Saturday November 8 - Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings - 7:00 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks 10-4-0 second in Pacific Division
Los Angeles Kings 7-4-3 fourth in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks continue their Western road trip with a visit to the home of the Stanley Cup Champions on Saturday night.
The Canucks can't come home any worse than .500 after picking up wins in Denver and San Jose. The Kings lost their last game 2-1 to the New York Islanders in overtime. Despite a hot stretch through the first weeks of the season, Los Angeles is 1-1-1 so far in November.
Though the Kings' road hasn't been smooth in recent weeks, Vancouver will likely need a better effort tonight than they were able to give against the Sharks if they hope to grab another two points.
The Kings like to play a gritty game, but the Canucks could very well be playing without two of their most physical players. Tom Sestito
is listed on injured reserve with a leg injury suffered last weekend against Nashville, while Zack Kassian
is said to be day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
One bit of good news there: at least it doesn't sound like Kassian's dealing with concussion issues.
Winger Nicklas Jensen was recalled from Utica on Friday, which means there could also be another hole in the lineup. Radim Vrbata only played 15:23 against the Sharks on Thursday after missing most of the second half of the second period with what appeared to be a leg injury. He did return, taking a more-typical nine shifts in the third, so it's hard to get a read on his situation.
For his part, Jensen has been off to a strong start in Utica. After taking forever to find his scoring touch last season, Jensen is tied for the Comets' lead with four goals in 11 games and leads the team with 31 shots on goal. He had the game-winner (and Jacob Markstrom had the shutout, of course), in Utica's 1-0 win over Rochester last Wednesday.
The Comets won again last night, so their record is now a very impressive 9-1-2—good for top spot in the AHL's Western Conference.
While Ryan Kesler and Nick Bonino have gotten plenty of attention with their imminent matchups against their old teams on Sunday, tonight's game will see Linden Vey line up against his old buddies Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson for the first time. AHL linemates in Manchester for the better part of the last couple of seasons, Toffoli and Pearson made a name for themselves during last year's playoffs as part of "That '70s Line" and have kept rolling this year.
Vey has been a solid performer for the Canucks, with seven points in his first 14 games in Vancouver, but Toffoli and Pearson started the year on a tear. Though he's pointless in his last three games, Toffoli leads the Kings in scoring with 14 points in 14 games, while Pearson earned NHL rookie of the month honours for October and has nine points. Pearson's actually pointless in his last six games—since scoring two goals against Columbus back on October 26.
The Kings have faced their share of adversity in the early going this season. For a team that stayed extraordinarily healthy through last year's playoff run, L.A.'s recent losing streak corresponded with injuries to both Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar, as well as the ongoing suspension to Slava Voynov for his alleged domestic violence incident.
Kopitar and Gaborik are back—but also both pointless since their returns—but Voynov's absence is proving to be a real issue, particularly with the salary cap.
Remember last summer, when we applauded Dean Lombardi for signing Gaborik economically to fit him under the cap? Well, he's paying for it now.
Because Voynov is suspended rather than injured, his salary still counts against the cap while he's out of action, which severely limits L.A.'s ability to ice a replacement.
They played with their roster one man short during their recent road trip and it looks like they might be skating with just five defensemen tonight against Vancouver. Robyn Regehr was injured in practice on Friday and if he can't play, they won't be able to call someone up.
$160. That's like normal-people money.
Though the Kings and Canucks have been headed in opposite directions in the past couple of years, L.A. seems to reserve a special dose of hate for Vancouver, even if we're not from California. If you want to get riled up and can stand to relive some bad memories, here's the pump-up video for tonight's game from their master blogger, The Royal Half:
No word yet on the Canucks' starter in net tonight. If patterns hold, it should be Ryan Miller.
Pierre LeBrun
has a thoughtful feature on Miller here, which includes some insight into life in Vancouver so far. He has turned himself into quite a redemption story in the early going this season.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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