The Vancouver Canucks (12-7-3) look for a fourth win in five games when they take on the Detroit Red Wings (10-11-2) at Little Caesars Arena in an early 9:30 am PT start on Sunday.
The Canucks are coming off a 4-3 overtime victory in Buffalo on Friday. Conor Garland scored twice, including the game-winner, and added an assist, while Pius Suter and Jake DeBrusk had the team’s other goals. Garland logged a career-high 23:37 in the win.
Garland and Suter share the team lead with eight goals apiece, one better than DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson. Garland has four goals and 10 points on a six-game point streak. 
Quinn Hughes picked up a pair of assists including setting up the winning goal against the Buffalo Sabres. That gave the Canucks captain a share of the franchise record for assists by a defenceman matching the 310 Alex Edler produced in his time in Vancouver. Incredibly, Hughes accomplished the feat in 538 fewer games.
Kevin Lankinen is expected to get the start in goal in Motown. Lankinen stopped 31 shots in Buffalo, including a game-saving stop off Tage Thompson in overtime moments before Garland sealed the victory at the other end. Lankinen is now a perfect 9-0 on the road this season.
Canuck penalty killers were five for five on Friday, boosting the season mark to 80.9%, which is 10th in the NHL. The club has killed off 11 of the last 12 short-handed situations over the past three games.
The Canucks have just one healthy extra body on the road trip – Mark Friedman. So it’s believed the team will go with the same 12 forwards and likely the same six defencemen they used in Buffalo. One storyline to watch is the deployment of Nils Höglander, who saw a season-low 6:28 of ice against the Sabres. The Swedish forward is struggling, having gone 17 games without a goal and 12 without a point. He has just one shot on goal in his past four outings.
The Canucks roster features a pair of Michiganders – Dakota Joshua (Dearborn) and recent call-up Max Sasson (Birmingham). Both are from suburban Detroit.

The opponent

The Red Wings are back in action after a 5-4 loss at home to New Jersey on Friday. Vladimir Tarasenko, Lucas Raymond, Tyler Motte and Justin Holl scored the Detroit goals and Cam Talbot made 24 saves in his 500th NHL appearance. The Wings are 1-1 on their three-game homestand that concludes on Sunday. They are 3-4-1 in their last eight games.
Raymond leads the team with 23 points and has scored a goal in five straight games. Dylan Larkin leads the club with 12 goals while Alex DeBrincat has nine. Six of Larkin’s goals have come on the power play, while DeBrincat has five goals with the man-advantage.
The Wings are one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL, with 59 goals on the season. Only Boston, Nashville, Anaheim and Chicago have scored less. Part of the issue is the club gets next to nothing from its blueline. The Wings have the lowest-scoring defence in the league, with just six goals and 36 points.
Detroit has the league’s worst penalty kill at 66.2%. After giving up three power play goals to New Jersey, the Wings’ penalty kill on home ice is at just 57.6% on the season. Friday was the third time already this season the Wings were torched for three power play goals in a game – twice by the New Jersey Devils, who went six for nine with the man advantage in their two-game season series.
Despite taking the loss on Friday, Cam Talbot has been a bright spot for the Wings this season. The 37-year-old is 6-5-2 on the season with a 2.67 goals against average (GAA) and a .916% save percentage (S%). He will get the start in goal on Sunday.
One player the Canucks won’t have to worry about is Patrick Kane, who remains out of the Wings line-up with an upper-body injury. The 36-year-old has three goals and seven assists in 10 games this season. However, he will miss his fourth straight game, delaying his chase for 1,300 career points. He is currently sitting on 1,294 in 1,250 games played.
The Canucks and Wings split their two games last season. Jake Walman scored on a penalty shot in overtime to give the Red Wings a 4-3 victory in Detroit. The Canucks responded with a 4-1 win on home ice five nights later. The Wings will visit Vancouver on February 2nd.
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