Canucks Game Day: Expect plenty of goals in the opener against Detroit

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Vancouver Canucks (34-12-5) vs Detroit Red Wings (26-18-6)

When and where: Saturday, 10 a.m., Little Caesars Arena

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television: Sportsnet Radio: Sportsnet 650

Noise: The Canucks were awful in Boston on Thursday, but they haven't lost a dozen games before. They remain the best team in the NHL. Like the Canucks, the Red Wings have had a great finish this season, but unlike the Canucks, the Red Wings have been disorganized on their end for the most part. This will allow you to achieve your goal. Detroit has won six of its last 10 games and has a higher goals against score in its last 10 games than Vancouver, 3.2 goals per game, 2.9 goals per game.

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history: These two teams have not met this season. (But they meet again next Thursday!) They also met twice last February, with the Wings beating the Canucks 6-1 and 5-2 in both meetings.

Hope: The Canucks have been successful this season because they've scored a lot of goals, but more importantly, they've been able to play solid defense. It's the combination that will lead them to victory on Saturday.

Fear: Their top six forwards have just nine shots on goal in their last two games. They need more of them, but what if they're in a fight? Also, Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon has been great lately, so what if he takes over?

Top Weapons: Elias Pettersson was the NHL's star of the month in January, but hasn't scored a consistent goal in more than a month. JT Miller scored 19 points in January, hitting the game-winner at Carolina on Tuesday, but like Petterson, Boston had a rough Thursday night. Dylan Larkin continues to be Mr. Everything for Detroit, with nine goals in 10 games.

Wounded: Canucks: Carson Soucy (broken arm, six to eight weeks), Phil Di Giuseppe (lower body, IR), Guillaume Brisbois (concussion, unknown). Red Wings: Ben Chiaro (upper body, day-to-day), Ville Husso (unclear, day-to-day), Patrick Kane (lower body, day-to-day), Matt Luff (upper body, week-to-week)

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Quote: “Obviously I want to score and you get those chances and obviously it's frustrating when you miss the net, but until you get those chances you have to keep working at it.” — Brock Boeser, looking to the sky after hitting a shot in front of an open net in the final game. Boeser, who scored 27 goals on the season, went six games without a goal.

Composition:

Forwards

Suter-Miller-Boeser

Mikheev-Petterson-Lindholm

Joshua-Blüger-Garland

Hoaglander-Aman-Lafferty

Defense

Hughes-Myers

Zadorov-Hronek

Cole-Julsen

Goalkeeper

Thatcher Demko

Forecast: This one has all the hallmarks of a wild game: Look for the Canucks to win in a 5-4 romp.

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