Everybody got along at Vancouver Canucks practice on Friday at UBC as the team prepares to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. Wednesday’s ruckus involving JT Miller and Elias Pettersson was a distant memory as the club moved on to prepare for the Penguins.

What we saw

There were no changes to the line-up that beat the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. It looks like Erik Brännström will remain in the line-up for a fourth straight game. Brännström and Arshdeep Bains, who were sent to Abbotsford for cap savings on Thursday, were both back on the ice with the team today.
Rick Tocchet mentioned that the Canucks have looked into the analytics of games Brännström has played on the right side during his time in the NHL and liked what they discovered. The coach says the 25-year-old Swede could be a right-side option at some point.
JT Miller and Conor Garland were among the last skaters on the ice. The two of them worked on power play scenarios, taking turns feeding passes to each other in the bumper slot. Expect Garland to remain on the team’s top unit after the Canucks struck twice with the man advantage on Tuesday against the Blackhawks.
Dakota Joshua was fully involved in practice, although he remains in a non-contact jersey. Tocchet says Joshua has ramped up his physical involvement in drills this week but still needs to take part in more two-on-two battle situations. Tocchet doesn’t think it will be long now before Joshua is ready to shed the non-contact jersey. That will be the next step in his preparation to make his season debut.
Kevin Lankinen practiced in new white, black, red and yellow pads and will likely put them on display as the starter on Saturday night. Arturs Silovs stayed out late after practice and worked with goalie coach Marko Torenius.
Derek Forbort remains away from the team on a personal leave but is expected back in the coming days.
The Canucks catch Pittsburgh on the back end of back-to-back with the Penguins in Edmonton to face the Oilers on Friday night.

What we heard

Tocchet on the focus of Friday’s practice: “We had a really good practice today coming off a day off. We worked on some D-zone stuff. Actually, Footy put a really good video together today about how to protect the ice a little bit better in front of the net. It was really clear and I thought the guys took it to practice and applied it.”
Tocchet on using Brännström on the right side: “We checked the analytics and he did play the right side and did okay analytically. So that’s something we could experiment with him playing the other side. Yes.”
JT Miller on what a few days between games have done for whatever is ailing him: “Yeah, I feel pretty good. Obviously this has been a good time frame to take some steps this last week to do the right things when we only have one game in six days. I feel good, it’s coming along. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Miller was asked if he wanted to talk about Wednesday’s practice skirmish with Elias Pettersson: “No.”
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