vs. St. Louis Blues (41-20-9) Saturday, March 18th
Leading scorer: Vladimir Tarasenko (33 goals, 61 points)
Keys to the game:
- Possess the centre lane
- Counter quickness with quickness
Again, this is a game decided by how well the Canucks can slow down and pick up on the St. Louis offence that is so strong, so fast, and so accurate. Vladimir Tarasenko will testify. The Blues owned the Canucks the last time around. So again, slow down the rush, pick up their trailers, and pick up the rebounds.
And since the Blues are so strong on the puck, I advise against trying to cycle the way out of trouble. They can catch you deep in the zone and counter quickly. Just score off the rush or band a rebound in from a point shot with traffic in front of Jake Allen. Be simple, be quick, and don’t get caught in the O-zone.
Predictions
For a Canucks win:
Gerald and Sarah
For a Blues win:
Everyone else
Next: Canucklehead Lament: A Coaching Controversy, A Crawford
The Canucks are going to have to soldier on without their top defence pairing for a while. Brandon Sutter is looking to return but not for the next couple of weeks. Can the Canucks make some noise in the standings?