Game 3

Buffalo Sabres (2-0-0) vs. Vancouver Canucks (1-1-1)

Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EDT (don’t yell at me Zhitnik) | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY

TV: MSG-B

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Canucks Blog: Nucks Misconduct

Know Your Opponent

Vancouver Canucks

Record: 1-1-1

Last game: 3-1 loss vs. Red Wings

Division Ranking: 3rd in the Central Division

PP: 17th (25%)

PK: 29th (57.1%)

What to Watch

1. Can We Make It Three Straight Dubya’s?

Happy start to the season for us. Getting the win against the Yotes wasn’t the most surprising thing in the world, but the Habs, too? Wooooo 2 and oh baby. What a start, let’s see if the Sabres can keep that vampire blood in Kyle & Zemgus and get the home fans at KeyBank three straight to start the season. The Canucks have had three games where they let the team come back (Flyers), never had the lead (Red Wings) and clawed back to life to get a point (Oilers). Maybe a blowout loss is what they’re missing come Tuesday?

2. Rick-Less

In case ya missed it, instant hall of famer and Sabres legend Rick Jeanneret has released the 20 games he’s calling this season and the Canucks are the first game he’s missing. Dan Dunleavy is set to take over the call and we won’t see Rick until November 13th against the Maple Leafs. Hopefully the team gives Rick something to cheer about at home.

3. All The Fun Offensive Talent

The Canucks are a team worth watching based off their offensive talent alone. Vasili Podkolzin, the 10th overall selection from 2019 has earned a spot in the roster and joins Nils Hoglander (without umlaut), the 40th selection from 2019, on the roster. Elias Pettersson is back after missing a good chunk of games last season and Quinn Hughes is in the first year of his juicy contract. Joining the team is Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson from Arizona, which cost the Canucks a first, second and third round pick and let some cap dumps get off their books. Canucks are heading towards “all in” and are going to this group to take them over the edge.

Projected Lineup

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner – Dylan Cozens – Vinnie Hinostroza

Rasmus Asplund – Tage Thompson – Victor Olofsson

Anders Bjork – Arttu Ruotsalainen – Drake Caggiula

Zemgus Girgensons – Cody Eakin – Kyle Okposo

Defensemen

Rasmus Dahlin – Will Butcher

Robert Hagg – Mark Pysyk

Jacob Bryson – Colin Miller

Starting Goalie: Craig Anderson

Vancouver Canucks

Forwards

Tanner Pearson – Bo Horvat – Conor Garland

J.T. Miller – Elias Pettersson – Nils Hoglander

Justin Dowling – Juho Lammikko – Vasily Podkolzin

Matthew Highmore – Jason Dickinson – Alex Chiasson

Defense

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Tyler Myers

Quinn Hughes – Tucker Poolman

Jack Rathbone – Kyle Burroughs

Starting Goalie: Thatcher Demko

PP Update!

Rasmus Asplund has been moved to the top power-play unit:

🥅
Asplund
Thompson Skinner Olofsson
Dahlin

— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) October 19, 2021