Canucks coping without Henrik Sedin, Tortorella

EDMONTON -- The Vancouver Canucks will be missing their captain and coach Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

For the first time in nearly 10 years, Henrik Sedin will not suit up for Vancouver, bringing a consecutive games streak of 679 to an end.

Sedin is out with a rib injury. His brother, Daniel Sedin, is the only member of the Canucks to know what it's like not having him in the lineup.

"I'm the only guy in this room that has ever played a game without him," Daniel Sedin said. "All the other guys have never played a game without him. It's going to be different, but like with any other injury, you need guys to step up and that's what we're looking for [Tuesday].

"Everyone knows what he can do and he's going to be missed, but other guys have to step up and fill that spot."

The Canucks will also be missing coach John Tortorella, who is serving a 15-day suspension for his actions Saturday against the Calgary Flames.

Assistant coach Mike Sullivan will take over the Canucks' bench, working with Glen Gulutzan. Canucks video coach Darryl Williams will join the two behind the bench.

"This is going to be a test for our club," Daniel Sedin said. "But when things like this happen, you show what kind of team we are.

"That [Tortorella suspension] is behind us and there's nothing we can do about it. I think [Sullivan] and [Gulutzan] are going to do a good job behind the bench. It's 50 games into the season now, we should know how to play. We shouldn't need a head coach telling us what to do. That shouldn't be a problem."

The Canucks go into the game having snapped a three-game losing skid with their 3-2 shootout win against the Flames on Saturday. Vancouver has two wins in its past 10 games.

"My sense, knowing Henrik the way I know him, the ironman streak is more important to you guys [media] than it was to him," Sullivan said. "He wants to help the team win, that's why he wants to play. That's what his main focus is. He knows that we're a much better team when he's in our lineup. I'm sure it's disappointing to him that he can't participate [Tuesday] to help us win."

The Oilers go into the game on a four-game winless skid, having won two of their past 11 games. It's been 10 years since they've played a game against the Canucks without Henrik Sedin in the lineup either.

"Those twins, they seem to do everything together, can the other one not play too? That would be awesome," Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said. "I know those twins. I got to spend some time with them back the last year I played [Manitoba Moose, 2004]. I was actually Henrik's roommate at [Canucks] training camp. He's just a wonderful guy, he's one of those hard-working guys. You never like to see guys like that hurt, but it certainly not going to hurt us with him being out. That being said, when a guy of that magnitude is out the lineup, somebody usually steps up."

Ben Scrivens will start in goal for the Oilers. The local Edmonton-area product was acquired in a trade last week from the Los Angeles Kings. He has never played an NHL game at Rexall Place.

Roberto Luongo makes his second consecutive start for the Canucks, having missed the previous six games with an ankle injury.

Here are the projected lineups for both teams:

OILERS

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Ryan Jones – Sam Gagner – David Perron

Ryan Smyth – Boyd Gordon – Matt Hendricks

Luke Gazdic – Mark Arcobello – Jesse Joensuu

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Nick Schultz – Corey Potter

Ben Scrivens

Ilya Bryzgalov

Scratched: Anton Belov

Injured: Nail Yakupov (head), Ales Hemsky (foot), Philip Larsen (illness)

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin – Ryan Kesler – Alexandre Burrows

Chris Higgins – Zac Dalpe – Jannik Hansen

David Booth – Brad Richardson – Zack Kassian

Tom Sestito – Kellan Lain – Dale Weise

Dan Hamhuis - Christopher Tanev

Alexander Edler - Kevin Bieksa

Jason Garrison - Yannick Weber

Roberto Luongo

Eddie Lack

Scratched: None

Injured: Henrik Sedin (ribs), Mike Santorelli (upper body), Ryan Stanton (ankle), Andrew Alberts (upper body), Jordan Schroeder (ankle)