The Vancouver Canucks (2-6) are out to snap a five-game losing skid when they visit the Florida Panthers (3-2-2) at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL. Tonight’s game is scheduled to begin at 4 pm PT.

The Canucks return to action following a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Filip Chytil appears set to make his season debut after getting injured in a freak collision with a referee in a preseason game. In 12 games last season, the 27-year-old scored three goals. Chytil skated between Paul Cotter and Brock Boeser this morning while Liam Öhgren returned to a line with Marco Rossi and Linus Karlsson. The Canucks are keeping their top line intact with Elias Pettersson between Jake DeBrusk and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, while Drew O’Connor slides back to the wing on the fourth line with Max Sasson and Brendan Gallagher. Arshdeep Bains skated as the extra forward.

There is some question about the way the Canucks will roll out their defensive pairings for tonight’s game. Zeev Buium, who has struggled in the early going and was dropped to the third pair on Tuesday, skated as an extra this morning. That raised some eyebrows and suggested a possible healthy scratch. However, veterans Luke Schenn and Guillaume Brisebois stayed out well after the rest of the group, indicating that Buium is likely to play and Victor Mancini could well return to the lineup and play his second game of the season.

Leevi Meriläinen stopped 35 of the 38 shots he faced in a 3-2 loss on Long Island and will be back in goal tonight. This will be the first time he has made back-to-back starts since joining the Canucks.

Tom Willander logged a career-high 25:43 of ice time against the Islanders. That was nearly three minutes more than he had ever played in an NHL game.

Centre Elias Pettersson registered the hardest shot by a Canucks skater so far this season with a 91.5 mph blast on a second period power play on Tuesday. Pettersson picked up an assist on Brock Boeser’s goal moments later. While he leads the club with nine points through eight games, he has just one point in his last three games and has gone six outings without a goal.

Marco Rossi has gone six games without a point, while Liam Öhgren has been held off the scoresheet for the past five games.

The Panthers are coming off their biggest offensive explosion of the season with a 7-3 win in Columbus on Tuesday. That result came after back-to-back losses. Brady Tkachuk scored his first three goals of the season and added an assist, while brother Matthew registered helpers on five straight goals. Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe each tallied twice as the Panthers went four-for-six on the power play. They had been three for 22 with the man advantage over their first six games.

Matthew Tkachuk leads the team with 10 points and carries a six-game point streak into action tonight while Seth Jones, who had four assists on Tuesday, is second with seven points. Reinhart leads the team with four goals after back-to-back two-goal efforts, while the two Tkachuks and Verhaeghe have three goals apiece.

As they were for much of last season, injuries to key players are once again a story for Florida. Captain Sasha Barkov and veteran winger Brad Marchand are both out with long-term injuries after appearing in just two games each.

Former Canuck puckstopper Jacob Markstrom is day-to-day with an injury, so Akira Schmid will make his second straight start in goal.

With the Tkachuk brothers on the roster, perhaps it’s no surprise the Panthers are the most penalized team in the league, averaging 14.1 penalty minutes per game so far. Brady has nine PIM, while Matthew, it should be noted, has taken just two minor penalties so far this season.

Tonight is just the second home game of the season for the Panthers, who have already made a California road swing and played a league-high six road contests. They lost 4-1 to Minnesota in their lone game in front of their home fans on October 10th.

These teams split their two games last season with both winning on home ice. The Panthers prevailed in a wild 8-5 game in Florida, while the Canucks posted a 5-2 victory at Rogers Arena.

The Panthers will visit Vancouver on January 9th.

The referees for tonight’s game are Francois St. Laurent and Beau Halkidis.

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