ri·ot [rahy-uht]
noun
1. a noisy, violent, stupid public disorder caused by a group of Canucks fans or crowd of persons from Vancouver, as by a crowd whining and crying against another group for winning the Stanley Cup, not pumping tires, etc., in the streets.
2. Law . a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes.
3. violent or wild disorder or confusion which can be characterized by cannibalization, seeing doubles and/or people falling down for no obvious reason as though there is some invisible force causing them to lose balance.
4. something or someone hilariously funny: Roberto Luongo playing goalie is a riot.
It's always fun to play Vancouver. Mainly because it's so much fun to laugh at them.
Yeah...yeah...yeah...they're a skilled and talented hockey team and we should expect a competitive game tonight (if Corey Schneider is in net), but I can't help but laugh at them at the same time. Between the diving and the biting and whining and the stupid amount of different jerseys and colors (No "u" in there, Graham) they've had, it's just fun.
Joking aside, the Canucks have been playing well as of late after a slow start. They're only a point behind the Red Wings, but have played one more game. Since the calendar turned to December, Vancouver is 6-2-1 and coming off a shutout win against the Wild. Believe it or not, Robert Luongo was in net too. However, it was against the Wild so it doesn't really count as a shutout.
Both teams enter having won two-in-a-row and one team will leave with a third straight win. So grab your riot gear, pump your tires, take a walk along the sea wall and head to the nearest dive bar. We've got ourselves a hockey game tonight
Nucks Misconduct is your SBNation Canucks' blog.
Puck drop is just after 10p ET
The Expected Lineup
Johan Franzen -- Pavel Datsyuk -- Todd Bertuzzi
Valtteri Filppula -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Jiri Hudler
Danny Cleary -- Darren Helm -- Drew Miller
Cory Emmerton -- Justin Abdelkader -- Tomas Holmstrom
*
Nicklas Lidstrom -- Ian White
Niklas Kronwall -- Brad Stuart
Jakub Kindl -- Jonathan Ericsson
*
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Ty Conklin
Scratches: Mike Commodore
Injuries: Jan Mursak (ankle), Patrick Eaves (jaw) and Chris Conner (hand)
| RED WINGS | HOW THEY MATCH UP | CANUCKS |
| 21-10-1 (43 pts; 4th in West) | Record | 20-11-2 (42 pts; 6th in West) |
| 3.31 (3rd) | Goals Per Game | 3.30 (4th) |
| 2.22 (5th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.36 (6th) |
| 21.2% (4th) | Power Play % | 26.1% (1st) |
| 81.2% (21st) | Penalty Kill % | 85.8% (7th) |
| Johan Franzen (14 goals) | Goal Leader | Daniel Sedin (13 points) |
| Pavel Datsyuk (33 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Sedin (39 points) |
- The Red Wings are 81-53-18-4 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Canucks.
- These teams are neck-and-neck statistically in every category except PK% (SIDEBAR: I absolutely love that the Wings are top 5 in G/Gm, GA/Gm and PP%. If they can get the PK fixed. Watch out. This team would be much, much more scary.
- A win will put Detroit above .500 on the road this season (8-8-0)
- Datsyuk has 8 goals and 15 assists in his last 16 games. Pavel for Hart, Selke, and Prime Minister.
- From the Red Wings game preview: "Howard is 12-2-0 in his last 14 games and has a 1.91 GAA on the season. He's 2-1-0 with a 0.98 GAA in his last three matchups with Vancouver."
- Drew Miller has four goals in his last five games. Settle down, J.J.
- Filppula has one point (an assist) and is a minus-2 in is last four games.
- Best part about tonight is that Mikael Samuelsson won't be in this game.
Prediction: Wings win 4-2 in a close game. The last goal will be an empty netter. Valtteri Filppula will be your player of the game.
Let's Go Red Wings.