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

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

As a result, the Canucks will feature a new look among the top six and fourth lines when the puck drops in the 270th meeting between these two teams. Here’s our game preview to get you ready for the game, which should be another good game for Canucks and Oilers fans.

Setting the Stage – Oilers (6-7-1) vs. Canucks (7-2-3)

The Canucks are coming off a sixth straight road victory after beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Thursday (November 7). Quinn Hughes led the way with a goal and an assist while Jake DeBrusk scored his third in three games. The Oilers, meanwhile, lost 4-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday, November 6, and will try to end a two-game losing streak.

Oilers projected lineup

Jeff Skinner-Connor McDavid-Zach Hyman
Vassili Podkolzine — Léon 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

Striped: Travis Dermott

Hurt: None

Canucks projected lineup

Pius Suter — JT Miller — Conor Garland
Nils Hoglander — Elias 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
Arthur Silovs

Striped: Noah Juulsen

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

Intrigues to watch out for

The new-look Top 6 must step up without Boeser

Losing Boeser at any point during the season is bad, but against the Oilers it’s especially embarrassing considering he’s dominated them throughout his career. In 31 games, he has 16 goals and 27 points – including this one famous four goal match when the 2023-24 season opens. 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 skatingthis top six will include a first line composed 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 on a three-game goal streak, which fans hope will rub off on Pettersson, who has just two goals so far. Garland deservedly rises to the first unit as he is second on the team in points with 11 in 12 games.

The Canucks played a solid game without Boeser after his departure Thursday, but they will face a tough test against an Oilers team, albeit struggling, but still possessing two generational talents in McDavid and Draisaitl. They might 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 that Lankinen has provided thus far during his tenure with the Canucks.

New fourth line with Sprong traded

The fourth line will also be different from the last few games since Daniel Sprong is no longer a Canuck. He was distributed to the Seattle Kraken on Friday for future considerations, prompting a call to Nils Aman and Arshdeep Bains from Abbotsford. Everyone was hoping Jonathan Lekkerimaki would be one of the shortlisted names, but after tweaking something recentlyit was unfortunately not an option. He also won’t play for the Abbotsford Canucks tonight.

So, instead of Lekkerimaki making his NHL debut alongside Pettersson or Miller, a new fourth line will be in action with Bains, Raty and Aman. Bains and Raty showed 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 for a regular shift considering they’re all good defensively – unlike Sprong.

Players to watch

Quinn Hughes

Hughes is always a player to watch, but he has been unreal over 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 so in 377 games. He’s also coming off another insane performance against the Kings where he made Akil Thomas look ridiculous twice with his edge work and puck handling at the blue line. First, Thomas was confused by his fancy feet and gave him room to feed DeBrusk for a wide-open look at Darcy Kuemper, then, on the game-winning goal in the third, I did a line dance to deceive him and score a long shot to lead 3-2. What does the captain have in store for the home fans at Rogers Arena? For my part, I can’t wait to find out.

Kevin Lankinen

Lankinen has been a revelation for the Canucks so far this season. He is still undefeated in regulation time with a record of 7-0-2 And holds a similar stat line to the Vezina Trophy with a goals against average (GAA) of 2.08 and a save percentage of 0.923 (SV%) as well as one shutout. In other words, they didn’t miss Demko in the slot, and that gave them the luxury of allowing their star goaltender to nurse his injury without any outside pressure from the team losing without him. With a victory tonight, he will beat Kirk McLean for the longest points streak to start a season. Not bad for $875,000, right?

What’s next for the Canucks?

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

But first, the Canucks must tame the Oilers. Puck drop will take place at 7 p.m. PT on Hockey Night in Canada with DeBrusk featured post-game on After Hours with Scott Oake and his father Louis.