Tom Willander will sit out again when the Vancouver Canucks meet the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, marking the third straight game he’s missed.
Vancouver is back in Edmonton for the third meeting of the season between the two teams. The Canucks opened the year with a 6-5 overtime win over the Oilers, but Edmonton answered in the next matchup with a 9-7 victory.
Willander did skate with the team at practice the day before, according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, but he still won’t dress for this one. Even with that absence, Vancouver is making a few tweaks on the blue line. Zeev Buium will move up beside Filip Hronek on the top pair, while Luke Schenn will line up with Elias Pettersson on the third pair.
The forward group is getting a change too. Arshdeep Bains is back in the lineup and replaces Jacob Quillan, jumping onto the top line with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser.
In goal, Leevi Meriläinen gets the start for Vancouver, his first against Edmonton this season. He did see action against the Oilers on October 1, coming in for Kevin Lankinen and turning aside 10 of 11 shots. This will also be Meriläinen’s second straight start after he faced the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday and made 23 saves on 29 shots.
The projected lineup has Bains, Pettersson and Boeser together on the first line, followed by DeBrusk, Cotter and Lekkerimäki. Öhgren, Rossi and Gallagher make up the third unit, with O’Connor, Sasson and Karlsson on the fourth.
On defence, Oleksiak and Brisebois are paired together, while Pettersson and Schenn form the other listed tandem. Meriläinen is the starter, with Lankinen backing him up.
Puck drop is set for 8:00 pm PCT at Rogers Place, with Sportsnet carrying the television broadcast and KiSS West Coast on the radio.
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