Music: {allcanada} PANTHERS (17-11-9) at CANUCKS (23-12-3)

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

{allcanada} PANTHERS (17-11-9) at CANUCKS (23-12-3)

Amazon.com / Babes / Ben Affleck / Amazon.ca

Thursday, January 8, 2015

10:00 PM ET

PANTHERS (17-11-9) at CANUCKS (23-12-3)

TV: FS-F, SNP

Season series: The Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks split their two-game series last season, with each winning on the road in a shootout. Shawn Matthias and Brad Boyes scored in regulation, and Jonathan Huberdeau had the lone goal in the tiebreaker to give Florida a 3-2 victory at Rogers Arena on Nov. 19, 2013. Alexandre Burrows had a goal and two assists for Vancouver before Nicklas Jensen's shootout goal gave the Canucks a 4-3 victory at BB&T Center on March 16, 2014. Roberto Luongo made 29 saves in his first game against Vancouver after being traded by the Canucks to Florida 12 days earlier.

Panthers team scope: Florida is 1-1-0 on its six-game road trip and has lost three of its past four games. Luongo, who played for the Panthers from 2000-06 before he was traded to the Canucks, will make his first appearance in Vancouver since being traded back to Florida last March. "They're all big games," Luongo told the Sun-Sentinel. "At this juncture of the season we're fighting for every point to try to get in." Forwards Tomas Kopecky (undisclosed) and Tomas Fleischmann (undisclosed), and defenseman Erik Gudbranson (upper body) have practiced the past two days and could be ready to go. Forward Shawn Thornton (groin) skated following practice Wednesday. Aaron Ekblad's 22 points is a franchise rookie record for defensemen.

Canucks team scope: Vancouver is 5-1-1 in its past seven games, but coach Willie Desjardins is wary of Florida's penchant for catching opponents off-guard. "They seem to have, somewhere along the line, caught groups not quite as ready and we just have to make sure that's not the case with us," he told the Canucks website. "We have to be ready for them because they are a fast team and they play hard." Leading goal-scorer Radim Vrbata (flu), who sat out Vancouver's 3-2 win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, and forward Brad Richardson (lower body) did not practice Wednesday but are expected to play. "I will have to check later on today but I think they will both be ready," Desjardins said. Goalie Ryan Miller, 4-1-1 with a .950 save percentage in his past six games, will start for the Canucks. Defenseman Frank Corrado was recalled and defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti was reassigned to Utica of the American Hockey League.

Team Stats