After a travel day yesterday, the Canucks held a well-attended optional skate this morning. Thatcher Demko is slated to make his third straight start after picking up his first win of the season on Monday against Colorado. Demko stopped 30 of 31 Avalanche shots in a 3-1 victory. Because the team did not conduct line rushes this morning, we may have to wait until closer to puck drop to learn the Canucks official line-up. The team recalled forwards Phil Di Giuseppe and Linus Karlsson yesterday.

What will Kiefer Sherwood do for an encore after his first NHL hat trick on Monday? Sherwood now has a career-high 11 goals, just 30 games into his first season in Vancouver. The natural hattrick on Monday gives Sherwood five goals in his last six games. His 2-0 goal late in the second period was the team’s first short-handed goal of the season and stood as the game-winner.

Carson Soucy logged a career-high 24:16 against the Avs on Monday including 9:06 of the third period as the Canucks tried to close out the game. The veteran blueliner logged a team-high 6:00 of short-handed time, helping the Canucks kill off all four Colorado power plays on the night.

The Canucks are finding ways to grind out victories despite the fact some of their top players are struggling to score these days. Elias Pettersson has one goal in his last nine games while Conor Garland has gone eight without putting a puck in the net. JT Miller, who stepped back and missed 10 games on a personal leave, has two goals in the past 13 games he’s played – both have been into empty nets. Miller’s last goal came on November 16th against Chicago.

The Canucks are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games on the road and have outscored opponents 45-28 in those games.

The opponent

The Utah Hockey Club should be well rested, having been off since a 4-3 win in San Jose on Saturday night. Clayton Keller scored a power play goal in the final minute to push UHC to victory. Dylan Guenther, Michael Carcone and Nick Schmaltz had the other Utah goals. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves.

Utah is 4-0-1 in its last five games and has scored four or more goals in each of those outings and six of its last seven contests. Going back nine games, Utah is 6-1-2.

Guenther leads the club with 13 goals and 29 points. Keller has 28 points, and Logan Cooley has 26. Mikhail Sergachev leads UHC and is third in the NHL in average ice time logging 25.35 per night. He’s had six nights already this season where he has played 28 minutes or more.

Karel Vejmelka will make his fourth straight start in goal. It will be his sixth start in the last seven outings as Connor Ingram recovers from an upper-body injury.

Like the Canucks, Utah has struggled mightily on home ice winning a league-low four games in Salt Lake City (4-5-3). The first-year club has played the fewest games on home ice so far this season. Starting tonight, Utah will play 11 of its next 16 at home.

The Canucks will be back in Utah on February 23rd while UHC will make its lone visit to Vancouver on March 16th.

Tonight’s referees: Kyle Rehman & Corey Syvret

Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson