The Vancouver Canucks (16-9-6) conclude a two-game road trip with their first match-up of the year against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-3).
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The Canucks will be looking to bounce back from a 3-2 overtime loss in Utah last night. Despite holding a 2-0 lead with 11 minutes to play, the Canucks surrendered three unanswered goals and settled for a single point. Danton Heinen and Dakota Joshua scored the Vancouver goals while Thatcher Demko made 28 saves in his third consecutive start.
After playing last night and travelling to Las Vegas, the Canucks did not hold a morning skate so their line-up for tonight is not confirmed. Derek Forbort is expected to draw into action after missing three games with the flu. And it’s possible one or both of Phil Di Giuseppe and Linus Karlsson could make their season debuts up front.
Kevin Lankinen is likely to get the call in goal. He has not played since a 4-0 win over Florida last Thursday. He missed a couple of games due to illness and served as the back-up last night in Salt Lake City.
The Canucks need their top players to start scoring again. The team’s last six goals have come from Joshua, Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood’s hattrick on Monday against Colorado and rookie Max Sasson. Elias Pettersson has one goal in 10 games – a power play goal against St. Louis on December xx. He has not scored an even-strength goal since November 27th at Pittsburgh. Brock Boeser has two goals in his last 12 games. JT Miller has two goals in the last 14 outings he&#8217;s appeared in. Conor Garland has gone nine games without a goal. And while no longer in a front line role, Nils Höglander’s goal drought is now up to 26 games, he hasn’t scored since October 19th in Philadelphia and has gone 21 games without a point.
Despite the struggles of many of their top players, the Canucks are eight for 27 (29.6%) on the power play in their past 10 games and have scored at least once with the man advantage in seven of those 10 games. 
After last night, the Canucks are now 3-6 in games decided beyond regulation time and 3-5 in games settled in overtime. They have dropped their past three trips to OT (at Minnesota, vs St. Louis and in Utah).
<h1>The opponent</h1>
The Golden Knights have been idle since a 3-2 win in Minnesota on Sunday. Viktor Olofsson scored twice including the game winner early in the third period. Shea Theodore had their other goal along with an assist. Ilya Samsonov made 20 saves for his seventh win of the season. Adin Hill was the first goalie off the ice at the team&#8217;s optional skate and he is expected to get the nod in net tonight. Hill has been red hot posting a 5-1-1 record in his last seven starts.
As a team, the Knights have won five of their last six games and are 9-2-1 in their last 12.
Jack Eichel leads the scoring charge in Vegas with nine goals and 42 points while Ivan Barbashev is the team’s top goal scorer with 15 on the season. However, Barbashev suffered an upper body injury on Sunday and is listed as questionable for tonight.  Without Barbashev, Pavel Dorofeyev (12) and Brett Howden (11) are the team’s top goal guys.
Former Canuck Tanner Pearson has been an every game player for the Knights registering five goals and 11 points in 12 minutes of ice time per outing.
On the season, the Knights are the sixth highest scoring team in the NHL with the fourth best power play (27.6%).
Vegas is one of the top teams in the league on home ice sporting an impressive 11-3 mark at T-Mobile Arena where they have outscored opponents 55-40.
Starting tonight, Vegas begins a stretch of 10 of 12 games on home ice. The team’s only road games during that span is a pair of one-off trips to San Jose. Seven of the team’s next games are in Sin City.
The Canucks and Golden Knights split their four-game season series last year each winning once at home and once on the road. The Canucks will be back in Vegas on February 22nd for their first game after the 4-Nations Face Off. The Knights visit Vancouver twice late in the season on April 6th and again in Game 82 on April 16th.
Tonight’s referees: Kyle Rehman &amp; Carter Sandlak
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Dave Tomlinson
Make sure to join me on the Rink Wide Vancouver postgame live stream immediately following tonight’s game. Rink Wide will provide a full breakdown and comprehensive coverage of the Canucks game. When the final buzzer sounds, be sure to log onto Rink Wide and join the YouTube live chat to discuss the game with other Canucks fans. Subscribe to the Rink Wide YouTube channel and never miss an episode.
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The Vancouver Canucks (16-9-6) conclude a two-game road trip with their first match-up of the year against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-3).
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The Canucks will be looking to bounce back from a 3-2 overtime loss in Utah last night. Despite holding a 2-0 lead with 11 minutes to play, the Canucks surrendered three unanswered goals and settled for a single point. Danton Heinen and Dakota Joshua scored the Vancouver goals while Thatcher Demko made 28 saves in his third consecutive start.

After playing last night and travelling to Las Vegas, the Canucks did not hold a morning skate so their line-up for tonight is not confirmed. Derek Forbort is expected to draw into action after missing three games with the flu. And it’s possible one or both of Phil Di Giuseppe and Linus Karlsson could make their season debuts up front.

Kevin Lankinen is likely to get the call in goal. He has not played since a 4-0 win over Florida last Thursday. He missed a couple of games due to illness and served as the back-up last night in Salt Lake City.

The Canucks need their top players to start scoring again. The team’s last six goals have come from Joshua, Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood’s hattrick on Monday against Colorado and rookie Max Sasson. Elias Pettersson has one goal in 10 games – a power play goal against St. Louis on December xx. He has not scored an even-strength goal since November 27th at Pittsburgh. Brock Boeser has two goals in his last 12 games. JT Miller has two goals in the last 14 outings he's appeared in. Conor Garland has gone nine games without a goal. And while no longer in a front line role, Nils Höglander’s goal drought is now up to 26 games, he hasn’t scored since October 19th in Philadelphia and has gone 21 games without a point.

Despite the struggles of many of their top players, the Canucks are eight for 27 (29.6%) on the power play in their past 10 games and have scored at least once with the man advantage in seven of those 10 games. 

After last night, the Canucks are now 3-6 in games decided beyond regulation time and 3-5 in games settled in overtime. They have dropped their past three trips to OT (at Minnesota, vs St. Louis and in Utah).
<h1>The opponent</h1>
The Golden Knights have been idle since a 3-2 win in Minnesota on Sunday. Viktor Olofsson scored twice including the game winner early in the third period. Shea Theodore had their other goal along with an assist. Ilya Samsonov made 20 saves for his seventh win of the season. Adin Hill was the first goalie off the ice at the team's optional skate and he is expected to get the nod in net tonight. Hill has been red hot posting a 5-1-1 record in his last seven starts.

As a team, the Knights have won five of their last six games and are 9-2-1 in their last 12.

Jack Eichel leads the scoring charge in Vegas with nine goals and 42 points while Ivan Barbashev is the team’s top goal scorer with 15 on the season. However, Barbashev suffered an upper body injury on Sunday and is listed as questionable for tonight.  Without Barbashev, Pavel Dorofeyev (12) and Brett Howden (11) are the team’s top goal guys.

Former Canuck Tanner Pearson has been an every game player for the Knights registering five goals and 11 points in 12 minutes of ice time per outing.

On the season, the Knights are the sixth highest scoring team in the NHL with the fourth best power play (27.6%).

Vegas is one of the top teams in the league on home ice sporting an impressive 11-3 mark at T-Mobile Arena where they have outscored opponents 55-40.

Starting tonight, Vegas begins a stretch of 10 of 12 games on home ice. The team’s only road games during that span is a pair of one-off trips to San Jose. Seven of the team’s next games are in Sin City.

The Canucks and Golden Knights split their four-game season series last year each winning once at home and once on the road. The Canucks will be back in Vegas on February 22nd for their first game after the 4-Nations Face Off. The Knights visit Vancouver twice late in the season on April 6th and again in Game 82 on April 16th.

Tonight’s referees: Kyle Rehman &amp; Carter Sandlak

Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse &amp; Dave Tomlinson

Make sure to join me on the Rink Wide Vancouver postgame live stream immediately following tonight’s game. Rink Wide will provide a full breakdown and comprehensive coverage of the Canucks game. When the final buzzer sounds, be sure to log onto Rink Wide and join the YouTube live chat to discuss the game with other Canucks fans. Subscribe to the Rink Wide YouTube channel and never miss an episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXNxmF5MYqs

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