Canucks Game 69 Preview vs. Blues: A big wildcard showdown

Vancouver Canucks v St Louis Blues
Vancouver Canucks v St Louis Blues | Dilip Vishwanat/GettyImages

After shockingly laying a 6-2 hurting on Winnipeg on Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks (32-25-11) turn their attention to a direct playoff spot competitor in the St. Louis Blues (34-28-7), who play host to the Canucks at 4:30 p.m. Thursday evening at Enterprise Center.

The Blues are level with the Canucks in points, as both sides stand at 75 points apiece. St. Louis is 7-2-1 in its last 10 games and comes into this matchup with Vancouver on a three-game win streak, so they're as hot as any team in the NHL right now. It is not going to be an easy challenge for the Canucks.

Canucks Game Lineup

Nils Hoglander - Elias Pettersson - Brock Boeser

Jake DeBrusk - Pius Suter - Kiefer Sherwood

Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Conor Garland

Dakota Joshua - Nils Aman - Linus Karlsson

Quinn Hughes - Tyler Myers

Marcus Pettersson - Filip Hronek

Derek Forbort - Elias Pettersson

Kevin Lankinen is expected to be the Canucks' starting goalie against St. Louis marking a third consecutive start in goal for the team. Lankinen has made 20 saves on 22 shots in each of his last two games, winning one and losing the other.

Blues Game Lineup

Jake Neighbours - Robert Thomas - Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway - Brayden Schenn - Jordan Kyrou

Mathieu Joseph - Zack Bolduc - Oskar Sundqvist

Nathan Walker - Radek Faksa - Alexey Toropchenko

Cam Fowler - Nick Leddy

Philip Broberg - Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter - Tyler Tucker

4 Nations Face-Off champion goaltender Jordan Binnington is confirmed to be the Blues' starting goalie against the Canucks on Thursday evening. Binnington has not been the best in the month of March, posting a 4-2-0 record despite his 2.76 GAA and lackluster .884 save percentage. This Canucks team, which just fried Connor Hellebuyck and Winnipeg, must take advantage of that in this matchup with the Blues.

How to watch the Canucks game

Thursday night's Canucks game will be streamed on Disney+, HULU, ESPN+, and Sportsnet Pacific. For fans unable to watch the Canucks game, Sportsnet 650 will be the radio broadcast available for your listening.

Schedule