VANCOUVER -- Defenseman Kevin Bieksa remains out of the Vancouver Canucks lineup for a second straight game Tuesday after aggravating a groin injury in his return from the same injury Saturday.
Bieksa, who averages 21:32 of ice time and plays on the power play and penalty kill for the Canucks, missed two games before coming back to play against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. He finished that game, but did not play Sunday on the road against the Calgary Flames, and was not back on the ice for the game-day skate Tuesday morning ahead of Tuesday night's game against the San Jose Sharks.
"He's day to day," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Everybody that watched that game, he was quick, he was strong 1-on-1, and then towards the end of the game, one hit, one push, and he felt it again. He finished the game and didn't think anything of it. Next day [he] got up and was real stiff."
Bieksa is expected to join the team on a three-game road trip that starts Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Here are the rest of the projected lines and defense pairings for Tuesday's game between the Sharks and Canucks at Rogers Arena:
CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Alexandre Burrows
Chris Higgins - Mason Raymond - Jannik Hansen
David Booth - Maxim Lapierre - Zack Kassian
Tom Sestito - Jordan Schroeder - Dale Weise
Alexander Edler - Christopher Tanev
Injured: Kevin Bieksa (groin), Ryan Kesler (foot) Manny Malhotra (eye).
Scratched: Andrew Alberts
Notes: Ballard gets back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch for two games.
SHARKS
Bracken Kearns - Joe Thornton - Logan Couture
Joe Pavelski - Patrick Marleau - Tim Kennedy
Ryane Clowe - Scott Gomez - James Sheppard
Adam Burish - Michal Handzus - Andrew Desjardins
Brad Stuart - Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Injured: Martin Havlat (lower body), Tommy Wingels (undisclosed), Brent Burns (lower body)
Scratched: TJ Galiardi, Justin Braun
Notes: Havlat, who left Saturday's 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators late in the second period, did not travel with the Sharks for their two-game road trip, which concludes in Calgary on Wednesday. … Kearns was called up from Worcester of the American Hockey League and will play just his sixth NHL game in an eight-season professional career. It also will be his first game in his hometown of Vancouver, where his dad, Dennis, played 677 NHL games as a Canucks defenseman from 1971-81.
