The Vancouver Canucks (19-14-10) are home from the road and open a three-game run at Rogers Arena tonight when they host the Los Angeles Kings (24-12-5).
The Canucks are looking to bounce back from a lopsided 6-1 defeat in Winnipeg on Tuesday night.

What we saw

After a day off Wednesday, the Canucks were back on the ice for a full morning skate at Rogers Arena. Noah Juulsen was ‘nicked up’ according to the coach, and was not among the participants this morning. All three of the players assigned to Abbotsford after the road trip – Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Max Sasson and Guillaume Brisebois – were back with the big club and on the ice this morning 
Lekkerimäki will get an opportunity to play with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk tonight. That line needs a jolt, with both Lekkerimäki and DeBrusk scoring in Montreal at the start of the road trip, but not since. And Pettersson has not scored since netting a pair against San Jose on December 23rd.
JT Miller had two goals and two assists in Montreal in the team’s road trip opener on January 6th. Those were his only points on the trip and he has gone four games without finding the scoresheet. In the past two games, he has logged 13:22 (at Toronto) and 14:37 (at Winnipeg) – both well below his season average of 17:57 per game.
Thatcher Demko gets back in net for the first time since a 2-0 loss in Carolina last Friday. Demko is 2-2-3 on the season with a 3.17 GAA and a .883% save percentage. The San Diego native has appeared in just three games since Christmas.
The Canucks have one win in their last six outings and just a pair of wins in nine since the holiday break. They went 1-2-2 on their road trip that concluded in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Nils Höglander had the team’s lone goal against the Jets – his first since October 19th.
The Canucks have only seven wins on home ice all season. Their last victory at home was on December 23rd against San Jose. They were blanked 3-0 by Nashville in their last outing at Rogers Arena on January 3rd. 

The opponent

The Kings have been off since a 1-0 loss in Edmonton on Monday. That followed a 2-1 setback in Calgary on Saturday night. The team’s three games prior to the loss in Edmonton all ended 2-1, so there have been a total of 10 goals scored in the last four LA games. They have scored five and allowed five.
The Kings are the stingiest defensive team in the league and the only club in the NHL to surrender fewer than 100 goals so far this season. They allow an average of 2.41 goals per game. And they’ve done it without Drew Doughty who hasn’t played a game yet after suffering a leg injury in the preseason, although the veteran defenceman is expected to rejoin the team for practice next week.
Los Angeles is also the league’s best shot-suppressing team, surrendering an average of 24.9 shots per game.
LA is playing its league-leading 25th road game of the season tonight. The team is 10-10-4 away from home. The flip side is that no team has played fewer home games, and the Kings are a sizzling 14-2-1 at Crypto.com Arena. However, one of those regulation losses was a 4-2 setback at the hands of the Canucks on November 7th. Their last home game was postponed due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. After a game in Seattle on Saturday, the Kings are scheduled to play 14 of their next 20 on home ice.
The Kings are led in scoring by 37-year-old Anze Kopitar, who has 40 points. Adrian Kempe leads the team with 20 goals. The team’s third-leading scoring Alex Laferriere is out after suffering an upper-body in Edmonton on Monday.
Darcy Kuemper gets the start in goal for Los Angeles. He is 12-3–5 on the season with a 2.11 GAA and a .923% save percentage 
Tonight’s referees: Graham Skilliter & Riley Brace
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on Miller’s diminished ice time the past two games: “He’s not hurt. I think it’s just the way we’re made up right now for us to get back into it. We’re playing more four lines and it’s helped our team adjust and not give the other team as many shots to stay in the game. But yeah, he wants to play better. He knows it.”
Miller on his struggles of late: “(sigh), yeah, I don’t know. Probably could play a little better. I don’t know what to say.”
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