Rick Tocchet won’t confirm, but there are many signs that Thatcher Demko will make his long-awaited return for the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Vancouver Canucks
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. PT, Rogers Arena
TV: Sportsnet. Radio: Sportsnet 650
The buzz: So the Canucks started a game badly again you say? The 15th time this season you say? No biggie, they’ve come back nine times to win! That’s unsustainable you say? C’mon, what’s your evidence? What do you mean they only won 12 times last season after giving up the game’s first goal? What do you mean the team that scores first tends to win the game?
Oh boy.
Simple truth here: the Canucks need to start better. It’s one thing to come back against an exciting but flawed team like Columbus. It’s a whole other thing to try to do that against a powerful team like the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The history: The Lightning absolutely smashed the Canucks on their season-opening visit to Florida in October. They’re playing well.
The hope: The Lightning aren’t as fast on the rush as Columbus and the Canucks have been pretty solid defensively this season when not facing fast teams…
The fear: The Lightning just beat the Sharks 8-1. Brandon Hagel is showing why he’s on Team Canada. Brayden Point has 16 goals. Nikita Kucherov has 34 points, though he’s missed the last two games. Moral of the story here remaind: Watch. Out.
The lineup:
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Joshua-Suter-Garland
Höglander-Blueger-Sherwood
Räty-Sasson-Heinen
Hughes-Myers
Soucy-Juulsen
Brännström-Desharnais
Demko
The prediction: How many Canucks went to the Taylor Swift show on Saturday? How many Lightning? With this matinee start, will that make a difference? The Canucks are still stumbling at home…so this feels like a 4-2 Lightning win.