The Vancouver Canucks (9-9-2) play for a second straight night when they wrap up a three-game road trip against the Florida Panthers (9-8-1) at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL. Game time is 4 pm Pacific.

Newcomer David Kampf, signed by the hockey club on Saturday, is expected to make his Canucks debut.

With back-to-back games, the Canucks did not hold a morning skate in South Florida. As such, it will be closer to game time before the team’s lineup is revealed. The Canucks have a decision to make in goal. Kevin Lankinen stopped 28 shots in a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. If he starts again today, it will be back-to-back for the second straight weekend and will be his third start in four nights on this road trip. If the Canucks decide to rest Lankinen, they will go with Jiri Patera, who has yet to make an NHL appearance since signing with Vancouver in the summer of 2024. He has not played a game at any level since November 1st in Abbotsford.

Conor Garland’s status for tonight’s game is in question after he left last night’s contest early in the second period and played just 4:21. Garland was involved in a first period fight with Darren Raddysh. He remained in the game after serving his penalty, but left after Tampa took a 2-0 lead four and a half minutes into the second.

The Canucks scored six unanswered goals and overcame a first period in which they were outshot 13-1 to beat the Lightning 6-2. Jake DeBrusk and Kiefer Sherwood scored power play goals while Linus Karlsson, Mackenzie MacEachern and Drew O’Connor also scored. Marcus Pettersson sealed the victory into an empty net. It was the first time this season the Canucks won when trailing after two periods.

Quinn Hughes had four assists and now has seven helpers in his last two games. With two assists, Elias Pettersson had his third straight multi-point game. He and Hughes share the team lead with 17 points. Brock Boeser had an assist on Sunday to push his point streak to five games (2+3).

When Kampf hits the ice, he will become the 29th skater to play for the team in the Canucks first 21 games this season. The 30-year-old Czech has appeared in 536 NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Canucks are 1-0-1 through the first two games of the road trip and are 3-1-1 in their last five games as the visitors.

The Panthers are coming off a 3-1 home ice loss to Tampa on Saturday. Brad Marchand scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season on a second period power play. The veteran winger leads the club with 21 points. Sam Reinhart is also in double-digits in goals with 10, but has just three assists. Seven of Reinhart’s 10 goals have come on home ice.

Marchand carries a seven-game point streak into action tonight. He has 7+3=10 over that stretch. He actually has points in 10 consecutive games, but missed a game for personal reasons, and the league only recognizes the seven-game streak.

With long-term injuries to captain Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers have struggled to generate offence. They enter the night tied for 27th in the NHL, averaging 2.72 goals per game. They are, however, solid defensively, holding opponents to 25.3 shots per game, which is third best in the league.

Sergei Bobrovsky has started 13 of the team’s 18 games so far, including Saturday against the Lightning.

Florida has been a strong home-ice team, going 6-2-1 so far with a 30.3% power play rate. The Panthers are also one of the most physical teams in the league, second only to the Boston Bruins in team hits with 469. Individually, AJ Greer leads the team with 56.

Veteran defenceman Jeff Petry will skate in his 1,000th NHL game tonight. The 37-year-old has played for the Panthers, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens and broke into the league with the Edmonton Oilers in 2010-11.

Marcus Pettersson’s empty-netter on Sunday was just the third goal by a Canucks defenceman this season. Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers have Vancouver’s others. Only Florida has fewer goals from its blueline, with Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad finding the back of the net for the Panthers. Both of those Florida goals have come on the power play.

The Canucks swept the champs last season, winning 3-2 in overtime in Sunrise early in the season and 4-0 at Rogers Arena in mid-December. Vancouver has won the last four meetings between these teams, including two by shutout.

The referees for tonight’s game are Peter MacDougall and Jordan Samuels-Thomas. MacDougall also worked yesterday’s game in Tampa Bay.