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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: December 3 vs. Dallas Stars, Pushback Needed

December 3, 2015, 2:22 PM ET [294 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thursday December 3 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars - 7:00 p.m. - Sportsnet 360 - TSN1040

Vancouver Canucks: 26 GP, 9-9-8, 26 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Dallas Stars: 25 GP, 19-5-1, 39 pts, first in Central Division

The Canucks players are back from their road trip. I feel like they need some time to hang with their families and do some Christmas shopping.

Instead, they're skating this morning at Rogers Arena ahead of another date with the Dallas Stars tonight.

Considering that the Stars have been the class of the Western Conference so far this season and have been a tough opponent for Vancouver for the last couple of years, the Canucks can be commended for the fact that they've taken two points out of Big D this season, thanks to an overtime and a shootout loss.

Like last week in Dallas, the Canucks are catching the Stars as they try to atone for an ugly loss one game earlier. The Stars are coming into tonight's game after their first non-regulation loss of the season. After Dallas built a 3-0 lead heading into the third period on Tuesday against Calgary, the Flames mustered some of their old comeback character as they tied the game, then won in the shootout.

This will be the last time the Canucks see the Stars this season—and the only time fans at Rogers Arena will be able to get a first-hand look at Jamie Benn, who leads the NHL with 18 goals and is second with 35 points, Tyler Seguin, who's third overall with 34 points, and John Klingberg, who's the league's top scoring defenseman and is fifth overall with 27 points—one behind Vancouver's own sniper Daniel Sedin, who continues to hang in fourth.

Antti Niemi has tended goal for the Stars' last five games while Kari Lehtonen was on the shelf after an awkward in-game collision with Klingberg. Lehtonen has now been activated and is likely to get the start tonight.

Defenseman Jason Demers left Tuesday's game against Calgary and is said to be questionable to play tonight.

As for the Canucks, here's a good news-bad news tweet:




I'm thrilled to hear that Tanev's even close to being able to play. Thought he might be lost to the team for weeks!

Ben Hutton is also skating again, so he's probably close to getting back into the lineup.




Virtanen's week-to-week status is what I expected after my online research on hip pointers yesterday. I guess it'll be down to the wire about whether or not he goes to World Juniors. If he's healthy enough—and if the Canucks seem like they're doing well enough without him—the timing of the tournament might be just right to get him some quality playing time and boost his confidence as a "big fish."

Elliotte Friedman supports this idea in this week's edition of "30 Thoughts."

Jake Virtanen left Monday’s game in Anaheim early, but if his injury is not serious, there is a model for the Canucks to follow.

At this time last season, Ottawa’s Curtis Lazar was playing more than Virtanen is now. But the Senators saw the value in the World Junior event. There was discussion beforehand about role and responsibility. Ottawa was assured Lazar would be a significant part of the squad and, depending on who you talk to, knew he’d be captain.

The move benefitted everyone — the player, the organization and Team Canada. If I’m Jim Benning, I’m having a similar conversation this time around.


Right now, I'd say his status depends most on how he heals up from his injury.




Here's how the lines are shaking down at this morning's skate:




Jason Botchford is advocating for more responsibility for Jared McCann in The Province, but today's lines show him back with Brandon Prust and Derek Dorsett.

But hey—with the amount Willie Desjardins likes to play Prust and Dorsett, maybe this is some sort of backhanded promotion? I guess we'll see when we look at the ice time after tonight's game.

Jim Benning made no bones about the fact that he didn't like the lack of "pack mentality" from his team on Monday in Anaheim. Thank goodness he saw what we saw!




Part of the cure has been to bring the Latvian Locomotive, Ronalds Kenins, back into the mix.

It's crystal clear what the Canucks want to see from Kenins tonight, who will line up with Bo Horvat and Radim Vrbata. Horvat played his best hockey as a pro with Kenins on his wing last season, so we'll see whether they can recapture the magic.

No word yet on a starting goalie for tonight, but we do have this big-picture nugget:




Considering how well Ryan Miller played against Dallas last week, I'm thinking the Markstrom era won't begin tonight. Expecting to see Miller get the start.

To wrap up today—John Scott got most of the headlines yesterday when he was announced as the top vote-getter so far in this year's All-Star Game balloting, but this was my favourite suggestion:




Team Frankie!
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