Canucks at Hurricanes preview
Darling starts for Carolina; Vancouver without Boeser, Granlund
by Kurt Dusterberg / NHL.com Correspondent
CANUCKS (21-27-6) at HURRICANES (24-21-9)
7 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-CR, NHL.TV
The Game
Scott Darling will make his second start in eight games and the Carolina Hurricanes will try to end a three-game losing streak when they play the Vancouver Canucks at PNC Arena on Friday.
Darling is 0-3-0 in his past three starts and has played once since Jan. 21. Carolina is 0-2-1 in its past three games and 2-2-1 on its eight-game homestand.
The Canucks will be without forwards Brock Boeser (hand) and Markus Granlund (ankle), who were each injured in a 5-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom is expected to start for the Canucks, who will try to snap a three-game losing streak. Markstrom made 30 saves to earn his first NHL shutout in a 3-0 win against the Hurricanes on Dec. 5.
Players to watch
Canucks center Brandon Sutter has four assists in his past five games.
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 12 goals in his past 16 games.
They said it
"We're trying to do the right things, but it's not over 60 minutes. That's a problem. It's about getting pucks deep, not turning pucks over, being good on the forecheck, just a lot of little things we need to work on." -- Vancouver center Henrik Sedin
"You look at some of (Vancouver's) pieces, they're a talented group. I thought they had some good looks (against Tampa Bay). But our starts have to be better, whether we're playing a team that's on a back-to-back or not on a back-to-back. We have to play the way we're designed to play. If we do that, I like our chances." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
Canucks projected lineup
Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Jake Virtanen
Reid Boucher -- Brandon Sutter -- Thomas Vanek
Darren Archibald -- Nic Dowd
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto -- Alex Biega
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched: None
Injured: Markus Granlund (ankle), Sam Gagner (ankle), Brendan Gaunce (foot), Brock Boeser (hand), Christopher Tanev (undisclosed)
Hurricanes projected lineup
Sebastian Aho -- Jordan Staal -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Victor Rask -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Elias Lindholm -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Klas Dahlbeck -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched: Haydn Fleury
Injured: None
Status report
The Canucks will use 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Tanev out with an undisclosed injury. ... Boucher was recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and played 14:48 against the Lightning. Archibald, who had been playing in Utica on an AHL contract, was signed to an NHL contract and recalled Wednesday. His only previous NHL experience was in 2013-14, when he played 16 games for Vancouver. … Forwards Josh Jooris and Marcus Kruger cleared waivers Friday and the Hurricanes assigned them to Charlotte of the AHL.
Stat pack
Markstrom is 5-1-0 against the Hurricanes with a 1.70 goals-against average. Horvat has five goals in six games against Carolina … The Hurricanes are 15-1-4 when leading after the second period.