A lot of moving parts for the Vancouver Canucks (9-5-3) as they conclude a six-game homestand with a visit from the New York Rangers (11-4-1) tonight at Rogers Arena.
JT Miller has taken a leave of absence, Conor Garland is on baby watch, and it’s possible the Canucks will be forced to play a skater short tonight.

What we saw

In the wake of the surprising Miller news that broke as the team took the ice this morning, it was a subdued skate. Without Miller and Garland, the team had 11 forwards on the ice along with seven defencemen. Garland is listed as questionable as he awaits the birth of his first child, while Vincent Desharnais has been nursing a minor injury and hasn’t played the past two games. Rick Tocchet wasn’t sure if the big defenceman was a possibility to dress tonight. The Canucks recalled Arshdeep Bains from Abbotsford this morning. This will be his first NHL game since he suited up against Calgary last week. 
Already without Brock Boeser and now Miller and possibly Garland, too, the Canucks could be without three of their top five scorers for tonight’s game.
Arturs Silovs gets the start in goal. Silovs made his NHL debut against the Rangers two seasons ago. He stopped 28 shots in a 4-1 victory over Chicago on Saturday to pick up his first win of the season.
Elias Pettersson has scored power play goals in back to back games and has five goals in his last seven games. He’s tied for the team lead in goals now with six on the season and has a share of the team lead with three goals with the man advantage.
As a team, the Canucks have been held to three goals or fewer in four of the five games on this homestand. In all, they’ve been outscored 19-15. They need a win tonight to conclude this six-game homestand with a 3-3 record.
Injured players Brock Boeser and Derek Forbort both skated with team staff prior to the morning skate. They were off the ice before the main group skated.

The visitors

The Rangers roll into town after a 2-0 win in Seattle on Sunday to open a four-game Western road trip. Alexis Lafreniere and Zac Jones scored the goals and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for his second consecutive shutout. The veteran will watch from the bench tonight, however, as Igor Shesterkin returns to the net.
New York has won back to back outings and five of its last seven. Artemi Panarin has opened a 10 point lead in team scoring. He has 10 goals and 24 points on the season and carries a seven-game point streak into action tonight. Adam Fox and Chris Kreider make quite the pair. Fox has no goals and 13 assists while Kreider has eight goals and no helpers. No one else in the league has more than four goals without an assist.
The Rangers have been incredible front-runners so far this season posting a 10-0 record when scoring the first goal.
Like the Canucks, the Rangers are 6-1 on the road this season and more impressively have outscored opponents 31-10 in those games. They have the best road power play in the league operating at 37.5%.
The Rangers sit third in the league defensively behind only Dallas and Minnesota averaging 2.38 goals against per game. Jonathan Quick is 4-0 with a 0.91 GAA and a 97.0% save percentage while Igor Shesterkin, who gets the start tonight, is 7-4-1 with a 2.78 GAA and a 91.4% save percentage.
New York beat the Canucks 4-3 in overtime in Vancouver last season while the Canucks returned the favour with a 6-3 victory at Madison Square Garden. The Canucks will visit MSG in a March 22nd matinee.
Tonight’s referees: Garrett Rank & Furman South
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Ray Ferraro

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on needing a few others to step up and fill emotional void in absence of JT Miller: “I’d like to see five or ten percent F-U in our other players tonight. Everybody can supply it. If everybody gives five or ten percent more that’s how you make up for it in the short term. With Millsy, there’s a reason people chant his name.”
Quinn Hughes on trying to move forward without JT Miller: “Obviously he’s a massive part of our team and a superstar in the league. So anytime you miss a guy like that you’re going to feel it. At the same time, I have a lot of confidence in the guys we’ve got here. Coming into the year we thought we had a contending team and it’s not just one guy, it’s the whole group and I’m very confident in what we have in here.”
Elias Pettersson on finding his form of late: “Definitely at the beginning of the season I tried to make too much and I was not playing close to the level I want to play at. I can only speak for myself, but just make the right play that’s ahead of you and then try to make another good play.”
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