After Wednesday's debacle against the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said the team had to "flush it down the toilet" and move on.
It was a disaster from start to finish, with the Devils scoring on their first shot of the game and the Canucks squandering a four-minute power play that could have tied things up. It wasn't just one player struggling or a few key mistakes: everyone sucked.
So, what do you do after that kind of disaster? Well, maybe you just dress the exact same lineup and hope they learned their lesson.
That's what was intriguing about the Canucks' practice on Friday after they took a day off for Halloween festivities: the coaching staff didn't make any changes to the team's forward lines or defence pairings.
It was almost as if the coaching staff was directly telling the players that the 6-0 loss was on them and not the coaches. It had nothing to do with who took the ice in which combinations or the strategies and tactics the coaches gave them: the players simply did not execute.
By not changing any lines or pairings, Tocchet didn't place the blame on any one player, which seems about right. Whether that approach works remains to be seen. It's even entirely possible that Tocchet will shake up the lines and pairings by the time the puck is ready to drop for the Canucks' game against the San Jose Sharks. But the message on Friday, at least, seemed pretty clear.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Barring any game time decisions, the Canucks will likely take the ice with the same forward lines as Wednesday night.
Here are the projected lines, which will be updated if the Canucks run different lines during warm-up:
J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser are tied for the team lead in scoring with 9 points each in 9 games, with Quinn Hughes close behind with 8 points.
Arshdeep Bains is expected to get another chance alongside Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland, with Nils Höglander back on the fourth line. It seems like a bit of a waste of Höglander's talents but there's something to be said for getting skilled offensive players like Höglander and Daniel Sprong out against weaker match-ups.
On defence, Derek Forbort is expected to make his return to the lineup, with Erik Brännström moving to the right side. This is something Rick Tocchet has said he's willing to try after viewing some analytics that suggested Brännström can handle playing on his off-side.
The Canucks starting goaltender is expected to be Kevin Lankinen. Be sure to read PITB's profile on Lankinen from this morning and how reading keeps him grounded throughout the NHL season.
San Jose Sharks projected lines
The Sharks may be in the basement of the Pacific Division and they may be missing superstar rookie Macklin Celebrini but they've also won three straight, including a 4-2 win over a tough Los Angeles Kings squad.
In other words, the Canucks can't count on this being an easy game. The Sharks have enough talent in their lineup, including former Canuck Tyler Toffoli, that they have to be taken seriously.
Here are the Sharks' projected lines:
William Eklund - Mikael Granlund - Tyler Toffoli
Ethan Cardwell - Alexander Wennberg - Fabian Zetterlund
Barclay Goodrow - Will Smith - Luke Kunin
Carl Grundstrom - Nico Sturm - Danil Gushchin
Jake Walman - Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro - Jan Rutta
Henry Thrun - Timothy Liljegren
Mackenzie Blackwood
Vitek Vanecek
Mikael Granlund leads the Sharks in scoring with 13 points in 12 games, while Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund are the top goalscorers with six goals each.
The Sharks starting goaltender is expected to be Mackenzie Blackwood, who has split starts fairly evenly with Vitek Vanecek to start the year. Blackwood has an .894 save percentage on the season but had a .931 in his last start against the Chicago Blackhawks.
