There's no rest for the wicked, which is why Wicked has been running continuously on Broadway for the past two decades. Also, the Vancouver Canucks are back in action Wednesday after a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
Wednesday's opponent will be the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have crashed to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings this season with a 7-12-4 record and a league-worst minus-34 goal differential.
The Penguins are clearly in rebuild mode, as they've been acquiring young prospects, have already traded a veteran in Lars Eller for draft picks, and are rumoured to be shopping other players, such as Marcus Pettersson. The Canucks have expressed interest in Pettersson in the past, part of their quest to acquire every Pettersson in hockey.
The Canucks have already beaten the Penguins once this season, one of their three wins at home this season. The Penguins have lost six of their last seven games, with their latest a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the as-yet-unnamed Utah hockey team.
So, in theory, this should be an easy win for the Canucks. In theory.
But the Canucks are playing on the second half of back-to-back nights, while the Penguins have had three days of rest. While the Penguins' front office is looking to rebuild, the players on the ice still have plenty of pride and won't go quietly.
Also, the Penguins still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who remain pretty good players.
In other words, this game against the Penguins has the feeling of a trap game: a game against an opponent that you take too lightly and, as a result, suffer a surprising loss. That raises the question: if you know going into a game that it could be a trap game, is it still a trap game? If you know that you might take your opponent too lightly, does it prevent you from taking that opponent too lightly?
Or, if you think you've accounted for taking an opponent too lightly and convinced yourself that you won't take them too lightly, do you get too confident that you've accounted for the possibility of a trap game and relax, thereby reactivating the trap game?
I think I need to lie down.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With no morning skate on Wednesday morning and no media availability with head coach Rick Tocchet until the afternoon, it's unknown whether the Canucks will make any changes to the lineup that beat the Bruins on Tuesday.
Tocchet did suggest that Max Sasson might draw back into the lineup against the Penguins and it seems likely that he'll switch up his goaltender with games on back-to-back nights, but you have to wonder if getting out-shot 32-to-15 by the Bruins will have Tocchet making more changes to his lineup.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines, subject to change once more information is known:
These lines will be updated prior to puck drop.
UPDATE: Sure enough, Sasson is back into the lineup for his second NHL game, replacing Arshdeep Bains on the fourth line.
The top line of Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, and Kiefer Sherwood didn't hold the territorial advantage against the Bruins like they did in their previous games but they were still the only line that seemed to create anything offensively in the third period when the Bruins were pressing hard for the equalizer. It seems likely that Tocchet will keep them together.
The bigger question is on defence. Erik Brännström came up with some big blocks against the Bruins but seemed to struggle in the tougher match-ups of a second-pairing defenceman and saw his ice time slashed in the second and third periods. He's expected to start the game once again on the second pairing with Tyler Myers but we'll see if that lasts.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Arturs Silovs after Kevin Lankinen shut out the Bruins on Tuesday. Silovs has had a couple of better starts after struggling early in the season but still has an ugly .857 save percentage.
Pittsburgh Penguins projected lines
The Penguins had an optional morning skate on Wednesday, so there could be some changes to their lines, but we still know how they skated at practice on Tuesday.
With that in mind, here are the Penguins' projected lines, courtesy of Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review:
Rickard Rakell - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Philip Tomasino
Anthony Beauvillier - Blake Lizotte - Drew O'Connor
Matt Nieto - Kevin Hayes - Noel Acciari
Matt Grzelcyk - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea - Jack St. Ivany
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
According to Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette, Blake Lizotte will be a game-time decision, which means one of Jesse Puljujarvi or Valtteri Puustinen could draw into the lineup in his place.
Lizotte has missed five games with a concussion since taking a puck to the face against the Detroit Red Wings on November 13.
The Penguins' starting goaltender will be Tristan Jarry, who has an .869 save percentage and a 4.41 save percentage this season.
