Word from morning skate in Vancouver today is that Dallas Stars' defenseman Mark Fistric continues to get closer but will miss this one tonight. He skated with Jordie Benn on the "4th" pairing today and could be ready to go tomorrow. If not then we'd expect April 3rd to be a definite go.
Mike Heika brings us these lines from morning skate:
Eriksson-Ribeiro-Ryder
Ott-Benn-Vincour
Morrow-Fiddler-Burish
Garbutt-Dowell-Smith
Glen Gulutzan toyed with switching Tomas Vincour and Adam Burish like this throughout the second and third periods and stuck with it a while, so it's not surprising to see they might roll with this tonight.
This puts the possession skills with Vincour next to Benn in what should be a line that will get some chances, and it creates the rather pestilential trio of Brenden Morrow, Vernon Fiddler and Adam Burish. (A great definition of pestilential in this case: "giving rise to vexation or annoyance").
This all means, of course, that Radek Dvorak and Eric Nystrom remain out with their ankle and leg injuries, respectively. Tom Wandell is out with an illness.
If the Ribeiro line is kept away from their own end, the other two lines should be able to manufacture a decent defense against the Canucks' very formidable top-six. The shine on the idea that Jamie Benn can be double shifted to create offense with Reilly Smith has dulled quite a bit in light of the back-to-back situation (not to mention that Smith played just four minutes in Edmonton). If anything the game tomorrow night is more important, and minute management will at least be a consideration tonight where Benn is concerned.
Roberto Luongo will be in net for Vancouver. Kevin Bieksa is said to be out with an undisclosed injury, but he missed their last game as well - A shutout against the Avs.