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Scenes from morning skate: Lankinen starts, Mancini returns, and Kane questionable as Canucks host Hurricanes
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Mar 4, 2026, 15:11 EST
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The Vancouver Canucks (18-35-7) finish off a quick two-game homestand when they host the Carolina Hurricanes (38-16-6) in a 7pm start tonight at Rogers Arena. It’s the final game for both teams before Friday’s noon Pacific time National Hockey League trade deadline.

What we saw

In the wake of Wednesday morning’s trade of popular veteran Tyler Myers, the Canucks held all of the players that will suit up tonight off the ice this morning. Only Nikita Tolopilo, Aatu Raty, and Max Sasson skated — and Filip Hronek made a brief appearance in flip flops.
Kevin Lankinen returns to the net tonight. He allowed four goals on 24 shots in a 5-1 loss in Seattle in his last start on Saturday night. Lankinen has lost six straight starts all in regulation and is 1-10-1 in his last 12 decisions. 
The Canucks are coming off a 6-1 loss to Dallas on Monday. Evander Kane opened the scoring before the Stars rattled off six unanswered goals. Kane has scored two of the team’s four goals in three games since the Olympic break. The veteran forward has five goals in his last 16 games. 
Canucks have dropped six straight (0-4-2) and have been outscored 27-10 in the process.
Head coach Adam Foote revealed depth defenceman P-O Joseph will miss two to three weeks with an upper body injury sustained on Monday. Victor Mancini was summoned from the minors on Tuesday and will play his 11th NHL game of the season and his first since January 27th against San Jose. The Canucks are contemplating bringing in another defenceman from the farm for their two game road trip that starts Friday in Chicago.
The team will use the line combinations it showed at practice on Tuesday. That means Elias Pettersson will skate with Nils Höglander and Conor Garland. Marco Rossi will be on a line with Liam Öhgren and Brock Boeser. Teddy Blueger will centre Drew O’Connor and Linus Karlsson while David Kampf is in the middle between Jake DeBrusk and Evander Kane although Kane is listed as a game time decision as he battles an illness.

The Opponent

The Hurricanes arrive in town following a 2-1 loss in Seattle on Monday. Carolina lost despite holding a commanding 36-15 edge in shots on goal. Nikolaj Ehlers was the lone Cane to score. The loss was the team’s first in regulation time since January 13th. Carolina is now 10-1-2 in its last 13 games and 14-2-3 in its last 19 outings. 
Carolina leads the Eastern Conference and sits third in the overall standings. Seth Jarvis leads the team with 26 goals followed by Sebastian Aho with 22 and Andrei Svechnikov with 21. Aho leads the hockey club with 59 points. 
Kamloops native and former Blazer Logan Stankhoven will play in his home province for the first time in his NHL career. 
After Frederik Andersen started the past two games, Brandon Bussi gets the call in goal tonight. The 27-year-old has authored an incredible first NHL season going 24-3-1 so far with a 2.23 GAA, a 90.6% save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Bussi has won eight straight starts and 11 of his last 12. He was a teammate of Canucks forward Max Sasson during their time together at Western Michigan University.
As a team, Carolina is sixth in the league in goals for (3.40) and seventh best in goals against (2.80) per game.

News and notes

The Hurricanes defeated the Canucks 4-3 in overtime in Raleigh on November 14th. Sebastien Aho scored the winner that night. Carolina outshot the Canucks 38-17. Quinn Hughes sat out with injury and Markus Pettersson logged a career-high 30:23. 
The referees for tonight’s game are Cody Beach and Graham Skilliter.
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