Expect long and loud salute to retiring Sedins
The Canucks have won four of their last five games and allowed sneak peeks at prize prospects Adam Gaudette and Thatcher Demko. But tonight is all about the Sedins.
The twins announced their retirement on Monday morning, and with two home games left to play, they might want to wear earplugs because it’s going to be loud. They have both played more than 1,000 games, they have both amassed more than 1,000 career points, they both have won the Art Ross Trophy, and Henrik has also captured the Hart Trophy.
THE BIG MATCHUP
The Sedins vs. standing ovations
Henrik and Daniel Sedin probably don’t want to go out this way. Amiable, accountable and — above all — pure professionals, the future hall of famers have never sought the spotlight and have never put themselves ahead of the team. To them, raised sticks from the bench and waves to acknowledge the adulation would suffice.
Nice try. Brace yourselves. Can’t imagine what the decibel level will be tonight, from the moment the twins step on the ice for the warmup, to when they’re introduced in the starting lineup, and through every shift they play.
When you’re the heart and soul of an organization and an example of how to conduct yourself, on and off the ice and in the community, the Rogers’ roar is going to be something.
FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Stop Karlsson from scoring William Karlsson had six goals for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and just one on the power play. He logged an average of 13:23 and was a support player for coach John Tortorella.
Deemed expendable for the expansion draft, the 25-year-old centre is a first-line force with the Golden Knights who gets 18:42 of ice and plenty of power-play time. He’s now in the Rocket Richard Trophy race with 42 goals — just three back of Alex Ovechkin — and only seven of his goals have come on the power play.
Whether it’s coming at Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom at high speed, or trying for another between-the-legs goal, he’s become a centre of attention.
2. Keeping an eye on Markstrom You can see it in his game, see it in his body language, and hear it in the tone of his voice.
Markstrom has won four straight games. His 35-save outing against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, including sprawling out to take a backhand chance away from Leon Draisaitl and robbing Milan Lucic on his doorstep, was impressive.
What’s changed? He’s gone from confounding to confident and his numbers have improved to a 2.68 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
“We changed some stuff over the course of the season and it was relatively new to me,” said Markstrom. “And it’s a lot of confidence.”
3. Gaudette gets better
In just his second career NHL game on Saturday, Gaudette took another impressive step forward. In 13:08 of ice time, he nearly scored twice and nearly set up a pair of goals.
Speeding down the wing, he fed a sweet cross-ice pass to Reid Boucher.
He forced Joonas Korpisalo to make a tough glove-side save and almost beat him with a wraparound attempt.
Gaudette finished with three shots and five attempts, and he wasn’t a liability without the puck. His three-zone awareness scored points with coach Travis Green.
4. See Jake skate
Jake Virtanen is flying. Part of it has to do with everything the winger has endured in the last two seasons in the AHL and NHL. Part of it is the winger skating freely, driving the net off the wings and hitting everything in sight.
He had four shots, seven attempts and six hits, and even a blocked shot.
His chemistry on a line with Gaudette was noticeable.
5. Goldobin give-and-go
Did you see Nikolay Goldobin do the give-and-go with Jussi Jokinen on Saturday and then release a hot shot for his sixth goal of the season? The mercurial Russian winger is getting prime-time playing time with Bo Horvat during audition season and looked more like a budding prospect than a roster suspect.