VANCOUVER -- Marc-Andre Gragnani, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, will make his Canucks debut Thursday. He'll replace Chris Tanev, who struggled as the Canucks closed a six-game road trip Phoenix on Tuesday, while fellow trade-deadline acquisitions Zack Kassian and Samuel Pahlsson made their debuts for Vancouver.
"We'll see what he can do tonight -- he hasn't played in a while and he's got an opportunity," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Obviously we want to see what Marc-Andre can do and Chris' game in Phoenix was a little bit more challenging."
St. Louis skipped the morning skate after running its season-high road win streak to four games with a 5-2 win in Edmonton on Wednesday. The Blues, who are just 14-13-3 on the road this season, aren't expected to change their lineup other than swapping starting goaltenders. Not that it should make a difference, as Jaroslav Halak, who played Wednesday, and Brian Elliott each has 20 wins, a first for St. Louis, and each is among the NHL leaders in goals-against average and save percentage for the League’s stingiest defensive team.
Here is what the teams could put on the ice when they meet at Rogers Arena, with first place in the Western Conference on the line:
CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Alexandre Burrows
Mason Raymond - Ryan Kesler - David Booth
Chris Higgins - Samuel Pahlsson - Jannik Hansen
Manny Malhotra - Maxim Lapierre - Zack Kassian
Dan Hamhuis - Kevin Bieksa
Alexander Edler - Sami Salo
Marc-Andre Gragnani - Aaron Rome
Roberto Luongo is back in goal after Cory Schneider started in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Dale Weise is a healthy scratch for a second-straight game since the arrival of Kassian, while fellow big-bodied fourth-liner Byron Bitz was sent to the AHL.
BLUES
Andy McDonald - David Backes - T.J. Oshie
David Perron - Patrik Berglund - Chris Stewart
Chris Porter - Jason Arnott - Vladimir Sobotka
B.J. Crombeen - Scott Nichol - Ryan Reaves
Alex Pietrangelo - Carlo Colaiacovo
Barrett Jackman - Roman Polak
Kent Huskins - Kevin Shattenkirk
Brian Elliott is expected to start in goal after Jaroslav Halak beat the Oilers in Edmonton on Wednesday.
Likely lineups for Blues, Canucks
Thursday, 03.01.2012 / 4:02 PM
By Kevin Woodley - NHL.com Correspondent / At the Rink blog
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