Canucks at Hurricanes preview

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

Derrik Pouliot

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.