Now losers, of three straight games, the Vancouver Canucks are back in action today, welcoming the Seattle Kraken to Rogers Arena. Seattle is all but a lock to make the playoffs, but with the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames right on their heels in the Western Conference wild card race, don’t expect to see Seattle take Vancouver lightly tonight.
Here’s what we saw at Canucks morning skate.
Line combinations from Tuesday morning’s #Canucks skate:
Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Joshua
Di Giuseppe-Miller-Boeser
Beauvillier-Åman-Garland
McDonough-Dries-Studnicka
Extra: KravtsovHughes-Burroughs
Hirose-Myers
Rathbone-Bear pic.twitter.com/ybzBI54D4U— Faber (@ChrisFaber39) April 4, 2023
Brock Boeser is tired of missing the playoffs. Fans know what he’s talking about. Every year, the Canucks seem to put together a late push after squandering their season away with poor play at the beginning and middle of the year. It’s always too little too late, and the only thing it does is worsen the club’s draft positioning.
“I think they’re a veteran group over there,” Boeser said of the Kraken. “They have a lot of guys that have that experience and it’s crazy how much they’ve turned around from last year to this year. It’s something that’s important. I think they’re just trying to build their culture, and I think that that applies to us right now. Ever since Toch got here, we’ve got to build the culture the right way and we got to make sure that we’re coming to the rink each and every day and wanting to get better and becoming a group that’s predictable each and every night when we go on the ice and play games. That’s what we’re striving for right now.”
“There’s a lot of guys that need to make an impact and show what they’re worth to this team and fight for spots and whatnot, so, I think this is a really important time. Like I said, it’s a time for us to build that culture. We’re sick of not making playoffs. Like, this sucks coming here every year and being in this time span and yeah, I mean, you know, there’s not much else to say other than we’ve got to build the culture the right way and work to get better.”
Boeser has four goals in his last five games, and has added three assists in the process. Boeser has looked like a much better player in all areas of the game ever since Tocchet’s hiring. Boeser will look to continue his scoring ways tonight when the Kraken visit Rogers Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7 PM Pacific.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!