The Vancouver Canucks may be getting reinforcements back halfway through their road trip.

According to Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal, Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen practiced on Thursday and is expected to join the team on the road trip soon.

Lankinen was at Monday’s practice before the road trip. However, before departing for California on Tuesday morning, the Canucks announced that the Finnish netminder would not be travelling with the team due to personal reasons.

With starting goaltender Thatcher Demko out with a groin injury, Lankinen has carried the bulk of the work in net for the Canucks. Before the road trip, Lankinen started seven, and appeared in eight of the previous nine games since Demko was held out for maintenance – including backstopping the Canucks on back-to-back nights against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche.

In those games, Lankinen went 2-4-2 with a 3.70 goals against average and a .876 save percentage. His best performance came when he relieved Demko after the first period against the Winnipeg Jets, stopping 20 of 21 shots faced for a .952 save percentage.

The Canucks went on their road trip with a duo that began the season in the AHL: Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera.

Tolopilo got his second career NHL start against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. The Belarusian netminder stopped 37 of the 41 shots he faced against a high-flying Ducks offence, earning the 5-4 victory. His efforts earned him his second consecutive start in Friday’s matinee match against the San Jose Sharks.

Patera made his Canucks debut earlier this season, on the road against the Florida Panthers. The Czech netminder was dealt an ugly hand as he played with a tired group in front of him, as the team was on the latter half of back-to-backs. He stopped 40 of the 47 shots he faced, en route to an 8-5 Vancouver loss.

The Canucks continue the road trip with games on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings and on Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche. We will await a further update as to whether Lankinen will appear in either of those games.