The Vancouver Canucks (18-31-6) open a quick two-game road trip that will lead them to the Olympic break when they visit the Utah Mammoth (28-23-4). Game time from the Delta Center in Salt Lake City is 6:30 pm PT.
The Canucks have their mothers with them on this road trip that will wrap up in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
#Canucks line rushes in Utah on Monday. Conor Garland is absent (illness), but is expected to play per the club.
Kane-E. Pettersson-DeBrusk
Chytil-Kämpf-Karlsson
Öhgren-Blueger-Räty
O’Connor-Sasson-Lekkerimäki
E. Pettersson (D)-Hronek
Joseph-Myers
M. Pettersson-Willander
After a travel day on Sunday, the Canucks conducted a full morning skate at Delta Center with their mothers in the stands. All players were accounted for, save for Conor Garland, who skipped the skate due to illness, but the veteran winger is expected to play tonight. Based on line rushes, it’s unclear where Garland will slot in. In recent games, he had been on a line with Elias Pettersson and Evander Kane, but Jake DeBrusk skated in that spot this morning. It may be as simple as Garland filling the spot of placeholder Aatu Räty, a centre, who skated on right wing with Teddy Blueger and Liam Öhgren.
The Canucks look like they will roll with the same six defenders they have used in the last two games. That means Victor Mancini will be a healthy scratch for the third straight contest.
Kevin Lankinen is set to start in goal tonight. Lankinen was given the hook after allowing three goals on six shots in his last start on Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. He did make a 2:11 relief appearance in the second period on Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks.
On Saturday, the Canucks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a shootout. Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander scored the goals while Nikita Tolopilo made a career-high 39 saves, including one on an Auston Matthews penalty shot in overtime. The Canucks finished their eight-game homestand 2-5-1 and wrapped up the month of January with a 2-11-3 record.
Jake DeBrusk led the Canucks in scoring on the homestand, scoring once and adding five assists. Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek each had five points. Teddy Blueger and Drew O’Connor led the team with three goals apiece over the two-week run on home ice.
The Canucks are 1-7 in their last eight road games, with their only win as the visitor coming on December 29th in Seattle. Since then, they went 0-6 on an Eastern road trip in the middle of January.
Tyler Myers turned 36 yesterday. He’s the oldest player to suit up for the Canucks since Brad Richardson was claimed off waivers at the end of the 2021-22 season.
The Mammoth are coming off a 3-2 home ice loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Kailer Yamamoto scored both Utah goals while Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves in goal. Yamamoto has scored twice in each of the team’s last two games. The club was held to a season-low 14 shots on goal by the Stars. Utah has dropped back-to-back games and three of its last four outings. Prior to that, however, the Mammoth had been on an 8-0-1 run.
Saturday was a rare home ice loss for the Mammoth, who are 15-8-2 at Delta Center. The Mammoth have outscored opponents 83-64 at home this season. They are 7-1-1 in their last nine in the Beehive State.
Utah is just a single point out of a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. The team is led in scoring by Clayton Keller, who has 50 points, while Nick Schmaltz has 47. Former first-rounder Dylan Guenther leads the Mammoth with 24 goals, including a team-best five on the power play and six game winners.
The Mammoth have the worst power play in the league at 14.8%. They are tied with Toronto for the fewest power play goals this season with 23.
Despite dropping his last outing, Karel Vejmelka shares the NHL lead for wins this season with Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. Both have 25 victories. Vejmelka also leads all netminders in time on ice and has a share of the league lead in starts (42) with Nashville’s Juuse Saros.
News and notes
Despite being outshot 33-18, the Mammoth beat the Canucks 4-1 in Vancouver on December 5th. The teams will meet one more time this season on April 4th at Rogers Arena.
The referees for tonight’s game are Peter MacDougall and Corey Syvret.
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