. - Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 57 GP, 25-25-7, 57 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 56 GP, 21-26-9, 51 pts, eighth in Pacific Division
On Monday, we saw 19-year-old goaltender Michael DiPietro and 22-year-old forward Zack MacEwen make their NHL debuts with the Vancouver Canucks.
Tonight, 64-year-old Bob Murray will coach his first-ever NHL game for the Anaheim Ducks after he fired coach Randy Carlyle on Sunday.
I went into detail on the Ducks' situation in this Forbes article earlier in the week:
The Ducks have been dealing with a ton of injuries this season but were keeping their heads above water early on thanks to fantastic goaltending from John Gibson. But the bottom fell out in mid-December, when they started a 2-15-4 slide that has dropped them into the Western Conference cellar. Murray finally gave Carlyle his walking papers at the end of a five-game Eastern road trip that saw Anaheim get outscored 29-7.
The Canucks have seen the Ducks just one other time so far this year. Gibson got the win in a 4-3 decision at Honda Center back on November 21.
Anaheim's ownership is known to keep a pretty tight grip on its chequebook and does not generally like to pay people not to work, which might be part of the reason why Murray is taking over behind the bench. But as I mention in my article, Murray also says that he felt it would be unfair to throw a new coach into such a difficult situation—and that he feels he needs to get a firsthand look at what's happening with his players, not just to see if they can salvage this season, but to make personnel decisions on his team's direction going forward. That could provide valuable insight with the trade deadline approaching, but is also going to keep him very busy between now and February 25.
Not surprisingly, after Gibson seemingly forgot how to play goal, he has now been placed on injured reserve after sitting out the Ducks' last game with an unspecified upper-body injury. Chad Johnson started on Saturday in Philadelphia and gave up four goals in the first period before being replaced by farmhand Kevin Boyle, a 26-year-old journeyman who is in his third season with the Anaheim organization. Boyle gave up two goals and made 26 saves in the final two periods on Saturday as the Ducks dropped a 6-2 decision to the Flyers.
In a saga that sounds pretty familiar to us in Vancouver these days, Boyle will get the nod tonight; his first career NHL start.
Like with Mikey DiPietro on Monday in Vancouver, Boyle may have little choice but to play the full game. Ryan Miller has been on IR since mid-December with a sprained MCL. He has been skating and was said yesterday to be "close." This brings back memories of the 2015 playoffs, when Miller had been out for about six weeks before coming in to try to salvage the Canucks' series against the Calgary Flames after Eddie Lack was unable to shoulder the load.
Here's Murray's assessment of Gibson:
The Ducks are not taking a morning skate today, so there's no info on their lines. After dealing with a whole host of health issues, Patrick Eaves got back into the lineup for a couple of games during the last road trip but is now sidelined again with an illness, and promising forward Ondrej Kase is now out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury in January.
After injuring his knee during training camp, Corey Perry returned to the lineup in early February but has just one assist in five games so far this season. And Ryan Kesler's challenges have been pretty well documented: still not right after undergoing hip surgery in 2017, Kesler has been struggling. He has just six points so far this year, missed five games around the All-Star break, and played just 11:20 in Philadelphia last Saturday.
Lost in all this drama—this will also be the Canucks' first look at Michael Del Zotto since trading him to the Ducks on January 17. Yes, the Ducks are 0-6-0 since he has joined the lineup, but he has done all right—averaging 15:42 per game and playing 18:28 against Philadelphia on Saturday.
As for the Canucks, Jacob Markstrom looks like he's going to do his best to play.
Markstrom and DiPietro are manning the nets for the morning skate.
There was some talk on Tuesday that visa issues might prevent new acquisition Marek Mazanec from joining the team in time for Wednesday's game. The Canucks have officially put him on their roster—and he has arrived.
The emergency conditions are necessary because the Canucks filled their 23rd roster spot on Tuesday by recalling Adam Gaudette to take the place of injured Brandon Sutter.
Here's how the lines are shaking down:
Zack MacEwen stays in the lineup and slots onto a line with Gaudette and Markus Granlund, while Nikolay Goldobin appears to be bumped back to the press box after picking up a goal and an assist in the six games that he has been in the lineup since the All-Star break.
With all the drama on both sides, tonight's game should be far from routine. Enjoy?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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