Vancouver Canucks Outlook and Predictions Week #25: Effort

vs. St. Louis Blues (42-22-9) Friday, March 25th

Leading scorer: Vladimir Tarasenko (34 goals, 63 points)

Keys to the game:

1. How fast can Tryamkin learn?
2. Get those rebounds on both ends
3. D-zone commitment

Folks, the St. Louis Blues will be on your TV screens for the second week in a row. And the Canucks will be faced with the task of trying to beat Brian Elliot for the second week in a row. This time, that will be on the second night of a back-to-back.

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• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

Obviously, the Canucks have a lot to learn about these Blues. Tryamkin does too. But he showed flashes of brilliance in the loss last week against these Blues. If Tryamkin can play a pairing with Dan Hamhuis that shuts down the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and the rest of these big bad Blues wingers, that will serve to prove that Tryamkin is learning quickly on the fly.

One way Tryamkin helped was to clear the net front. With the second goal against last meeting coming off of a poor net-front control by the Canucks, if the netminder does his job to shut down the sharpshooters, the rebound game should help the Canucks survive this meeting. On the other end, Elliot was giving away nice rebounds for the Canucks, who shot it straight back into his pads. Think more with those rebounds, get to them!

And the first goal against in that meeting… looked worse. Both defenders committed to the same guy on a two-on-two, and Miller was committing to the shot as he rightfully should. Result? A tap-in. Make sure these fast hitting Blues don’t get under your skin and keep that coverage tight down the middle lane.

Predictions

For a Vancouver Win: Sarah, Jeff, and Dave

I saw potential in the loss to the Blues last week. Ryan Miller was just sublime. If the Sedins can pull Burrows along for his 1000th pro game, the team has the potential to break out of this rut and make it a win. Elliot? Someone just please run him over?

How about same old, same old.

Next: Canucklehead Lament: What Drafting Auston Matthews Does

Here’s the bottomline. If the Canucks do not man up and listen to the coach and the leaders at this point, they have no one to blame but themselves. Sure the injuries happened. Sure pucks shattered teammates’ faces and jaws. Sure the deadline happened and nothing with it. But these Canucks still have a reason to play.

As Alex Burrows said, every time this jersey is on the ice, the city watches. These Canucks have the city to play for. These Canucks have their next contracts to play for. These Canucks have points to play for. Go get them. Please.