Canucks game preview: First matchup of the season against Montreal

After an exciting win against the Oilers in their season opener, the Vancouver Canucks have now lost three consecutive games, all to their two rivals in Alberta.

Unfortunately, the team’s schedule doesn’t get much easier today, as they’re set to face a Canadiens squad that has yet to lose in regulation this year.

The good news is that the Canucks have now returned to Vancouver and will begin a six-game home stand tonight, which will hopefully provide them with a sense of familiarity and give them some extra rest.

The Canucks lineup

Even after their recent struggles, I don’t foresee Travis Green making any major adjustments to the team’s lineup. Yes, the Lotto Line was eerily quiet against Calgary, but they’re too good to keep off the scoresheet for long and that was J.T. Miller’s first game of the season as well.

The second line comprised of Bo Horvat, Tanner Pearson, and Nils Hoglander has arguably been Vancouver’s best so far, although that hasn’t exactly been a high bar to reach, so they’ll likely stay intact.

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The bottom six will most likely stay unchanged as well. Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette both played well last game, as Virtanen scored his first of the season while Gaudette had a number of dangerous chances but couldn’t convert. They’ll be flanked by Antoine Roussel on the left wing. The fourth line performed adequately against Calgary too, albeit in sheltered minutes.

Defence is the area in which we might see changes. The coaching staff has already played around with the idea of having Quinn Hughes and Nate Schmidt on one pairing, and we may see more of that in the future, especially when the Canucks are trailing.

Another option would be to have Tyler Myers play alongside Hughes and bump Travis Hamonic down to the third pairing beside Olli Juolevi, although this is pure speculation at this point. Myers and Hughes showed chemistry last season when playing together, so this could be something worth trying.

In goal, expect Braden Holtby to start after Thatcher Demko got the nod last game. It seems like they’ll be going with a 50/50 split this year, so Demko will be back in net tomorrow.

The Canadiens lineup

After a good start to the season, there aren’t any reasons to change Montreal’s lineup right now. Up front, their top three lines are all deployed pretty evenly, which just shows the depth they have.

Philipp Danault, Brendan Gallagher, and Tomas Tatar make up their first unit, which has a blend of skill and grit. They’ll likely be matched up against the Lotto Line considering Danault’s defensive prowess.

Their second line is comprised of Nick Suzuki, Jonathan Drouin, and Josh Anderson, while their third includes Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joel Armia, and former Canuck Tyler Toffoli.

On defence, their pairings will be Ben Chiarot/Shea Weber, Joel Edmunson/Jeff Petry, and Brett Kulak/Alexander Romanov.

Carey Price will likely be in net after Jake Allen made his Canadiens debut on Monday.

Players to watch

Elias Pettersson: Pettersson was visibly frustrated with himself last game against Calgary, as he struggled to generate offensively and took two penalties as well. Moreover, he was just fined for slashing Sean Monahan, so he’ll be extra motivated to get his season on track and I fully expect to dominate tonight.

Jeff Petry: Weber usually gets the spotlight in Montreal and Romanov is their next priced defender, which has left Petry underrated as usual. Even so, the veteran blueliner already has five points on the season and has arguably been their best player so far, so the Canucks will need to pay extra attention to him in this game.

Puck drops at 7 PM tonight, and the two teams will face off again tomorrow. Hopefully Vancouver will be reinvigorated now that they’re back home, go Canucks go!