Playing against their second Eastern Conference wildcard contender in as many games, the Vancovuer Canucks (34-26-12) square off with the Columbus Blue Jackets (32-29-9) at Nationwide Arena at 4 p.m. on Friday evening.
Both clubs are hotly contesting the final wildcard playoff sports in their respective conferences, though the Blue Jackets are only one game out, whereas the Canucks are three games out.
And, as you will note in the lineups below, the Blue Jackets are only getting healthier, while the Canucks are dropping like flies due to illnesses and injuries.
Canucks Game Lineup
Jake DeBrusk - Pius Suter - Brock Boeser
Drew O'Connor - Aatu Raty - Conor Garland
Linus Karlsson - Nils Aman - Jonathan Lekkerimäki
Dakota Joshua - Max Sasson - Kiefer Sherwood
Quinn Hughes - Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson - Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort - Victor Mancini
Kevin Lankinen is expected to return as the Canucks' starting goalie against the Blue Jackets on Friday night after missing a few games due to an illness. Lankinen last played for the Canucks on Saturday, allowing four goals on 11 shots in a crushing 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Thatcher Demko relieved Lankinen for two games this week, allowing only five goals and earning wins in both.
Blue Jackets Game Lineup
Dmitri Voronkov - Sean Monahan - Kirill Marchenko
Boone Jenner - Adam Fantili - Kent Johnson
Justin Danforth - Cole Sillinger - Mathieu Olivier
Zach Aston-Reese - Sean Kuraly - Luke Kunin
Zach Werenski - Dante Fabbro
Ivan Provorov - Damon Severson
Denton Mateychuk - Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins is confirmed to be the Blue Jackets' starting goalie against the Canucks on Friday night.
The Latvian netminder has not been able to recapture the magic he produced in his rookie season in 2019-20, but he is 23-19-5 this season with a 3.03 GAA, a .896 save percentage, and one shutout for a Blue Jackets team surprisingly in the middle of a playoff race.
How to watch the Canucks game
Friday night's Canucks game will be streamed on FanDuel Sports Work Ohio and Sportsnet Pacific. For fans unable to watch the Canucks game, Sportsnet 650 will be the radio broadcast available for your listening.