On Friday night, the Vancouver Canucks face their toughest challenge yet.
No, not the prospect of on the blue line but a 3 p.m. puck drop — noon PST. That kind of start time throws all of your gameday routines out of whack. That's the time a player might wake up from their midday nap, not be suiting up to play hockey.
With that in mind, it might be a bit of a weird first period, with both teams adjusting to the odd start time. There could be a feeling out process to begin the game.
It doesn't help that it will be the Canucks' third game in four nights. The Canucks' legs could be wobbling by the third period, so getting off to a good start will be crucial and also very difficult given the disruption to their gameday routine.
Of course, I'm cutting this preview short because it's almost game time. The weird start time messes with my gameday routine too.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With no Hronek, Vincent Desharnais will draw back into the lineup. It looks like the Canucks will be moving Tyler Myers up to play with Quinn Hughes and hoping that Carson Soucy and Noah Juulsen can handle things on the second pairing.
Here are the Canucks' lines:
The Canucks are also shaking up their forward lines a bit, moving Nils Höglander and Aatu Räty up to the third line with Brock Boeser. That makes a lot of sense, as Boeser hasn't had much offensive help in his return with two more defensive-minded played in Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen. Höglander and Räty have a bit more offensive upside.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen.
Buffalo Sabres projected lines
Rasmus Dahlin will play for the Sabres despite leaving Thursday's practice early.
The Sabres lost their last game against the Minnesota Wild 1-0 but won three straight before that. They're currently fourth in the Atlantic Division by points percentage with an 11-10-1 record.
Here are the Sabres' lines:
JJ Peterka - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Dylan Cozens - Peyton Krebs
Jason Zucker - Jiri Kulich - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn - Ryan McLeod - Sam Lafferty
Rasmu Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson - Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
The Sabres' starting goaltender will be Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen, who has been very stingy in net for the Sabres this season with a .914 save percentage.
