Continuing their short tour of the western section of the United States, the Vancouver Canucks (16-9-6) head over to Sin City to face the Vegas Golden Knights (20-8-3), for the first time this season at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night. This will be the first of three meetings between these two powerhouses this season, with the Canucks returning to Vegas again on Feb. 22.
The Canucks failed to build on a strong win against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night, blowing a 2-0 lead late to the Utah Hockey Club on Wednesday night, ultimately losing 3-2 in overtime. And while it has been nice to see Thatcher Demko start to look like his former self, it has not been nice to see the Canucks once again throw away valuable points in the standings.
Canucks Game Lineup
Jake DeBrusk - Elias Pettersson - Kiefer Sherwood
Dakota Joshua - J.T. Miller - Brock Boeser
Danton Heinen - Pius Suter - Conor Garland
Phil Di Giuseppe - Teddy Blueger - Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes - Tyler Myers
Carson Soucy - Noah Juulsen
Derek Forbort - Vincent Desharnais
Kevin Lankinen is likely to return to the ice for the Canucks and start against Vegas on Thursday night. Head coach Rick Tocchet has revealed that Phil Di Giuseppe, Linus Karlsson, and Derek Forbort are replacing Erik Brannstrom, Nils Hoglander, and Max Sasson in the lineup.
Golden Knights Game Lineup
Pavel Dorofeyev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone
Tanner Laczynski - Tomas Hertl - Alex Holtz
Brett Howden - William Karlsson - Victor Olofsson
Tanner Pearson - Cole Schwindt - Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague - Zach Whitecloud
Adin Hill will start in goal for the Golden Knights against the Canucks on Thursday night. Hill, named the NHL's Third Star of the Week on Dec. 8, is 13-5-2 this season with a 2.78 GAA, a .899 save percentage, and two shutouts.
How to watch the Canucks game
Thursday night's Canucks game will be streamed on Sportsnet. For fans unable to watch the Canucks game, Sportsnet 650 will be the radio broadcast available for your listening.