The Vancouver Canucks (7-7) open a four-game homestand when they host the Chicago Blackhawks (5-5-3) at Rogers Arena, with a 7 pm PT puck drop.

The Canucks will get leading scorer Conor Garland back after missing three games due to injury. Garland has 11 points in the 11 games he’s played so far this season.

The Canucks had a couple of injured players back on the ice this morning. Conor Garland joined the group for the first time since being hurt in an open ice collision against the New York Rangers a week ago. Teddy Blueger was also on the ice with his teammates for the first time since October 19th. However, Blueger left midway through morning skate and will not play tonight. The club wants to get Blueger into practice before he returns to the lineup. The Canucks also said Jonathan Lekkerimaki should rejoin the main group in a non-contact jersey soon. Tonight will be the first time Conor Garland and Quinn Hughes have been in the lineup together since a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on October 25th.

The Canucks did not do line rushes this morning. When asked whether it was as simple as Garland returning and call-up Mackenzie MacEachern coming out, assistant coach Brett McLean said the coaching staff was still working through its lineup for tonight. So that may mean someone other than MacEachern will be a healthy scratch. It’s worth noting that when the team did a brief run-through of power play set-ups, Arshdeep Bains was not part of the club’s second unit, although Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson were.

Adam Foote was not with the club at morning skate but will be behind the bench tonight. He left the team after its 5-4 overtime win against the Nashville Predators to return to Ontario for his father’s funeral. The elder Foote passed away late last month.

Kevin Lankinen gets the start in goal. He was solid in a 4-3 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues at the outset of the team’s recent three-game road trip. Lankinen beat the Hawks 3-2 in a shootout on October 17th.

Former Blackhawk Lukas Reichel will face his old team for the first time since the October 24th trade that brought him to Vancouver. In six games since the deal, Reichel has yet to record a point.

Evander Kane scored his first two goals as a Canuck in Tuesday’s win over the Predators. Brock Boeser also scored twice, including the winner, while Jake DeBrusk netted the Canucks other goal. The game was the first time this season that DeBrusk and Boeser scored on the same night.

The Hawks arrive in town having dropped three straight and four of five. They lost 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken in their last outing on Monday night. Andre Burakovsky scored against his former team while Arvid Soderblom allowed three goals on 24 shots. As a team, Chicago scored seven in its last win over the Ottawa Senators, but has managed just seven in its previous four losses.

North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard set up the Burakovsky goal against the Kraken, giving him a team-leading 16 points (6+10). He shares the team lead for goals with Ryan Donato. Frank Nazar is second in Hawks scoring with 11 points (5+6).

Bedard has just one road goal on the season, but has nine points in seven games as a visitor. He is the only Chicago skater with more than six road points in the early going.

Spencer Knight served as the backup in Seattle, but will make his 10th start of the season tonight. The former first-rounder (selected 13th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2019 Draft at Rogers Arena) is 4-3-2 on the season with a 2.62 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Knight is 4-1-2 in his last seven starts after opening the season with a pair of losses.

Former Canuck Jason Dickinson is not with the team on the trip. He was sent home and placed on the injured list. He has missed the last two games.

Conor Garland on returning to the lineup: “Feel good, excited to play tonight. The boys played really well on the road trip. Guys stepped up at big times.”

Quinn Hughes on grinding out results on road trip: “We compete for sure. We work hard, we’re hard to play against.”

Assistant coach Brett McLean getting Garland back tonight: “Of course, that’s a huge boost. Plan is for him to play tonight. His energy and his ability to strip pucks and hold pucks in the offensive zone should be huge for us.”

Check out raw footage from today’s morning skate here:

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