The Vancouver Canucks (21-17-10) open a three-game road trip tonight when they face the St. Louis Blues (23-23-4) at Enterprise Center. 
The Canucks will once again be shooting for back-to-back wins for the first time since December 1st.

What we know

After skating in Vancouver and then flying to St. Louis on Sunday, the Canucks opted to stay away from the rink this morning ahead of the 6:30pm CT puck drop. As such, there are a few unanswered questions regarding the team’s line-up for tonight’s game against the Blues.
Dakota Joshua is a possibility to return after missing 10 games with a lower body injury suffered on January 3rd. The big forward remains on injured reserve and would have to be activated prior to the game if he’s going to play. However, the Canucks have an open roster spot to facilitate the move. 
Kiefer Sherwood will miss his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. In fact, the feisty winger did not travel with the team on the first leg of this trip. The hope is Sherwood will be able to join the team in either Nashville or Dallas. 
Tyler Myers is eligible to return to the Canucks line-up tonight after serving the final game of a three-game suspension. Myers skated alongside captain Quinn Hughes at practice on Sunday. Rookie blueliner Elias Pettersson who made his NHL debut on Saturday could play for a second straight game. He practiced in a pairing with Carson Soucy on Sunday. It’s quite likely Derek Forbort and Filip Hronek will play together leaving Vincent Desharnais and Noah Juulsen as healthy scratches.
Kevin Lankinen is expected to make his second straight start in goal. The Finn stopped 32 shots in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Washington. With the victory, Lankinen posted his 17th win which matched his career-high set with Chicago in 2021-22.
Quinn Hughes scored both Canucks goals on Saturday. Hughes has five of the team’s past 10 goals and with 14 on the season is now just three off the team lead. The captain has also opened a 21 point lead in the team scoring race.
As a group, the Canucks have managed just 15 goals in their past nine outings. A big part of the issue is the team is 2/17 (11.8%) on the power play in the past eight contests. Both of those goals came from Hughes against Edmonton on January 18th.
JT Miller has gone nine games without a goal. Jake DeBrusk, the team’s leading goal scorer with 17 on the season, has also gone nine without scoring and has one goal in his last 13 games. 
Phil Di Giuseppe’s next game will be the 300th of his NHL career. He has played 98 so far with the Canucks.

The opponent

The Blues are the very definition of an average NHL team. They have 50 points in 50 games, are 3-3 in their last six games and 7-7 in their past 14. On Saturday, they fell 2-0 at home to Dallas with former Canuck Casey DeSmith picking up the shutout. The Blues, who have dropped three of their last four games, are now 11-12-1 on home ice this season.
Jordan Kyrou leads the team with 21 goals and 42 points. He is one of seven St. Louis skaters in double digits in goals this season. The others are Dylan Holloway (15), Jake Neighbours (13), Robert Thomas (12), Pavel Buchnevich and Brayden Schenn (11 apiece) and defenceman Colton Parayko (10).
As a team, the Blues are 24th in the NHL in offence averaging 2.76 goals per game. That leaves them one spot behind the Canucks in the league ranking.They are also 28th in the league on the penalty kill at 73.0%.
Jordan Binnington was in net on Saturday and gets the start again tonight. The Team Canada netmidner for the upcoming 4-Nations Face-Off has alternated losses and wins in his past five starts. In his career, Binnington is 5-1-2 against the Canucks. The Blues, as a team, have dominated Vancouver recently going 8-1-1 in their last 10 and 10-2-2 in their last 14 meetings.
Last Tuesday, veteran defenceman Ryan Suter turned 40. Tonight he is set to appear in his 1495th regular season game. Next week he can become the 22nd player in league history to skate in 1500 games.
The Blues beat the Canucks 4-3 in overtime on December 10th spoiling Thatcher Demko’s season debut. Dylan Holloway scored the winner that night. These teams will meet one more time this season on March 20th in St. Louis.
Tonight’s referees: Mitch Dunning & TJ Luxmore
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Forslund and Jody Shelley on Amazon Prime
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