Vigneault confirms Daniel Sedin has concussion

Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault confirmed what most already suspected Monday, when he said leading goal scorer Daniel Sedin suffered a concussion on an elbow from Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith.

"Daniel obviously, as everyone knows, has got a concussion and we're following the protocol," Vigneault said after his team's morning skate, ignoring the fact no one else from the Canucks said so since Wednesday's hit, which resulted in a five-game suspension for Keith.

As for Sedin's timeline for a possible return, Vigneault didn't sound like he'd have updates anytime soon: "I'm not going to address this every day. He's got a concussion and when we've got something more to say, we'll say it."

While it's anyone's guess when Sedin will return, Vancouver could be getting a couple other players back sooner than expected. Utility forward Andrew Ebbett, who has 4 goals in 14 games this season, is practicing after having his collarbone broken in two places by a big hit in Boston on Jan. 7 and needing surgery to repair the damage. And defenseman Keith Ballard, out since Feb. 7 with a concussion, rejoined the team at Monday morning's skate. Ballard, who has been cleared for light contact after missing 22 games, is hoping to practice Tuesday, but wasn't close to thinking about playing in the final seven games.

"How he'll react next couple of days is anyone's guess," Vigneault said.

The same could be said of an up-and-down Canucks team that has been locked into the second seed in the Western Conference for a while -- they can clinch no worse than second and close within two of St. Louis for first place with a win over a more desperate Los Angeles Kings team fighting for its playoff life.

Vancouver will try to build off two-straight road wins and put a decidedly blasé 3-4-0 homestand in the past against a streaking Kings team that won six straight before losing to Boston on Saturday, dropping to eighth in the West -- tied with San Jose and Colorado, but just one point behind Dallas for the Pacific Division lead.

Here are the expected lineups for their final meeting of the season:

CANUCKS
Mason Raymond - Henrik Sedin - Zack Kassian
Alexandre Burrows - Ryan Kesler - David Booth
Chris Higgins - Samuel Pahlsson - Jannik Hansen
Manny Malhotra - Maxim Lapierre - Dale Weise

Alexander Edler - Kevin Bieksa
Dan Hamhuis - Christopher Tanev
Marc-Andre Gragnani - Sami Salo

Roberto Luongo
Cory Schneider

The only change for the Canucks is Gragnani coming back into the lineup for Aaron Rome, who suffered a minor knee injury Sunday in Colorado and is expected to be out seven to 10 days as a result.

Luongo is back in goal for a second straight game after splitting the four-game road trip with Schneider, and playing his two best game in recent weeks, including 38 saves in the 3-2 overtime win in Colorado Saturday.

KINGS
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Dwight King - Mike Richards - Jeff Carter
Dustin Penner - Jarret Stoll - Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford - Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan

Rob Scuderi - Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell - Slava Voynov
Matt Greene - Alec Martinez

Jonathan Quick
Jonathan Bernier

Coach Darryl Sutter called the 4-2 loss to Boston one of the team's best games despite winning the previous six, so it's no surprise he won't change his lineup as the Kings open a tough four-game road trip that finished with an absurd Edmonton-to-Minnesota trip for games on consecutive nights.