It’s tough to beat a team twice in a row during the regular season in a home-and-home, and the way the Canucks are battling these days, one would expect a good effort against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
Especially considering the Canucks will be defending their home turf against a team that just beat them on Saturday 5-2 in Motown.
The Red Wings are a franchise involved in a long term rebuild, a process already a half-a-dozen years old. Missing the playoffs this spring will be the seventh year in a row the Winged Wheel will sit out, after an astonishing run of 25 years participating in the postseason. They won four Stanley Cups during the stretch, in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008.
Canucks Game Night
As part of our game night preview, we chatted with Red Wings Canadian-born TV play-by-play man extraordinaire Ken Daniels about one of those years, 2002, and the 1st-round goal given up by Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier to Red Wings defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom from center ice that changed the series. Detroit went on to win the round and the title. Touchy subject for BC folks, but Daniels tells a very interesting behind-the-scenes story from the other side.
Daniels also has an opinion regarding the Quinn Hughes NHL Draft, the club in general, and visiting Vancouver.
This season the Red Wings are better than the Canucks, but not that much better. They have 54 points and sit in 6th place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division. Vancouver also resides in 6th with 46 points in the Pacific.
With the Canucks out of the playoff picture, the team’s mindset seems to have move forward. Players are not talking about what needs to be fixed and improved with next season in mind. That’s really all they can do. Vancouver management can continue searching for deals to shed salary and add prospects or picks prior to the March 3rd NHL Trade Deadline.
Face-off Monday night is a little after 7 pm from Rogers Arena.
