Canucks hit the road for game against the Jets

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Two struggling teams meet in Winnipeg this evening. The Canucks have lost four straight games and the Jets have dropped three in a row. Vancouver has been shut out in back to back games and the team’s slide down the Western Conference standings has hit a free-fall.

With just eleven games left in the season, Bo Horvat says everyone needs to up their intensity and finish the year strong.

“It is a team effort no matter how old you are. I learned that last year as a 19-year old coming in that you had to contribute to the team or you weren’t going to play.”

Winnipeg plays a big bruising game led by Dustin Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler. Coach Willie Desjardins says rather then matching the Jets physicality, the Canucks need to play their own game.

“They will play is hard. We have to be prepared for that and we have to be ready. We have to play our game and maybe we don’t match them physically, but we have to be ready to handle the physical element of the game and battle.”

Desjardins is shaking up the lines for this evening. The Sedin’s will be joined by Alex Burrows. He says his team needs to employ a strong forecheck and keep the Jets defenceman on their toes.

“We need to put pressure on their defence. I think it is the same with any defence, if we go to the net and drive the middle we can get them to take some penalties on us and then we get the powerplay. We have to be pretty direct in our attack.”

The Canucks are desperate to get the powerplay clicking. Over the last seven games, Vancouver’s powerplay is an abysmal 0 for 23. Horvat says it’s not just the powerplay that is of major concern.

“We have to do the little things right. We have to play better defensively. If we can stay out of our end for the majority of the game the better chances we will have to score. If we get lots of pucks on net, get in on the forecheck, get on their defence quick and just get traffic in front and we should be fine.”

Jacob Markstrom is expected to get the start in net while the Jets will counter with Ondrej Pavelec.

It is the third and final meeting of the season between the two teams with Winnipeg winning the first two in convincing fashion.

The puck drops at 5 p.m. on Sportsnet.

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