Coming off a heated game against the New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks will look to bring that feistiness onto the road tonight as they visit the divisional rival Minnesota Wild, who are sitting at the bottom of the Northwest (5 p.m. CityTV).
As for Vancouver, they are second behind Colorado in the division with 18 points, although they have played three more games than the third-place Calgary Flames. The Canucks are also on a 7-3 roll in their past 10, after starting the season 2-4.
With seven team goals in the past two games, the Canucks have three players battling for the scoring lead on the team. Ryan Kesler's three assists on Tuesday brings his team-leading helpers to 11, while Mikael Samuelsson's two tallies puts him first in goals with eight. Henrik Sedin leads in overall points with 17.
Injured players Jannik Hansen (finger), Roberto Luongo (rib), and Ryan Johnson (upper body) all travelled with the team on this five-game road trip and could return to action along the way.
Tonight will be the second matchup between these two teams this season as Kesler and Samuelsson both scored to help the Canucks beat the Wild 2-1 just three weeks ago at GM Place.
