Vancouver Canucks: 3 keys to victory against the Blackhawks

The Vancouver Canucks will continue on to Chicago after a tough game in Las Vegas and will take on the Blackhawks who were just eliminated from playoff contention. The Canucks will have to have a strong game to break their current seven game losing streak.

Do you remember the Brock Boeser injury? If so you also remember the Vancouver Canucks last victory. They come into Chicago riding a seven-game losing streak and whether they are trying to or not, they have embraced the tank. The #RaceForDahlin is on and the Canucks have to be front-runners.

The Canucks currently sit at 59 points through 73 games, the wheels have came off. As most casual fans begin to tune out the team, the diehards remain. In fact, if your reading this pre-game I am glad, and thank you for staying with your team! Though the arena is a more empty than usual and the cheers are few and far between, they are still our team and we will get through this together. Because we are all Canucks, through and through we care about this team.

Some players started to look they didn’t care about the team in the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. If anything, these current players should be playing their tails off. With many current Canucks making a case for being a – NHL player moving forward such as Darren Archibald, Ben Hutton or Derrick Pouliot

Archibald is intriguing to me, he came in to the Canucks and brought a ton of energy. Archibald was great in his first five games, where he had two fights and brought much needed energy to the bottom-six. Games six to 12 were great too, those seven games saw three goals for Archibald including his one and only move in a penalty shot goal.

Then there has been the last seven games for Archibald. He has been pretty absent from the games, though many Canucks have been absent during this seven game losing streak as well. The thing is that Archibald isn’t comfortably playing in the NHL next season. He has a lot to prove and not a lot of time left to prove it.

I’d hope for a fire to be lit in Archibald’s game tonight, if not by himself maybe by his coach Travis Green, who gave Archibald the team M.V.P. last year with the Utica Comets. Some physicality would be what the Canucks need on this team from Archibald and that will get me into the first of my three keys to victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Shut down the three big names

The Canucks are coming off of 40 hit night against the Vegas Golden Knights, that’s a team high for the season. They  will have to stay physical but also aggressive against the stars that the Blackhawks have such as Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith.

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The 34-Year-old Keith has definitely found a drop in his game, the two time Norris trophy winner finds himself with less goals than Henrik Sedin right now and for those who haven’t been counting, Henrik has two goals.

Kane and Toews really run this room, they are three time Stanley cup champions and this will be the first season since those Cup wins that the Blackhawks will miss the playoffs.

Kane is still and elite scorer and though many people believe Toews’ game has dropped off he has still remained productive and plays a great 200-foot game. Kane currently has the team lead in points(70) and goals(25).

If you can keep the top guys off the scoresheet there isn’t much that the Blackhawks have on their roster to support scoring on their other lines.

Solid goaltending

Anders Nilsson stole a couple games at the start of the year. Nilsson should get the start against the Blackhawks on Thursday night after a couple bad goals on Jacob Markstrom against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Blackhawks must be down after being eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since their dynasty team was assembled. If Nilsson or Markstrom can play a solid game and not let in a soft goal and the Canucks can give a solid defensive effort then this will be a major key to victory.

#RACEforDAHLIN

I know I’m supposed to give three keys to victory, but this team gains nothing from winning right now. With the emergence of the new powerhouse Arizona Coyotes and good play from the Buffalo Sabres, the Canucks can raise their chances of landing the first overall pick in the draft lottery.

This would be one of those games where I would love to see a five to four loss. If a few of the young guys can go out and have a good game, maybe pot a few goals and have some chemistry on any of the lines that would be ideal.

Next: Safe is death: the Vancouver Canucks need to take more risks

In the end, it’s tank time. The Canucks should try and at least put out an effort that coach Travis Green expects and if that warrants a win, then great! If a great team effort results in a good game by a bunch of young guys and a loss, even better.