Gameday preview: Canucks vs Kraken (October 23)

The Vancouver Canucks are making one last stop on their six game road trip and that is in Seattle.

Seattle is home to grunge music, Pike Place Market, the first ever Starbucks, the Space Needle and the newest NHL franchise, the Kraken.

It will be the first official meeting between the two Pacific Northwest hockey teams and it will be the Kraken’s inaugural home game at Climate Pledge Arena. The Canucks will be looking to spoil the party and keep the Kraken within the depths of the sea.

The Kraken are 1-3-1 to start the season. They lost their first game in Vegas against the Golden Knights 4-3. They won their first game in franchise history in Nashville as they beat the Predators 4-3 on October 14.  Seattle hasn’t won a game since and their last game was a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

The Canucks rebounded from losses in Detroit and Buffalo with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Here is how the Canucks lined up at practice on Saturday morning. From the looks of it, this is the same lineup from the game in Chicago and Vasily Podkolzin looks like he could be a healthy scratch again. However, the lines could change at game time.

Here is how the Canucks power play units lined up. It’s the same as the game in Chicago with Alex Chiasson on the first unit and and Brock Boeser on the second unit.

According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, it looks likely that Thatcher Demko will get the start in Seattle.

“I love the situation,” said Elias Pettersson on the Kraken’s first home game per Drance. “It’s a big game for them, first home game… ever since it was announced they’d have an NHL team, there was talk about a rivalry… we’re excited.”

Players to watch:

Kraken: Former Canuck Jared McCann leads the Kraken in points with five. He has three goals (tied in the team lead with Brandon Tanev.) and two assists in five games to start the season.

Canucks: Nils Höglander has three assists on the season so far. He will continue to bring his speed and energy against the Kraken. Per Natural Stat Trick, he has a 100% goals for percentage to start the season.

Let the rivalry begin! Puck drop is a 7:00 P.M. You can watch the game on Sportsnet and CBC and listen to it on Sportsnet 650.