Sunday January 13 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Florida Panthers - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 46 GP, 20-21-5, 45 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Florida Panthers: 43 GP, 17-18-8, 42 pts, sixth in Atlantic Division
Elias Pettersson won't play but Josh Leivo is a possibility as the Florida Panthers roll into town for a Sunday afternoon game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Back in October, this matchup was circled on some peoples' calendars as a potential 'revenge game' after Mike Matheson's takedown of Pettersson knocked him out of the lineup for six games with a concussion. I feel like Pettersson's tremendous success since his return may have tempered the blood lust a bit, but nobody would mind if Matheson's on the receiving end of a big hit or two. Fair?
Jeff Paterson of TSN1040 picked out an interesting nugget in his game preview: Matheson is currently the holder of the NHL's "Green Jacket," with the league's worst plus-minus, at minus-21. Vancouver's Erik Gudbranson is tied with Ottawa's Cody Ceci for second-worst, at minus-20.
Matheson, 24, also has 15 points, and is in the first year of an eight-year contract that carries a cap hit of $4.875 million per season. Gudbranson, who turned 27 last week, has eight points and is in the first year of a three-year deal that carries a $4 million cap hit.
The NHL's hit statistics are even more contentious than plus-minus but for what it's worth, Vancouver is in the top half of the league in that category: ranked 13th with 1,007 hits so far this season. Michael Del Zotto still leads the team in hits per game (3.9) but because he has been scratched so many times, the team's leading hitters are Tyler Motte (111, 2.5 per game) and Gudbranson (96, 2.3 per game).
The Panthers come in tied for 18th with New Jersey and Ottawa, at 937. Their top hitter was Alex Petrovic, who was recently traded to Edmonton, so Troy Brouwer is their most physical active player with 85 hits (2.0 per game). Matheson has just 29 hits this season.
Here's how the Canucks lines shook down during Saturday's practice at Burnaby's 8 Rinks:
Pettersson did hit the ice on his own after practice, so hopefully that's an indication that his knee is healing up and he'll be ready to get back into game action soon.
The Canucks are already at the 23-man roster limit so if Leivo slots back in, the team will need to move a player to make space for him.
Looks like frequent healthy scratches Tim Schaller, Alex Biega and Michael Del Zotto have formed a bond during the many games that they've now spent together. From Saturday:
Because of the early start time, there's no Sunday morning skate, so we'll have to wait until closer to game time before Travis Green names his starting goalie. There's some speculation that Thatcher Demko might get his first NHL start of the year.
For the Panthers, 39-year-old Roberto Luongo is expected to get the nod in net. In a season where he has missed 13 games due to two separate injuries, Loo's numbers haven't been up to his usual standards, especially lately. He's now 8-10-1 for the season with an .891 save percentage and a 3.36 goals-against average and hasn't won yet in 2019. In his last seven appearances dating back to December 20, he's 1-5-0 and has given up three goals or more in six of those seven games.
Luongo did a great interview on the 31 Thoughts podcast just before Christmas, where he shared a ton of Canucks memories and also spoke candidly about what it takes for him to get physically ready for games now—hours of stretching and other prep.
I hope he gets a warm welcome from the fans at Rogers Arena today. We may not see him in net too many more times.
It's also always a treat to see Aleksander Barkov play—and he should be hard to miss. Averaging 23:12 per game, Barkov plays more than any other forward in the NHL. Assigned tough, top-line minutes, he's second in scoring for Florida with 17-27-44 in 43 games and, amazingly, has taken just one minor penalty so far this season—a holding infraction in the Panthers' 2-1 win over the Red Wings back on December 22.
The rested Canucks will be facing a tired Panthers team today. Sunday's game is Florida's fourth in six nights after stops in Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Calgary—and the wacky road trip wraps up Tuesday back in Montreal. So far, the Panthers are 0-2-1 on this trip, with their only point coming in their 4-3 shootout loss to Edmonton on Thursday.
A couple of key players are on Florida's injured list: centre Vincent Trocheck fractured his ankle back in mid-November, and Nick Bjugstad has been sidelined since early December with a neck issue.
Today's game is featured on Rogers Hometown Hockey, with the travelling road show set up this weekend in Langley. Bo Horvat was on-site signing autographs on Saturday; there will be more family-friendly fun today if you're out in the Valley.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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