Coming off an embarrassing (for numerous reasons) loss in Winnipeg, the Canucks look to end 2022 with another win in Calgary tonight.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (16-16-3) vs CALGARY FLAMES (17-13-7)

7PM PST

SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME, CALGARY, AB

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC, SN1 RADIO: SN650

After another frustrating effort in Winnipeg on Thursday (especially because it utterly wasted a fantastic performance from Collin Delia in the Vancouver net), the Canucks are in Calgary to take on the Flames tonight for the last game of 2022.

And it wasn’t just that wasted performance, but the J.T. Miller whatever the hell that was freakout at the end of the game yet again put a giant spotlight on this organization, pouring gasoline on the fire that is rumours of dysfunction and discord inside the room. It’s going to be a long night in terms of what they’ll be talking about on HNIC, so here’s to the Canucks actually giving them something else to discuss tonight, because I am sure we’re all just sick to death of this stuff.

So we’ll save the Miller questions for later and return the focus to something a little simpler: Can the Canucks get back in the win column tonight?

The Canucks will have two days off following tonight’s contest, then head home for games against the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche. After that, it’s a five game in 8 days Eastern road swing that has noon (@ Winnipeg) and 2pm (@ Carolina) start times book-ending visits to Pittsburgh, Tampa and the Florida Panthers. This might be their toughest stretch of the season, and a prolonged losing streak here could not only seal their fate in terms of staying close to a potential wild card slot, but pretty much ensure that we’ll be looking at a new bench boss next season, if they don’t pull the trigger before then.

The Flames are still sputtering away, clinging desperately to the final wild card position, but having won just four of their last ten. It’s not at all what they were expecting, but they are a bit better at home so far this year than on the road. One of their home losses did come against the Canucks, though.

LINEUPS

This lineup reportedly fell from the crumbling ceiling beams inside the Saddledome. It might also have been on nhl.com:

Canucks projected lineup

Ilya Mikheyev — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser

Conor Garland — J.T. Miller — Curtis Lazar

Andrei Kuzmenko — Elias Pettersson — Sheldon Dries

Dakota Joshua — Nils Aman — Jack Studnicka

Quinn Hughes — Ethan Bear

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Travis Dermott — Luke Schenn

Spencer Martin

Collin Delia

Scratched: Lane Pederson, Kyle Burroughs, Riley Stillman

Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Tanner Pearson (hand), Tucker Poolman (undisclosed)

Flames projected lineup

Dillon Dube — Elias Lindholm — Tyler Toffoli

Milan Lucic — Nazem Kadri — Jonathan Huberdeau

Andrew Mangiapane — Mikael Backlund — Blake Coleman

Trevor Lewis — Adam Ruzicka — Brett Ritchie

Noah Hanifin — Rasmus Andersson

MacKenzie Weegar — Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov — Michael Stone

Jacob Markstrom

Dan Vladar

Scratched: Connor Mackey, Radim Zohorna

Injured: None

Must be nice to not have anyone injured. It looks like Sheldon Dries may get back in the mix tonight in place of Lane Pederson. And apparently nhl.com didn’t get the news that Will Lockwood was recalled, and Nils Aman sent down to Abbotsford, but hey, I am sure they’re busy planning the office New Years Eve party or something.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

We’ll finish things up for 2022 with some local metal today. AGGRESSION have recently released a new one following last year’s ‘Field Of Nightmares’ EP. ‘Return Of The Frozen Aggressor’ is making appearances on a few Best of 2022 lists, and it sees the band living up to its name, with a solid offering of high speed, death-tinged thrash born in the fertile Quebec scene in the mid 80’s and as vicious as ever in their new home on the West Coast.

Whatever your plans are for tonight, have a happy, safe and sane New Years, and from all of us at Nucks Misconduct, all the best in 2023! Go Canucks Go!