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Canucks hope to continue road success in Game 3

Sunday, 04.19.2015 / 3:47 PM

By Aaron Vickers - NHL.com Correspondent / Canucks-Flames series blog

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Canucks hope to continue road success in Game 3

CALGARY -- The Vancouver Canucks said they are aware of what a hot crowd can do for the home team, so they're hoping to cancel out Calgary Flames fans at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Having enjoyed home ice to open the Western Conference First Round series, the Canucks are looking to silence Flames fans early in Game 3 on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

"I expect they are going to be going crazy," Vancouver forward Shawn Matthias said. "It's going to be loud, but we can't let it overwhelm us. We've got to focus on our process and our game plan. Obviously, when we first go out there it's going to be a bit overwhelming but we've got to get that out of our mind right away. I think for us, the key is the start and trying to get them out of the game early.

"It's definitely going to be loud."

Calgary's last home playoff game was April 27, 2009, a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.

A fired-up crowd makes Vancouver's start critical as the Canucks look to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

"I mean, they're going to be going nuts," Matthias said. "If they score first, it's just going to be that much crazier. We want to have a good start and get the ball rolling in our favor and try to take the crowd out of it. It's the playoffs so they are going to be going crazy regardless of what the score is. We've just got to focus on our end and focusing on this room and not worrying about too much more than that."

Vancouver had one of the League's best road records at 24-14-3. The New York Rangers (28) and Anaheim Ducks (25) had more wins away from home, and Vancouver's 120 road goals were third most behind the Dallas Stars (129) and Rangers (125).

The Canucks said that regular-season success provides some comfort heading into Game 3.

"We've had a good season on the road," forward Nick Bonino said. "I think we've been able to get on the road and kind of put all the distractions behind us; just get our meals and hang out with the guys. If you can get a good road record it always helps obviously and hopefully it will carry over tonight."

Here are the projected lineups:

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Alexandre Burrows

Chris Higgins - Nick Bonino - Radim Vrbata

Ronalds Kenins - Bo Horvat - Jannik Hansen

Shawn Matthias - Brad Richardson - Derek Dorsett

Alexander Edler - Christopher Tanev

Dan Hamhuis - Yannick Weber

Luca Sbisa - Kevin Bieksa

Eddie Lack

Ryan Miller

Scratched: Linden Vey, Brandon McMillan, Ryan Stanton

Injured: Zack Kassian (back)

FLAMES

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler

Sam Bennett - Mikael Backlund - Joe Colborne

Michael Ferland - Matt Stajan - David Jones

Brandon Bollig - Markus Granlund - Josh Jooris

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

TJ Brodie - Deryk Engelland

David Schlemko - Corey Potter

Jonas Hiller

Karri Ramo

Scratched: Mason Raymond, Tyler Wotherspoon, Drew Shore

Injured: Ladislav Smid (upper body), Paul Byron (lower body), Mark Giordano (torn biceps tendon), Raphael Diaz (lower body), (lower body), Lance Bouma (upper body)

Status report: Bieksa and Edler each didn't take the morning skate and are game-time decisions.

Who's hot: Horvat, playing in his first postseason, has a goal and an assist as part of a two-game point streak. … Lack has stopped 50 of 53 shots faced in the series … Burrows and Tanev each recorded two assists in a 4-1 win in Game 2 for Vancouver.

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