Senators at Canucks preview
Roussel back for Vancouver after knee surgery; Ottawa has lost four straight games
by Kevin Woodley / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
SENATORS (11-15-1) at CANUCKS (13-11-4)
10 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV
The Game
Antoine Roussel will make his season debut when the Vancouver Canucks play the Ottawa Senators at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
The forward had surgery in March to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.
Goalie Thatcher Demko starts for the Canucks, who are 4-8-2 in their past 14 games.
Goalie Anders Nilsson starts for the Senators, who have been outscored 13-4 while losing four in a row after going 5-1-0 in their previous six.
Players to watch
Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau has scored 10 of his 14 goals on the road (15 games) this season.
Canucks forward Elias Pettersson will play his 100th game in the NHL. He has 97 points (39 goals, 58 assists) and can join Pavel Bure (111 points; 64 goals, 47 assists) as the only other player to reach 100 points in 100 games with Vancouver.
They said it
"We want to score goals, but we don't want to do it at the sacrifice of defense." -- Senators coach D.J. Smith
"Tonight's a great night. I wanted to come back for this game because [he's] been like a big brother to me and I wanted to play this game." -- Canucks forward Antoine Roussel on returning the same night Alexandre Burrows will be inducted into the Ring of Honor
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Logan Brown -- Anthony Duclair
Nick Paul -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Colin White
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Artem Anisimov -- Connor Brown
Filip Chlapik -- Chris Tierney -- Tyler Ennis
Thomas Chabot -- Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki -- Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom -- Dylan DeMelo
Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg
Scratched: J.C. Beaudin, Mikkel Boedker, Maxime Lajoie
Injured: Scott Sabourin (nose), Cody Goloubef (undisclosed), Craig Anderson (undisclosed)
Canucks projected lineup
J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Josh Leivo
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Nikolay Goldobin
Loui Eriksson -- Tim Schaller -- Zack MacEwen
Jordie Benn -- Christopher Tanev
Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers
Oscar Fantenberg -- Troy Stecher
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Jacob Markstrom
Injured: Jake Virtanen (illness), Alexander Edler (upper body), Tyler Graovac (lower body), Tyler Motte (upper body), Micheal Ferland (concussion), Brandon Sutter (groin), Jay Beagle (lower body)
Status report
Anderson will miss his third game but practiced the past two days and is expected to start at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. … Edler will miss his second straight game … Virtanen is a game-time decision and would replace Goldobin if he can play. … Sutter and Beagle could return against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. … Markstrom is expected back Saturday after leaving the Canucks to attend his father's funeral in Sweden.
Stat pack
Tierney has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 20 games against the Canucks, more than any other opponent. … Miller has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a six-game point streak.