Canucks at Jets preview

CANUCKS (18-22-6) at JETS (27-13-7)
8 p.m. ET; SN, NHL.TV

Horvat has missed the past 18 games with an ankle injury sustained on Dec. 5 in a 3-0 win against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canucks have gone 4-12-2 since, but are 3-1-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season; they lost to the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.
The Jets, who defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday, are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and 2-2-1 in the second game of a back-to-back this season. Winnipeg has scored three goals in their past three games after scoring 11 in their previous two.

Players to watch

Brock Boeser leads the Canucks and is second in rookie scoring with 41 points (22 goals, 19 assists) in 43 games.
Jets forward Blake Wheeler has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"We need these points on the road, Winnipeg is a real good team this year. I think they surprise a lot of teams, they have a lot of firepower and we're going to have bring our A-game, get over this one, recharge our batteries and come ready to play." -- Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher
"Not an easy team to play against. They got a lot of skill. They play fast and they can score. We've got to be ready for that. We also need to play our game, stick to our game plan and get the two points." -- Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers

Canucks projected lineup

Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Markus Granlund
Thomas Vanek -- Sam Gagner -- Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Brandon Sutter -- Nic Dowd -- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Ben Hutton -- Chris Tanev
Michael Del Zotto -- Derek Pouliot
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched:Michael Chaput, Alex Biega, Erik Gudbranson, Brendan Gaunce
Injured:None

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Blake Wheeler -- Patrik Laine
Mathieu Perreault -- Bryan Little -- Nikolaj Ehlers
Brandon Tanev -- Andrew Copp -- Joel Armia
Marko Dano -- Matt Hendricks -- Jack Roslovic
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Toby Enstrom -- Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched:Ben Chiarot
Injured:Mark Scheifele (upper body), Adam Lowry (upper body), Shawn Matthias (upper body), Steve Mason (concussion)

Status report

Gudbranson did not play Saturday because of back spasms and is not expected to play. … Lowry is close to returning, Jets coach Paul Maurice said. He could play in Winnipeg's upcoming California road trip which begins on Tuesday. … Matthias is week to week.

Stat pack

Boeser has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past eight games after having 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his previous 10. … Perreault has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games.