Canucks vs. Oilers Game Day Preview: If We’re Lucky, No One Will Get Hurt

Photo credit: CBC.ca

In their last regular season game, which Canucks team will we see?

Your guess is as good as mine. Going into the playoffs, I know we’d all love to see a complete effort like they put together against the Chicago Blackhawks a couple of games ago. Certainly, we’d like to forget the uninspired performance against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. But tonight, against the golf course-bound Edmonton Oilers in a game that means nothing, the Canucks simply want to get out of the regular season (mostly) intact and healthy, and are resting some key players.

Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows, Jason Garrison, Alex Edler and Dan Hamhuis will all be munching on some popcorn watching from the press box. Henrik Sedin will be in the lineup, but only to keep his ironman streak alive, and will start between Dale Weise and Steve Pinizzotto. Kevin Bieksa will make his return to the lineup after suffering from a mysterious “lower-body” injury. Roberto Luongo gets the call between the pipes as Cory Schneider sits out his second game with the dreaded “body injury”.

After a promising start, the Oilers will miss the playoffs for a 7th straight season. With a team full of all sorts of young stars and firepower, they should be a force to be reckoned with. Instead, tonight will cap yet another disappointing finish to the season, one that’s already lead to GM Steve Tambellini being fired and replaced with Craig Mactavish.

Canucks Record

26-14-7, 59 points (1st in the Northwest Division, 3rd in the Western Conference)

Season Series

The Canucks and Oilers have met 4 times this season already with each team winning 2 games each.

Taylor Hall torched the Canucks for a hat trick just 7:53 into the Oilers’ 4-0 win on March 30th, but the Canucks showed some pride and fought back with a 4-0 decision of their own in the two teams’ most recent meeting on April 4th.

Who’s Hot

Taylor Hall is coming off a 3-point game (1G-2A) against the Minnesota Wild last night. He’s had a solid campaign this year, sitting 9th in the NHL in overall scoring (48 points) and 10th in assists (32).

Who’s Not

Chris Higgins has gone pointless in his last 4 games, which, because of injury, is a stretch that dates back to the Canucks’ last game against the Oilers on April 4th.