The Vancouver Canucks will be without their leading scorer, Brock Boesertonight when they take on the Edmonton Oilers in the first game of a six-game home series. Outside of the preseason, where they faced them twice, this will be the first time they face their Pacific Division rival since they were eliminated in Game 7 of the 2024 Playoffs. Then they were also without Boeser, as he was left out of alignment due to a blood clot in his leg.

Related: Projected lineups for Oilers vs. Canucks – 9/11/24

As a result, the Canucks will have a new top-six line and a fourth line when the puck drops in the 270th meeting between these two teams. Here’s our game day preview to get you prepared for the matchup, which should be another good game for both Canucks and Oilers fans.

Setting the stage: Oilers (6-7-1) vs. Canucks (7-2-3)

The Canucks are coming off their sixth straight road win after beating Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Thursday (Nov. 7). quinn hughes led the way with a goal and an assist, while Jake DeBrusk scored his third in three games. Meanwhile, the Oilers lost 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday (Nov. 6) and will look to stop a two-game losing streak.

Oilers Projected Lineup

Jeff Skinner – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin – León Draisaitl – Viktor Arvidsson
Adam Henrique – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor Brown
Mattias Janmark – Derek Ryan – Corey Perry

Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Nurse Darnell – Troy Stecher
Brett Kulak – Ty Emberson

Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard

Lined: Travis Dermott

Wounded: None

Canucks Projected Lineup

Tweet Suter – JT Miller – Conor Garland
Nils Hoglander – Elías Pettersson – Jake DeBrusk
Danton Heinen – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood
Nils Aman – Aatu Raty – Arshdeep Bains

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy-Tyler Myers
Erik Brannstrom – Vincent Desharnais

Kevin Lankinen
Arturo Silovs

Lined: Noah Juulsen

Wounded: Brock Boeser (upper body), Derek Forbort (lower body), Thatcher Demko (lower body), Dakota Joshua (testicular cancer recovery)

Stories to see

The new Top 6 needs to advance without Boeser

Losing Boeser at any point during the season is bad, but against the Oilers it’s particularly problematic considering he’s dominated them throughout his career. In 31 games, he has 16 goals and 27 points, including that. famous four-goal exit at the opening of the 2023-24 season. The Canucks won’t have that firepower in their lineup tonight, and it will be up to the new top six to take over. According to the morning skating.that top six will include a top line of Pius Suter, JT Miller and Conor Garlandand a second line of Nils Hoglander, Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. DeBrusk returns to Pettersson’s wing with a three-game scoring streak, which fans hope will rub off on Pettersson, who only has two goals so far. Garland is deservedly promoted to the top unit while ranking second on the team in points with 11 in 12 games.

The Canucks played a solid game without Boeser after he left the game Thursday, but they will face a tough test against an Oilers team that, while struggling, still possesses two generational talents in McDavid and Draisaitl. They may struggle to score without their leading scorer, but with the depth that has increased in recent games in DeBrusk, Sherwood and Suter, they could pull out a win using their rediscovered two-way game from last season. Not to mention the phenomenal goaltending Lankinen has provided so far in his tenure with the Canucks.

New fourth line with Sprong Traded

The fourth line will also be different than the last few games because Daniel Sprong is no longer a Canuck. he was traded to Seattle Kraken on Friday for future considerations, prompting the call-up of Abbotsford’s Nils Aman and Arshdeep Bains. Everyone expected Jonathan Lekkerimaki to be one of the names that received the call, but after modifying something recentlyUnfortunately it was not an option. He also won’t be playing tonight for the Abbotsford Canucks.

So instead of seeing Lekkerimaki make his NHL debut alongside Pettersson or Miller, a new fourth line will be in action with Bains, Raty and Aman. Bains and Raty have shown some chemistry in the American Hockey League (AHL), so maybe they can recreate some of that magic in the NHL tonight. They probably won’t get much ice time, but they should be trusted to get a regular shift considering they are all good defensively, unlike Sprong.

Players to watch

quinn hughes

Hughes is always a player to watch, but he has been unreal the last few games. He has six points in his last three games and recently reached the 300 assist mark in his 376th game, usurping Paul Coffey, who did it in 377 games. He’s also coming off another crazy performance against the Kings, where he twice made Akil Thomas look foolish with his edge work and puck handling at the blue line. First, Thomas got confused on his fancy feet and gave him room to feed DeBrusk so he could openly stare at Darcy Kuemper, and then, on the game-winning goal in the third, did a line dance to trick him and score a long shot for a 3-2 lead. What does the captain have in store for the home fans at Rogers Arena? I for one am excited to find out.

Kevin Lankinen

Lankinen has been a revelation for the Canucks so far this season. They remain undefeated in regulation with a record of 7-0-2. and has a Vezina Trophy-like stat line with a 2.08 goals-against average (GAA) and a .923 save percentage (SV%) along with one shutout. In other words, they haven’t missed Demko in the box, and that has given them the luxury of allowing their star goalkeeper to rehab his injury without any outside pressure of the team losing without him. With a victory tonight, he will beat Kirk McLean for the longest point streak at the start of a season. Not bad for $875,000, right?

What’s next for the Canucks?

The Canucks will continue their homestand against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. They last met in their home opener on October 9, when they blew a multi-goal lead to lose 6-5 in overtime. That seems like a lifetime ago, considering Lankinen didn’t start that game and the Canucks weren’t as solid defensively as they are now. As a result, it should be a very different matchup this time around.

But first, the Canucks must tame the Oilers. Puck drop is at 7 pm PT on Hockey Night in Canada and DeBrusk will appear after the game on After Hours with Scott Oake and his father Louis.