CANUCKS GAMEDAY
VANCOUVER AT MONTREAL 4 p.m., Bell Centre, TV: Sportsnet, Radio: Sportsnet 650
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME 1 Price’s flu Carey Price
was the one player who missed Montreal’s practice on Saturday. The official reason has been listed as the flu, which puts his status in doubt when Vancouver visits. It’s expected to be a gametime decision. If Price can’t play, then Antti Niemi will get the start. Price was brilliant in a 2-1 win against Tampa Bay on Thursday. He made 44 saves and stopped all shootout attempts.
2 Coaching
When Montreal won in Vancouver last month, Canucks head coach Travis Green called it a step in the right direction. There haven’t been many of those since. The Canucks’ special teams is going to need to be good, and that’s going to have to happen without either Brandon Sutter or Bo
Horvat, who still are weeks away from playing. The Canucks’ lack of depth has been exposed in the past few weeks.
3 The Nilsson thing
One way or another, Anders Nilsson is going to be a big story here. At Saturday’s game-day skate in Toronto, Green suggested he would split the starts between his goalies in these back-to-back games. Nilsson was torched by the Habs for six goals last month. And since late November his save percentage has been among the very worst in the NHL. If Green somehow starts Jacob Markstrom in both games, it could be even more damaging in terms of Nilsson’s mental state.
4 The Pacioretty thing
With Montreal fading fast from playoff contention, the focus is shifting to what the Habs could do at the trade deadline. Max Pacioretty could be a game-changer for team in the West in need of goal-scoring. A topic like this can be suffocating in a market such as Montreal, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has. His first half was disappointing, as Pacioretty scored nine goals in 41 games. He had 35 last season.
5 Baertschi’s return
The Canucks are about to get a big boost up front. For a while now, Sven Baertschi has been targeting Sunday for his return from a broken jaw and has been skating with the team for a while now. Baertschi would add a goal-scoring threat to the Canucks that they have been missing aside from Brock Boeser. He can help take some of the pressure and defensive attention away from the young sniper.