The Vancouver Canucks (15-8-5) will shoot for consecutive home-ice wins for the first time all season when they host the Boston Bruins (15-13-3) at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks are coming off one of their most complete efforts of the season in Thursday’s 4-0 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

What we saw

Following a team day off Friday, the Canucks held a full morning skate. With a flu bug making the rounds, the Canucks told both Kevin Lankinen and Derek Forbort to stay away from the rink this morning. Neither will dress tonight. So Arturs Silovs was recalled from Abbotsford on an emergency basis this morning, skated with the group and will serve as the backup to Thatcher Demko tonight. And Erik Brännström draws back in after two games as a healthy scratch. He will be paired with Mark Friedman. Vincent Desharnais and Aatu Räty will not play tonight.
Demko made 21 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Louis on Tuesday night in his long-awaited season debut. 
Carson Soucy, Danton Heinen, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk had the Vancouver goals against Florida. Max Sasson had a pair of first period assists – his first multipoint game in the NHL. The rookie now has four points in the nine big league games he’s played this season.
In 18 games since November 5th, the Canucks power play is third in the NHL operating at 29.4%. Jake DeBrusk leads the way with six power plays during that stretch. Since November 1st, DeBrusk shares the NHL lead for goals with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen. They each have 14.
The Canucks are 2-1-1 on a six-game homestand that wraps up Monday against the Colorado Avalanche. Overall, the club is 6-2-2 in its last 10 games. 

The opponent

The Bruins limp into Vancouver after an 8-1 loss in Winnipeg on Tuesday followed by a 5-1 setback in Seattle on Thursday to open a five-game road trip. Brad Marchand had Boston’s lone goal against the Kraken on a second period penalty shot. The B’s two losses come on the heels of a four-game win streak.
Boston is now 7-4 under interim head coach Joe Sacco, who took the reins from Jim Montgomery on November 19th. 
Offence has been an issue for the Bruins, who are 29th in the league in goal scoring, averaging 2.48 per game. A big part of the problem is a league-worst power play operating at just 12.6%. Marchand leads the team with 12 goals, while David Pastrnak has 10. They are the only Boston skaters with more than seven goals on the season. Pastrnak leads the team with 28 points, and Marchand has 23, while Justin Brazeau is a distant third on the team with 14 points.
Former Canuck Elias Lindholm was shaken up in the second period in Seattle and left the game, but is expected to play tonight. He has just three goals and 13 points in his first 31 games as a Bruin. Nikita Zadorov has two goals and eight points. He also has a share of the league lead in penalty minutes with 65 and leads the league in minor penalties taken with 20. Teammate Charlie McAvoy is second at 18.
As a team, the Bruins are the most penalized group in the NHL this season. Interestingly, they have the rare distinction of having the most power play opportunities (111) and most times short-handed (109) this season.
Joonas Korpisalo allowed four goals on 20 shots in Seattle. Jeremy Swayman, who surrendered all eight goals in Winnipeg on Tuesday, will get the start in goal tonight.
The Canucks beat the Bruins 2-0 in Boston on November 26th. Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland scored the goals and Kevin Lankinen made 33 saves that night.
Tonight’s referees: Kelly Sutherland & Gord Dwyer
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Ray Ferraro

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on the flu bug forcing Lankinen and Forbort to miss tonight’s game: “Yeah, there’s a little bit of a bug going through our team. They caught it. Keep them away from the guys. Vinnie had a bit of the flu, too. That’s why we had the day off yesterday. Not spread it around, so that’s kind of where we’re at.”
Jake DeBrusk on being on one of the hottest scoring stretches of his career: “It’s really nice. I think this is probably my longest one. I’ve been getting some nice bounces and there’s been some greasy goals I just have my stick on the ice. It’s one of those years, I guess, where things are going right and I want to keep it going and I want to do more of it.”
Danton Heinen admits it was a relief to score on Thursday for the first time since November 5th: “For me, it’s how you’re feeling out there. Are you feeling good? Are you helping the team? Are you contributing in other ways? That has to be the benchmark. For a bit there, I didn’t feel like I was doing that. That’s when you get frustrated. Goals, that’s hockey. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. It’s the other things I get more frustrated with if I’m not contributing.”
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