The Canucks might be tired having played in Las Vegas on Tuesday, but they’ve got plenty to play for

Get the latest from Patrick Johnston straight to your inbox

Article content

Vancouver Canucks (46-21-8) versus Arizona Coyotes (31-38-5)

Advertisement 2

Article content

When and where: Wednesday, 7 p.m., Mullett Arena

Article content

TV: Sportsnet. Radio: Sportsnet 650

The buzz: It’s not often you get an immediate chance to bounce back from a stinker. Tuesday’s 6-3 loss in Sin City was ugly. It stung. What’s worse is even in their early stumbles they looked like they might pull the game back; don’t forget they managed to make it 2-1 before an ugly goal made it 3-1. And then in the third they had clawed the game back to 5-3, only to make another series of gaffes to give up a sixth goal. Arizona is not good but they’ve been punchy lately. The Canucks absolutely must find a win. It really should be a big-sized win, not just any old win. The playoffs will be here soon.

• Tuesday’s loss also pulled the Oilers back into the picture: they’re just five points back of Vancouver with two games in hand. The Canucks desperately want to finish first in the division. That’s something to play for.

Article content

Advertisement 3

Article content

• Watch out for the Coyotes’ offence: they have 19 goals in their last three games.

The history: The Canucks beat the Coyotes 2-1 on Jan. 18. The two teams will meet one more time before the season ends, a week from now at Rogers Arena.

The hope: No matter how things go Thursday in Vegas, the Canucks will be raring to go emotionally. And they’re fighting for a lot more than the Coyotes are this season: Vancouver wants to win the division, while the Coyotes, again, won’t be in the big dance.

The fear: The Coyotes are well-rested: they haven’t played since Saturday. And this won’t be an easy game: the Yotes may have sold off a number of players at the trade deadline, but they’re 5-5 in their last 10 games, and they’ve won 20 times at home this season.

Advertisement 4

Article content

The top guns: J.T. Miller has six points in five games. He’s been a scoring machine in the second half and now needs just five points to hit 100 for the first time. Conor Garland has been a wizard lately: he had four goals and six assists in March. But this is troubling: Elias Pettersson is pointless in seven of his last nine games. He was the NHL’s third star of the month in January. It all seems a long time ago.

The quote: “You have to have a strong mindset. The structure, the guys have been doing a good job, it’s really the changes or the turnovers, it’s the miscellaneous stuff we’ve been struggling with. And that’s a mindset thing.” — Head coach Rick Tocchet on finding the next gear they need to achieve as they approach the playoffs

Advertisement 5

Article content

The wounded: Canucks: Elias Lindholm (undisclosed, day to day), and Thatcher Demko (lower-body, week to week). Coyotes: Travis Boyd (upper body, week-to-week), and Barrett Hayton (lower body, week-to-week).

The lineup:

Forwards

Höglander-Pettersson-Boeser

Joshua-Miller-Garland

Mikheyev-Suter-Lafferty

Podkolzin-Blueger-Bains

Defence

Hughes-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Zadorov-Juulsen

Goalie

Artūrs Šilovs

The prediction: The Coyotes aren’t great but this is a potential banana-skin game. You’d better hope the Canucks are motivated for this one after Tuesday’s debacle. Watch them reverse the 6-3 loss they suffered to the Golden Knights and beat the Coyotes by the same score.


(FAN FORUM: Do you have a specific question for a player? Pass it along to @provincesports and we’ll get it in a future edition.)

Advertisement 6

Article content

pjohnston@postmedia.com

twitter.com/risingaction

Recommended from Editorial


Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content





Source link theprovince.com