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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: March 14 vs. Winnipeg Jets, Grenier Recalled |
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Monday March 14 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Winnipeg Jets - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 67 GP, 27-28-12, 66 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Winnipeg Jets: 68 GP, 28-35-5, 61 pts, seventh in Central Division
The Vancouver Canucks will get another chance to try to string together three consecutive wins as the Winnipeg Jets come to town for the middle game of a five-game homestand on Monday.
It's the team's annual telethon night at Rogers Arena:
After a day off on Sunday, the lines are shuffled at today's morning skate as Jannik Hansen and Chris Tanev get back in the mix after missing some time with injuries:
On the first line, the Jake Virtanen experiment continues.
Further down the lineup, Alex Burrows is not at the skate. He played one of his best games of the season on Saturday, finishing the night with two assists, but I wonder if he's feeling some after-effects from this situation?
I didn't see this incident and there's no indication in the game stats when it might have happened. He doesn't appear to have missed a shift.
Nice to see Jannik Hansen back on the ice, but he's not ready for game action.
Alex Grenier will skate with Horvat and Dorsett tonight.
Grenier was recalled from Utica this morning, while Brendan Gaunce has been sent back down.
Gaunce appeared in four games in this most-recent call-up before being scratched on Saturday against Nashville. He recorded no points and a minus-four.
In his two home games, I really didn't notice the guy. That's not always a bad thing—it's not like he was making multiple egregious mistakes, but he wasn't as impressive as he'd seemed in training camp or even during his earlier call-up in October, when he scored his first NHL goal and seemed more dangerous offensively.
Grenier looked good during his one-game call-up back in November—also against Winnipeg. The big winger picked up four shots on goal in just 8:52 of ice time. This will be his first regular-season game at Rogers Arena.
As expected, it's not Tryamkin time just yet. And Willie's true to his word about continuing to alternate his goaltenders.
It's unclear whether or not Chris Tanev will be ready to play.
If Tanev is in, the defensive combinations will shuffle.
I'm the first to admit that I've enjoyed the last two wins for the Canucks, and I can see why Willie's still talking playoffs, but let's not get carried away. Mathematically, Vancouver's chances remain a minuscule 1.6 percent.
If the team is able to get the better of Winnipeg tonight, that'd move them ahead of Arizona in the Pacific Division standings and get them within six points of Minnesota and Colorado—currently tied at 74 points and duking it out for that last wild-card spot in the West. The Canucks are 2-0 against Colorado this year and play the Avs again on Wednesday, but it's *so* unlikely that both Colorado and Minnesota would fall off enough in their final 12 or 13 games for Vancouver to make up six points—and that's what would need to happen.
Let it go, people.
When I was analyzing the state of the playoff races last night for a Bleacher Report piece, I was a little surprised to notice that the Canucks have managed to improve their special-team stats over the course of this season.
Right now, Vancouver ranks a respectable 13th overall on the penalty kill, with an 81.3 percent success rate, and a not-completely-terrible 21st on the power play at 17.5 percent. Still, those numbers are both big drops from last season, when the team was second on the penalty kill and 11th with the man advantage.
Faceoffs are still a disaster, though. Last season, the Canucks ended the year tied for 28th with a 46.7 percent win-rate. This year, they're dead last by a pretty wide margin, at 45.1 percent.
So, that's the view from Canucks-land. As for the Jets, they're rolling into town after a 3-2 home win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Jets arrive in Vancouver without one of their star attractions. Nikolaj Ehlers suffered a freak eye injury on March 3 and is currently listed as day-to-day. No. 1 centre Bryan Little is also sidelined, as are Anthony Peluso, Joel Armia, Grant Clitsome and Mark Stuart.
One player to watch tonight: 22-year-old Mark Scheifele. He's on a seven-game point streak, with seven goals and four assists during that span.
Thatcher Demko and Boston College Advance
It was a nail-biter, but Thatcher Demko made 36 saves as Boston College survived a squeaker to beat Vermont 4-3 in overtime to take their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series. The Eagles' next opponent will be Northeastern in the semifinal on Friday.
Brock Boeser's North Dakota team had an easier time in the NCHC, sweeping Colorado College easily. Up next for them: Minnesota Duluth on Friday.
Enjoy tonight's game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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