Gameday Preview: Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues (March 28th)

Can the Vancouver Canucks end their impressive road trip on a good note? Or will they be feeling blue later on tonight?

After coming away with five of a possible six points during the week, including a monumental 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, the team will be looking to add two more points to the bank, facing off against Ryan O’Reilly and the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.

Like it has been for the past few weeks, this game will have huge implications on Vancouver’s playoff hopes. As of Monday afternoon, the Canucks are just three points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference; however, they’ll eventually need to gain some ground over teams like Dallas and Winnipeg, who currently have a slight mathematical advantage over them.

The Canucks are also just six points behind the Blues, who are currently holding down the first wild card spot in the West. Although it’s highly unlikely that Vancouver will catch up to St. Louis by the end of the season, especially given the strength of both remaining schedules, there’s no doubt that both clubs understand the critical importance of Monday night’s contest.

After hosting an optional skate on Sunday morning, the entire team took to the ice on Monday morning for a full practice, giving fans and media a glimpse of what to expect for the line combinations.

The biggest absence in the forward group is still that of Matthew Highmore, who will be sitting out his second straight contest due to an upper-body injury. As a result, head coach Bruce Boudreau will once again turn to Will Lockwood as his replacement.

The 23-year-old right winger looked good in his season debut with the Canucks, logging just over eight minutes of ice time and showcasing his speed and physicality on the fourth line with Nic Petan and Brad Richardson.

During the post-practice media availability, Boudreau also announced that Jaroslav Halak will get the nod in net for the second time on this road trip.

Halak will be looking to build off of his impressive performance against Colorado last Wednesday, where he turned aside 32 of 33 shots faced en route to his team’s 3-1 victory at Ball Arena.

St. Louis, on the other hand, will be rolling with Ville Husso between the pipes. The 27-year-old Finnish netminder has been quite impressive with the Blues, posting a 16-6-4 record to go along with his .922 SV% and 2.43 GAA.

Monday night’s contest marks the second meeting of the season between these two teams, as well as the first game in this home-and-home set. Vancouver lost the first game by a score of 3-1 back on January 23rd, despite peppering Husso with 39 shots through three periods.

Michael DiPietro was also in net for the Canucks that night.

Puck drop is set for 4:30pm PST at Enterprise Center.

What are your thoughts heading into Monday night’s contest against St. Louis? Let us know in the comments!