The Vancouver Canucks secured their first win of the season Thursday against the Florida Panthers. It was the third trip to overtime in just four games for Vancouver; however, a set play that allowed JT Miller to gain the zone with speed helped the Canucks walk away victorious. Now, onto tonight’s opponents.

The Vancouver Canucks enter this contest with a 1-1-2 record after finally finding the win column against the Panthers. Fans shouldn’t be feared, however, as this was the same point total the Canucks had through the first four games last season. After winning their opening game, the Flyers have dropped three straight games.

While it’s only the fifth game of the season for both teams, they’ve actually already faced off against each other. Philadelphia won their season opener in Vancouver, defeating the Canucks 3-2 in a shootout. Standouts from last game were Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen (29/31 saves), Canucks bottom six forwards Nils Höglander and Teddy Blueger (both scoring), Flyers forward Tyson Foerster (one goal and four shots on goal) and Travis Konecny (four shots on goal and three hits).

The Canucks are tied for 22rd in goals for (2.75), tied for 18th in goals against (3.5), 22nd in shots on goal per game (27.5), and tied for 11th in shots on goal allowed per game (28). The Flyers are tied for 18th in goals for (3), tied for third in goals against (4.5), tied for eighth in shots on goal per game (31.5), and tied for 17th in shots on goal allowed per game (29.5).

After their 3-2 loss this season, the Canucks have now dropped three straight and five of their last six meetings against the Flyers.

Check out Daily Faceoff for lineups and starting goaltenders for the Canucks and Flyers.

Well, they managed to sneak out of a win against the Stanley Cup champions, but how convincing of a win was it? I would say they deserved to win, but you would like to see this team show some dominance against the team missing Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. The Canucks outshot (29-27) and high-danger chanced (11-8) the Panthers and got the better goaltending performance. Kevin Lankinen had a 0.62 goals saved above expected while Sergei Bobrovsky had a -0.42 goals saved above expected, outperforming the Panthers netminder.

The Canucks continue to juggle their lines, but tonight, it looks like the top six lines are beefed up. Nils Höglander and Conor Garland join Elias Pettersson on the top line, while Jake DeBrusk slides on the left side of JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Plus, depth-scoring option Daniel Sprong returns to the Canucks lineup in a fourth-line role. The defence projects to stay the same, as Erik Brännström’s Canucks debut impressed enough to earn him another game, and Noah Juulsen stayed late after practice – as most scratches do – indicating Vincent Desharnais will

The famous saying is don’t mess with a winning lineup. There are minor tinkers, but the Canucks should be able to rally around their recent win and get their revenge after the Flyers stole a game in Rogers Arena.

The Flyers could very well be winless right now. They narrowly defeated the Canucks in a shootout in their season opener and have had trouble keeping the puck out of their net since then, allowing 16 goals over their last three games. Their offence has been there, as they’ve managed to stay within striking distances in all three of these games, scoring 10 goals of their own.

It’s just the goaltending that’s letting them down. Over the last three games, Samuel Ersson has allowed five goals with a .861 save percentage (S%), while Ivan Fedotov has allowed 10 goals and a .818 S%. If the Flyers are going to struggle between the pipes, they might be in trouble against the high-flying Canucks forward corps.

Okay, we’ve taken a DeBrusk goal in each game, just waiting for him to pot his first one, but tonight, we’ll play it safe with his point. While I do believe if he is to get on the scoresheet, it will be in the form of a goal, his lineup deployment, mixed with the matchup against the struggling Flyers goaltending, gives us an edge. DeBrusk has a point in three of four games this season and three points in his last three against the Flyers.

The history isn’t great for the Canucks here, but both teams seem to be pretending in opposite directions. The Canucks nabbed their first win of the season, while the Flyers can’t stop a beach ball and have lost three straight. If Lankinen can perform like he did in his first outing, as well as the offence finds its footing again, the Canucks should be heading to Chicago on a two-game winning streak.