Based on Thursday’s practice on Long Island, Adam Foote doesn’t appear to be interested in tinkering with a winning lineup. However, the Vancouver Canucks may have a few new looks to their line combinations when they face the New York Islanders on Friday. What we saw
According to The Athletic’s Thomas Drance, on the scene at the Islanders’ practice complex in East Meadow, NY, the Canucks didn’t conduct line rushes during their on-ice session. But based on drills, it appears the Canucks will move a couple of their forwards around. Conor Garland, currently the team scoring leader among healthy bodies, skated with Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser while Max Sasson was between Evander Kane and Kiefer Sherwood. Jake DeBrusk dropped to a line with David Kämpf and Nils Höglander while Drew O’Connor remained in the middle between Liam Öhgren and Linus Karlsson. It’s been a struggle in the circle for O’Connor since shifting to centre last week. He has won just six of 19 faceoffs (31.6%) in the past three games. Elias Pettersson participated in practice but seems likely to miss a sixth straight game with an undisclosed upper body injury. Pettersson last played against the Utah Mammoth on December 5th. The following night, he took the ice with his teammates for pregame warm-up, but determined he was unable to play against the Minnesota Wild and has been out of the lineup since. He was placed on injured reserve earlier this week and remains there for the time being.
The other extra forward at practice was Aatu Räty, who has been a healthy scratch the past two games despite leading the Canucks in scoring since December 1st. It looks like Räty will sit out once again against his former team on Friday night.
On defence, the Canucks showed the same pairings they’ve used since last week’s Quinn Hughes trade. Marcus Pettersson skated with Filip Hronek, Zeev Buium was paired with Tyler Myers, while Elias Pettersson and Tom Willander formed the third duo. P-O Joseph was the team’s lone extra blueliner at practice.
The Canucks have back-to-back games this weekend against the Islanders on Friday and the Boston Bruins on Saturday. According to Foote, Demko is slated to make his fourth consecutive start on Friday, and Kevin Lankinen will tend the crease on Saturday. The Canucks are looking to match their season-high for consecutive victories after starting their road trip with wins over the New Jersey Devils and Rangers. They also won three in a row from October 16-19 against the Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals. The win over the Blackhawks was in a shootout, so the Canucks have a chance to win three straight in regulation for the first time all season.
