The Vancouver Canucks will be the visitors for the first time this National Hockey League preseason when they face the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena tonight.
The Canucks beat the Kraken 3-1 in a spirited affair at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
Newly signed netminder Kevin Lankinen will make his Canucks debut in goal. A week ago, Lankinen was still unsigned and back home in Helsinki, Finland. He agreed to terms with the Canucks last Saturday, flew to Vancouver on Sunday and has had three practice sessions with his new team. Tonight will be the 29-year-old’s first NHL game action since he appeared in relief on April 13th for Nashville against Columbus. Jiri Patera, who went the distance in goal on Wednesday in Abbotsford, will serve as the back-up.
The Canucks playing group did not hold a morning skate, so the line-up for tonight’s game has not been confirmed. However, the Canucks have released a roster of players making their way to the Emerald City.
Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers headline the NHL regulars expected to be in the Canucks line-up. On Thursday at UBC, Pettersson skated with Jake DeBrusk and Kiefer Sherwood. With all three listed on tonight’s roster, expect Sherwood to get an opportunity in that slot on right wing. Rick Tocchet spoke about just how wide open the audition is for the top six spot along with Pettersson and DeBrusk.
With 19 skaters listed on tonight’s roster, there will be one healthy spare. It appears the likes of Sawyer Mynio, Kirill Krudyatsev, Christian Felton and Danila Klimovich could make their preseason debuts. It’s also interesting to note Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Sammy Blais and Christian Wolanin could all appear in their third straight exhibition contests. 
It will likely be much closer to warm-up before the Canucks reveal their actual line-up and line combinations for tonight’s game. Despite skating on a line with Boeser and Danton Heinen at practice on Thursday, JT Miller will once again remain out of the line-up tonight. The veteran centre has year to make a preseason appearance.
The Kraken have not played since Tuesday’s loss in Vancouver. As a team, Seattle is 0-2 in the preseason with just two goals scored for new head coach Dan Bylsma.
It looks like Bylsma will dress a more veteran line-up tonight than he did on Tuesday. It appears the Canucks will see Joey D’Accord in goal for the second time this week. He allowed a pair of goals on 19 shots in 40 minutes of game action in Vancouver.
Tonight’s game is not being televised locally, but is expected to be streamed on canucks.com. Keep an eye on team social feeds for details and links.
The Canucks continue their preseason on Saturday night in Calgary.