CANUCKS (5-8-1) at RED WINGS (7-6-1)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, SNV, NHL.TV
Canucks team scope
The Vancouver Canucks are coming off a 5-3 win at the New York Rangers on Tuesday that ended an 0-8-1 stretch. The Canucks averaged 1.3 goals during the losing streak and forward Henrik Sedin knows they need to build on what they did against the Rangers. "It's huge for us to keep that going," Sedin said. "We know that we are going to be right back in the race if we can put together a few wins here." Vancouver is making its final regular-season trip to Joe Louis Arena. Sedin has 24 points as a visitor to the arena, fourth among active players. "I love playing in this building," he said. "It's a great rink with a lot of history, and you always have great ice and those springy boards. It has always been tough, though, because they've had such great teams."
Red Wings team scope
Goalie Jimmy Howard will make his third straight start for the Detroit Red Wings, moving Petr Mrazek to the No. 2 position. Howard is 3-2-0 with a 1.26 goals-against average and .958 save percentage in six games. "We're going with the hot hand, and the way Jimmy is playing, it is a pretty easy decision," coach Jeff Blashill said. "Petr understands the situation, and he knows that he just has to work on getting better every day. That's true of everyone on this team." The Red Wings ended a five-game losing streak (0-4-1) with a 3-2 shootout win at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, but they haven't solved their power-play issues. They were 0-for-3 with the man advantage against the Flyers and are 3-for-31 in their past nine games. "We're getting pucks on the net, but we need better entries and more time in the zone," center Frans Nielsen said. "The best thing we could get right now is a good bounce."
Canucks projected lineup
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Loui Eriksson
Markus Granlund -- Brandon Sutter -- Derek Dorsett
Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Alexandre Burrows
Michael Chaput -- Brendan Gaunce -- Jack Skille
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Scratched: Alex Biega, Philip Larsen
Injured: Jannik Hansen (fractured rib), Anton Rodin (upper body), Jayson Megna (shoulder), Christopher Tanev (lower body)
Red Wings projected lineup
Tomas Tatar -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Justin Abdelkader
Gustav Nyquist -- Frans Nielsen -- Dylan Larkin
Andreas Athanasiou -- Darren Helm -- Tyler Bertuzzi
Riley Sheahan -- Luke Glendening -- Steve Ott
Jonathan Ericsson -- Alexey Marchenko
Brendan Smith -- Niklas Kronwall
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Drew Miller
Injured: Tomas Jurco (back), Thomas Vanek (middle body)
Status report
Hansen will miss 4-6 weeks with a fractured rib, according to Canucks president Trevor Linden. ... Miller is scheduled to start for the Canucks. His brother Drew is expected to be a healthy scratch for the Red Wings. … Vancouver sent forward Jake Virtanen to Utica of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. … Bertuzzi will be back in the lineup against Vancouver, two days after making his NHL debut. Bertuzzi played 9:57 in Philadelphia, and Blashill said that number should go up on Thursday. "After he got settled down, he looked like Tyler Bertuzzi out there, he played good, smart hockey," Blashill said. "We just need to get him more minutes."
Who's hot
Eriksson and Baertschi each scored their first goals of the season in the win against the Rangers. … Athanasiou scored the tying goal against the Flyers and then had the winner in the shootout.
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