Canucks Gameday: Booth's back as Canucks return home to face the Anaheim Ducks - Vancouver winger has been out since Dec. 6 with knee injury
GAME DAY: TODAY, 6 p.m. PST, ROGERS ARENA ANAHEIM DUCKS at VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Radio: Team 1040; TV: Sportsnet
The Vancouver Canucks will welcome back winger David Booth tonight at Rogers Arena when they kick off a lengthy six-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks.
Booth, who has been out since spraining a knee in a Dec. 6 game against the Colorado Avalanche, will skate tonight on Vancouver's second line with Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins.
"I am really excited especially since the team has been playing well and you want to be a part of it," Booth said after this morning's game-day skate. "I feel like my leg is finally getting back to where it needs to be."
Booth, who was acquired in an early-season trade with the Florida Panthers, seemed to finally be finding his game before he was hurt on a hit by Colorado's Kyle Porter. The game before he got injured, Booth had scored a goal and added two assists in Vancouver's 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Dec. 4.
"It's always tough when you miss five or six weeks," Booth said. "You know what, the best thing to do is keep it simple at the start and not try to do too much. I am playing with good players so if I just keep my game simple, I think that will help a lot."
"He has been working extremely hard at getting himself in a physical and mental place where he can come on the ice and hopefully just continue where he was before," added Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault. "Is that going to happen? You never know with an injury, especially an injury that takes the amount of time that it took for him to get back. He was playing some really good hockey, he was really contributing both offensively with good speed and taking pucks to the net. Hopefully he will be able to continue to do that."
The Canucks face an Anaheim team tonight that seems to finally have, well, all its ducks in a row.
The Ducks are 4-0-1 in their last five games, are coming off a 5-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers and their big names, most notably Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, are showing signs of life.
Perry has five goals and seven points in his last five games and Getzlaf had four assists in Anaheim's win in Edmonton.
"I can only talk for myself here but there's a team where every time we play them I am saying, 'wow, these guys have got a really good team,'" Vigneault said. "They have got an all-star (first) line, their second line, all Finnish players but all elite world-class players. So they have got two lines that can come at you hard."
In addition to the return of Booth, the Canucks will make one other lineup change tonight. Defenceman Keith Ballard, who was a healthy scratch Thursday night in St. Louis, will play tonight and skate with Alexander Sulzer. Andrew Alberts will be a healthy scratch.
"In our defensive possibilities that we have right now, all those guys, Alex Sulzer, Andrew Alberts and Keith Ballard, they are sort of fighting for that same ice time," Vigneault said. "A lot of time, it depends on how they play, but it also depends on the opposition.
"In Keith Ballard's case, he is probably playing his best hockey since he has been with us. That being said, sometimes like in St. Louis, it depends on the opposition, it depends what we are looking for in terms of match-ups. Tonight we feel Keith coming in will give us the right element and that is why he is playing."
Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau knows tonight's game will be a test for his team. Anaheim's run of late has come against teams currently below the playoff bar. Tonight they move up in class to face a Vancouver team that leads the Western Conference.
"This is the best team out of the lot that we have faced," Boudreau said after his team's skate this morning. "If you want to measure yourself against a really good team this would be the team to measure yourself against. . .When we played Vancouver (on Dec. 29) they toyed with us. So it will be interesting to see if we can play a little bit better in their building."
The Ducks will start Jonas Hiller in goal. The Canucks are going with Roberto Luongo, who enters tonight's game with a shutout streak of 94:32 at Rogers Arena.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ducks: Anaheim's all-Finnish second line consists of Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Niklas Hagman. The 41-year-old Selanne leads the Ducks with 43 points.
Canucks: Winger Daniel Sedin has a 12-game points streak against the Ducks and scored the overtime winner for the Canucks in St. Louis on Thursday night.
INJURIES
The Ducks are missing forward Devante Smith-Pelly (fractured foot) and goalie Dan Ellis (groin)
The Canucks are without forwards Andrew Ebbett (collarbone) and Aaron Volpatti (shoulder) and defenceman Sami Salo (concussion).
ICE CHIPS: With Booth back, the Canucks returned winger Mike Duco to the Chicago Wolves this morning. . .The Canucks have scored first in 10 straight games. . .The Ducks and Canucks have split their first two meetings this season at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The Ducks won 4-3 on Nov. 11 and Vancouver won 5-2 on Dec. 29.
bziemer@vancouversun.com
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