darling stempniak

CANUCKS (21-27-6) at HURRICANES (24-21-9)
7 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Darling is 0-3-0 in his past three starts and has played once since Jan. 21. Carolina is 0-2-1 in its past three games and 2-2-1 on its eight-game homestand.
The Canucks will be without forwards Brock Boeser (hand) and Markus Granlund (ankle), who were each injured in a 5-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom is expected to start for the Canucks, who will try to snap a three-game losing streak. Markstrom made 30 saves to earn his first NHL shutout in a 3-0 win against the Hurricanes on Dec. 5.

Players to watch

Canucks center Brandon Sutter has four assists in his past five games.
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 12 goals in his past 16 games.

They said it

"We're trying to do the right things, but it's not over 60 minutes. That's a problem. It's about getting pucks deep, not turning pucks over, being good on the forecheck, just a lot of little things we need to work on." -- Vancouver center Henrik Sedin
"You look at some of (Vancouver's) pieces, they're a talented group. I thought they had some good looks (against Tampa Bay). But our starts have to be better, whether we're playing a team that's on a back-to-back or not on a back-to-back. We have to play the way we're designed to play. If we do that, I like our chances." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Canucks projected lineup

Sven Baertschi -- Bo Horvat -- Loui Eriksson
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Jake Virtanen
Reid Boucher
-- Brandon Sutter -- Thomas Vanek
Darren Archibald
-- Nic Dowd
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto -- Alex Biega
Ben Hutton -- Erik Gudbranson
Derrik Pouliot
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched:None
Injured:Markus Granlund (ankle), Sam Gagner (ankle), Brendan Gaunce (foot), Brock Boeser (hand), Chris Tanev (undisclosed)

Hurricanes projected lineup
Status report

The Canucks will use 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Tanev out with an undisclosed injury. ... Boucher was recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and played 14:48 against the Lightning. Archibald, who had been playing in Utica on an AHL contract, was signed to an NHL contract and recalled Wednesday. His only previous NHL experience was in 2013-14, when he played 16 games for Vancouver. … Forwards Josh Jooris and Marcus Kruger cleared waivers Friday and the Hurricanes assigned them to Charlotte of the AHL.

Stat pack

Markstrom is 5-1-0 against the Hurricanes with a 1.70 goals-against average. Horvat has five goals in six games against Carolina … The Hurricanes are 15-1-4 when leading after the second period.