Canucks Vs Blue Jackets, SNET-P, Team 1040, 7:00PM
Tonight's a night when a team who has been struggling in recent weeks comes into the Canuck's home rink. Although the Jackets are struggling they cannot be taken lightly. The other night in Calgary they looked very strong (especially the top line), they looked fast, strong and dangerous. They probably should have won the game.
The key to tonight's game will be Luongo's goaltending and the teams defence.
Luongo needs a good effort. He's coming off a game where he didn't have that many shots, the chances Edmonton had were fairly good but he looked big calm and relaxed in goal. He will need another night where it looks as though the team can make a mistake and Luongo will be there to cover them up. He has the ability to be a top goalie in the NHL, he is paid that way, and if he can continue to improve on his most recent game he will can earn what he is paid.
The defence needs to be on their toes. They dealt very well with a fast Edmonton team and will need the same type of game against the Jackets.
Ballard has been improving every game and with Ehrhoff out he has stepped up and played a big top 4 roll.
On the injury front, Salo and Raymond were skating together today. It's good to see Salo back out there, his recovery seems to be coming faster than expected and he will be a huge addition once he cracks the line up and gets into game shape. Salo will be one of those additions to the team that acts like a trade deadline deal that doesn't cost anything. He will add a new element to the 2nd PP unit and is also very responsible in his own zone. The great thing about this team this year is the special teams don't really need a lot of help so he can be eased in slowly to those units.
My prediction for tonight is a good effort from the 2nd line. I'll even go as far as saying that Samuelsson will have a pretty good game tonight. Either way I see the Canuck's matching with the Nash line (power vs power or Canucks 3rd line vs Nash) I think the team has a big advantage with 2nd lines. Kesler can dominate a game but he needs his wingers to support him.
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