Canucks Host Desert Dogs Thursday

If recent history is any indication for Canucks fans, we could be in for a very high scoring affair tonight at GM Place as the Phoenix Coyotoes make their first appearance of the season in Vancouver.

The Canucks (7-6-0) are coming off a 4-0 blanking of the Nashville Predators Tuesday night. That was Roberto Luongo's NHL-leading third clean sheet of the season. However, remember what happened after the two previous Canucks wins this year where they held their opponents off the score sheet.

On opening night in Vancouver Oct. 9, the Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 6-0. Two nights later in Calgary, Vancovuer skated away with 5-4 win in overtime.

Last Thursday, the Canucks shut out the Kings 4-0 in Los Angeles. One night later in Anaheim, they came away with two points in a nightmare of Halloween hockey, edging out the Ducks 7-6 in a 26-skater shoot-out.

With that in mind, the Canucks likely prepare to play a very sound, structured game on home ice against the Coyotes tonight. Phoenix (5-5-0) comes to town on the heels of its' most impressive road win of the season, doubling up the Flames 4-2 Tuesday evening at the Saddledome.

This will be the first chance for Vancouver fans to see one of the youngest teams in the NHL this season. The Coyotes do boast some very talented veterans in the likes of Shane Doan (7g,5a) and Olli Jokinen (4g,7a). But they do also feature their two first round picks from last summer's draft in Mikkel Boedker (8th overall) and Viktor Tikhonov (28th overall), plus their previous two 1st rounders in former Everett Silvertips all-star Peter Mueller (2006) and New Westminster native Kyle Turris (2007).

Here's how the line-ups should look in preparation for tonight's match-up:

Canucks:

D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Ouellet
Burrows - Kesler - Raymond
Pyatt - Wellwood - Bernier
Hordichuk - Johnson - Brown

Mitchell - Bieksa
Ohlund - Salo
Edler - O'Brien

Luongo
Sanford

Coyotes:

Shane Doan - Olli Jokinen - Peter Mueller
Kevin Porter - Steven Reinprecht - Mikkel Boedker
Daniel Winnek - Martin Hanzel - Viktor Tikhonov
Daniel Carcillo - Kyle Turris - Todd Fedoruk

Ed Jovanoski - Zbyenk Michalek
Kurt Sauer - Derek Morris
David Hale - Ken Klee

Ilya Bryzgalov
Mikael Tellqvist