Canucks Will Pounce on Oilers Without Tortorella, Sedin

So this will be the first game the Vancouver Canucks will be without out suspended coach John Tortorella and also the first time in 679 games Henrik Sedin won’t be in the Vancouver lineup. Neither of those omissions will make much difference tonight when they visit the Edmonton Oilers.

No matter your stance on the line brawl Vancouver got into with Calgary on Saturday, those type of things pull teams together and the Canucks needed something to get them on track. Before Saturday’s win, Vancouver had just one win in nine games. The Canucks had managed just one goal in the three games leading up to the brawl with Calgary, while allowing 11.

Something had to happen, one way or another. Of course, that something didn’t have to be John Tortorella trying to rush into the Flames’ dressing room following the line brawl, but that’s beside the point now. Vancouver will be without Tortorella for the next six games. That’s not the end of the world in the NHL these days. The entire coaching staff knows the systems and what the players need to do. They can put together the matchups and juggle the lines.

The bigger issue is the loss of Henrik Sedin, who will see his ironman streak end at 679 games due to a rib injury. The 33-year-old captain hasn’t missed a game in about a decade and leads the Canucks in scoring with 40 points. Still, the injury isn’t thought to be that serious and he should be back in the lineup sooner rather than later.

“You have to have a lot of guys stepping up in his place, that’s what we’re going to need,” Daniel Sedin told reporters of the loss. “I think we should be able to do that. It will be interesting.”

For now, it looks as the Daniel Sedin will play with Ryan Kessler and Alex Burrows Tuesday night. Henrik’s loss may be felt a bit, but he hasn’t been playing at close to 100 percent for a while now anyway. Following Saturday’s events, the entire team will just be happy to get back on the ice and build on the momentum it started with that 3-2 shootout win. Oh, and the brawl. Right. Can’t forget the brawl.

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers are just a few days removed from having their owner, Daryl Katz, sending out a white-flag open letter to their fan base. Katz basically begged for more patience with his team that is already out of the playoff race.

If the Canucks can’t pounce on this team as -140 favorites on the road, they have a lot more problems than Tortorella’s suspension and Sedin’s ribs.