In a season already filled with extraordinary lows, the Vancouver Canucks might’ve played their worst game of the year last night. After rattling off four consecutive victories, the team looked lethargic and out of sorts as they were blown out once again by the Canadiens, who seem to have Vancouver’s number.
Unfortunately, the Canucks won’t have much time to regroup as they’re back against Montreal tonight, hopefully with a better effort this time. Let’s take a look at the potential lineups from both sides.
Vancouver’s lineup
The Canucks went with this rotation last night.
#Canucks took line rushes like this per @ArponBasu:
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) February 1, 2021
Pearson-Horvat-Hoglander
Lotto
Gaudette-Sutter-MacEwen
Motte-Beagle-Virtanen
Edler-Chatfield
Schmidt-Myers
Hughes-Benn
Holtby was first on and will start.
Even with the blowout, I don’t think Vancouver will make many tweaks to their forward group, considering Antoine Roussel is reportedly nursing an injury. That essentially eliminates the possibility of either Jake Virtanen or Adam Gaudette getting scratched again, which has happened over the past couple of games.
The defence, however, might be another story. Jalen Chatfield has been impressive for most of the season but played arguably his worst match last night. This might incite Travis Green to re-insert Olli Juolevi into the lineup, which means that Alex Edler might once again be paired with Nate Schmidt and Juolevi will play alongside Tyler Myers.
In net, expect Thatcher Demko to start since it’s the second night of a back to back.
Montreal’s lineup
The Canadiens’ lineup has remained virtually unchanged all season long, which isn’t all that surprising given their success to being the year.
Based on what we're hearing out of Canadiens morning skate in Montreal, I'd expect the Habs to lineup like this tonight:
— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) February 1, 2021
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Drouin-Suzuki-Anderson
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Perry
Lehkonen-Evans-Byron
Chiarot-Weber
Edmundson-Petry
Mete-Romanov
Like Vancouver, the only change might come on the backend and in net. Victor Mete made his season debut last night in place of Brett Kulak and played a solid game, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Claude Julien decides to swap the two blueliners for tonight’s match.
Jake Allen will get the nod in goal after Carey Price started last night, but the Canucks can’t take him lightly as the backup has only allowed five goals all season in three games played.
Players to watch
J.T. Miller: Miller had arguably the worst game of his entire Canucks tenure last night, as he was directly responsible for numerous Canadiens goals and scoring chances. His body language also looked off and the winger appeared to be disinterested for the entire match. Miller is too good to not bounce back, and I expect a big performance from him tonight.
Jeff Petry: Shea Weber usually gets all the shine in Montreal, but Jeff Petry has actually been the Canadiens’ best defenceman this year. The 33-year-old currently leads all blueliners in point with 11 and is coming off a two-goal performance last night.
Don’t forget that the Canucks are in Montreal, so puck drops early at 4 PM Pacific Time. Let’s hope Vancouver can bounce back tonight. Give us your predictions in the comments below!