The Vancouver Canucks (18-12-8) open a five-game road trip when they face the Montreal Canadiens (18-18-3) at Bell Centre tonight. After missing four games with an undisclosed injury, captain Quinn Hughes is a game time decision. 

What we know

The Canucks held an optional skate this morning, so they didn’t roll out line combinations or defensive duos. It will likely be warm-up before we know exactly how the Canucks will structure their line-up for tonight’s game.
If Hughes plays, Montreal native Guillaume Brisebois likely comes out on the defence. With this morning’s announcement that Dakota Joshua has been placed on injury reserve, Jonathan Lekkerimäki is expected to slide into his spot in the line-up. The 20-year-old Swede has one goal in five NHL games this season. He has not suited up with the big league team since November 19th.
Elias Pettersson practiced with the club on Sunday and was among the players that took to the ice this morning. However, he remains on IR for the time being and an additional roster move would be required to activate him ahead of tonight’s game.
The Canucks need to turn things around in a hurry. They have won one of four games (1-2-1) since Christmas and have four victories in their last 13 (4-5-4). They remain above the playoff bar holding on to the second wild card slot in the West, however they are just a single point in front of Calgary, two up on St. Louis and three ahead of Utah.
On Friday, the Canucks fell 3-0 at home to Nashville. It was a 1-0 game until the Preds scored a pair of late empty netters. Kevin Lankinen made 16 saves as the Canucks surrendered a season-low 19 shots on goal. It was the second time this season the Canucks have been blanked along with a 6-0 loss to New Jersey on October 30th.
Lankinen gets the nod in goal again tonight. The 29-year-old Finn has been a terrific story for the Canucks this season, however he has just one win in his last six starts. It should be noted, though, that he also delivered a victory in relief of an injured Thatcher Demko last Thursday in Seattle. Demko will not back up tonight as he stays away with back spasms. It is worth mentioning that Demko was on the ice this morning in Montreal, but it will be Arturs Silovs backing up Lankinen against the Habs. 
JT Miller has gone a dozen games without a goal and has just a pair of empty netters now in his last 20 games. Pius Suter, meanwhile, has seen his goal drought reach 13 games. Suter has been held pointless in five games and has just one assist to show for his last eight outings.

The opponent

The Canadiens return home after a 2-1 shootout win in Colorado on Saturday that capped a 4-1 road trip since Christmas. The victories came over the last four Stanley Cup champions: Florida, Vegas, Colorado and Tampa Bay. The lone loss was in Chicago on Friday. Overall, Montreal has won seven of its last nine games since the middle of December.
Cole Caufield scored for a third straight game to tie Saturday’s contest. He and Kirby Dach then scored in the shootout to propel the Habs to victory. Rookie netminder Jakub Dobes improved to 2-0 since being recalled from AHL Laval. He is the first goalie in the storied history of the Canadiens to surrender just one goal in his first two NHL starts.
While Dobes was sharp in Denver on Saturday, Sam Montembault may get the start tonight. The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate so their line-up won’t be confirmed until closer to game time. Montembault has 14 of the Habs’ 18 wins on the season.
Caufield leads the Canadiens with 21 goals on the season while Nick Suzuki is the club’s top point producer with 38. Lane Hutson sits third in NHL rookie scoring with 27 points. Incredibly, no other freshman blueliner in the league this season has more than six points. Only the San Jose Sharks have more points from rookies this season.
Patrik Laine has missed the past two games with illness. He has eight goals in 13 games this season – all of them coming on the power play. Only three players in the league have scored more with the man-advantage so far this season.
These teams will meet again in Vancouver on March 11th. Last season, the Canucks swept the Habs with a 5-2 win in Montreal in November 2023 and a 4-1 triumph at Rogers Arena last March.
Tonight’s referees: Frederick L’Ecuyer & Eric Furlatt
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Forslund, Jody Shelley and Thomas Hickey between the benches on Amazon Prime

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on his line-up options for tonight: “Game time on Huggy (Hughes), I don’t think Petey is going to play tonight. Hughes is a possibility.”
Tocchet on Dakota Joshua’s status: “Week to week, but it’s not like three weeks I don’t think. Is it a week? It is nine or 10 days, I don’t know. I think the last two or three games, he was starting to chip away at his identity and feel good about himself. And he hits a speed bump here. I thought the last two or three games, he was getting to his game and we need that element.”
Tocchet on running a 10-game gauntlet against top teams in the NHL: “It’s a telling time. Everybody has to play 82 games, but you want to play the better teams when you’re playing well. You get to learn about some players in these stretches — who can do what and what your team can do. You get a sense of where your team is at. Hopefully we can get healthy during this stretch and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
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