Following Friday night’s 5-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Vancouver Canucks were back on the ice at UBC for practice.

Evander Kane and Tom Willander were absent from practice. Kevin Lankinen was on the ice briefly before the on-ice drills started, but later came off. Assistant Coach Scott Young confirmed that both Kane and Lankinen were held out due to maintenance. Emergency goaltender and mortgage broker, Alex Kotai, and Nikita Tolopilo, who was recently called up earlier on Saturday, served as the two goaltenders for today’s session. Kane was later seen in the UBC parking lot by fans. Willander missed today’s practice due to illness. His status for tomorrow’s matinee game against the Pittsburgh Penguins could be in question.

The Canucks did not participate in traditional line rushes. However, based on 5v5 zone drills, here is how the Canucks forward group lined up:

With there likely being no morning skate tomorrow, given a 3:00 PM start against the Pittsburgh Penguins, these are the lines we can expect for tomorrow’s contest.

Aatu Räty, who served as a healthy scratch in Friday night’s contest, skated as a placeholder for the absent Kane. We saw a slight change to the fourth line, with Max Sasson now in between Nils Höglander and Linus Karlsson.

The majority of Canucks practice was spent working with one another off the rush. One player would enter the zone with speed, stop up, and find the trailer for a one-on-one chance with the goaltender.

Later in the session, the Canucks focused on in-zone work. Working as a five-man unit, cycling the play in the offensive zone. And before the final shoot-around, the Canucks played a mini three-on-three in tight areas, playing with two nets between the faceoff dots in the zone to conclude practice.

There was no work on special teams, despite the club going 0/2 on the power play and allowing two power play goals on three power play opportunities last night.

Assistant Coach Scott Young on the Canucks’ slow start and the way they fight back against the Devils: “We loved the resilience that we had in the game, but we can’t come out and start like that. We’ve got to start when the puck drops, and we were a little sluggish out of the gate, and it showed. But I really liked the way we fought back. It’s a lesson to be learned that we have to be ready from the drop of the puck.”

Young on Linus Karlsson’s growth this season: “He is a very detailed guy. He’s a true pro’s pro. He works on his game constantly. He’s very dedicated and committed to working on it every day. I do a lot of stuff with him after practice; on game days, a lot of net work. He’s always looking at video, he wants to learn more, and he’s a sponge, and that’s what you want, especially out of the young guys. And it’s obviously paid off for him.”

Karlsson on how it feels to be rewarded for his good season with some special teams time: “Of course, that’s gives me some confidence to play with those good players out there. I just try to do the best every time I’m on the ice. It’s an honour to be on that unit for sure.”