CANUCKS (21-20-12) at COYOTES (24-22-6)
TV: SN1, FS-A+, NHL.TV
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Vancouver Canucks will be without forward Brandon Sutter and defenseman Alexander Edler on Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes.
Sutter is out because of a broken jaw sustained Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche. Edler sustained a fractured fibula Tuesday. The Canucks had no timeline for their returns. Both players have returned to Vancouver.
Sutter was hit in the face by a puck at 10:59 of the second period and did not return. It's the latest injury for Sutter, who was in his fourth game back after missing 11 weeks recovering from sports hernia surgery. In 20 games he has five goals and nine points.
Jarred McCann is expected to move into Sutter's spot.
Edler was hit in the ankle by a puck Tuesday and did not play during the third period. He leads the Canucks in average ice time per game at 24:27, and has six goals and 20 points in 52 games.
Alex Biega, a scratch the past two games, is expected to replace Edler.
The Canucks stayed off the ice Wednesday morning.
The Coyotes will have one change to their lineup. With fourth-line center Boyd Gordon out for at least several games because of an upper body injury, rookie forward Tyler Gaudet, 22, from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
Gaudet, who had one assist in five NHL games earlier this season, has been limited to 26 games with Springfield because of injuries; he has seven points in 26 games and has won 55 percent of his faceoffs.
"I'm interested to see what he can do," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "In the first week or 10 days of [training] camp, before he ended up getting a shoulder injury, we were talking about how we were going to have a hard time keeping him off our team. We talked a long time [Tuesday] and this is a great opportunity for a young player. This could be a turning point in his career."
The Coyotes and Canucks both have 54 points. They're are four points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the final wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and five points behind the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division.
The Coyotes are in the midst of a 0-3-1 side and they have allowed 21 goals in those four losses.
Rookie goalie Louis Domingue will start for the Coyotes, who had a chance to fine-tuner their game during a four-day break in the schedule.
"We need to get our energy back," Tippett said. "We had a couple of guys sick so the break was good for us and we had a couple of good practices. We've lost four in a row and our goals-against is way above where is needs to be if we expect to win. [Domingue] was good this morning, so that's all I'm going on. Hopefully he plays well tonight."
In an attempt to shore up the defensive end, the Coyotes may go with seven defensemen against the Canucks.
It is the first of three straight games against Pacific Division opponents for Arizona, which is 11-4-2 in 17 games within the division.
"We are playing teams that are right there with us in the standings," Tippett said. "So it's an exciting time but a crucial time in the schedule."
Here are the projected lineups:
CANUCKS
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Jannik Hansen
Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Radim Vrbata
Alexandre Burrows - Linden Vey - Emerson Etem
Jake Virtanen - Jared McCann - Derek Dorsett
Dan Hamhuis - Christopher Tanev
Alex Biega - Luca Sbisa
Ben Hutton - Matt Bartkowski
Injured: Alexander Edler (fractured fibula), Brandon Sutter (broken jaw)
Scratched: Adam Cracknell, Yannick Weber
COYOTES
Tobias Rieder - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker
Max Domi - Martin Hanzal - Anthony Duclair
Jordan Martinook - Brad Richardson - Shane Doan
Kyle Chipchura - Tyler Gaudet
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Connor Murphy
Klas Dahlbeck - Zbynek Michalek
Nicklas Grossmann - Michael Stone
Kevin Connauton
Louis Domingue
Anders Lindback
Injured: Boyd Gordon (upper body), Mike Smith (abdominal surgery), Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone)
Scratched: Jarred Tinordi, Viktor Tikhonov
Status report: Connauton will play if the Coyotes go with seven defensemen. … The Coyotes confirmed that Vitale, who was injured Oct. 17 in his only game this season, will not return this season.
Who's hot: Miller, who will start for the Canucks, is 8-1-0 with a 1.65 goals-against average all-time against the Coyotes, including 5-0-0 with a 1.39 GAA at Gila River Arena. … Doan, who had the game-winning goal against Vancouver on Jan. 4, needs one point to tie Dale Hawerchuk for the all-time Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets record at 929.
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