The road trip continues Thursday where the Vancouver Canucks will face a tough test in the preliminary stages of the 2024-25 season.

Next up on the road trip is the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers have been one of the busiest teams in the league and hold a 3-2-0 record.

They are currently missing a pair of stars as Matthew Tkachuk (illness) and Aleksander Barkov (lower-body) are out of the lineup. Even with arguably their top two players out of the lineup, the Panthers have reeled off back-to-back road wins in Boston and Columbus.

The Canucks are looking to bounce back from a loss in Tampa on Tuesday night. Conor Garland was the only goal scorer in the game as he was one of the driving forces for the Canucks.

Garland has averaged 18:28 of ice time per game and has a pair of goals in the triad of games. In his 41 minutes of five-on-five play, Garland has been on the ice for 24 scoring chances for and only 11 against.

Head coach Rick Tocchet has been wanting to see his team get in tighter to the net with their shot attempts and Garland has been doing that – picking up a team-high eight individual high-danger chances so far this season.

Playing the defending cup champions is always a tough take but the Canucks are looking to raise their game from their previous three outings and this challenge might just provide the spark that this group is looking for to pick up their first win of the season.

Quick Hits on the Competition

• West Vancouver-born Sam Reinhart is leading the Panthers, and the NHL, in scoring through five games. He has picked up four goals and four assists for eight points in the Panthers’ five outings. Two of his four goals have come while shorthanded and he has only been on the ice for one goal against while down a man.

• Between the pipes, Sergei Bobrovsky has three starts while 23-year-old Spencer Knight has had two. Both have had slow beginnings to the season but they each have the potential to stand on their head and lead their team to victory with their play in the net.

• 15 of the Panthers’ 17 goals have come in the opening two periods this season. In all three of their wins, they have held a lead heading into the third period.

• 23-year-old Anton Lundell has stepped up big for his team in the absence of Barkov. The 12th overall pick in the 2020 draft was huge in the Panthers’ last two games – picking up three goals in their pair of road wins.

• Former Canuck Jonah Gadjovich leads the Panthers with 25 hits.

• On the back end, you are going to see a lot of Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling. Ekblad is averaging 23:28 while Forsling sits at 23:04 through three games. The two defencemen link up to be Florida’s top pairing and Ekblad will see time with the second power play unit while Adam Boqvist quarterbacks the top unit.

The Story: Battles for Tocc

Rick Tocchet talked about puck battles being something he wants to see the Canucks get better at in the coming games.

“I think our play without the puck was something that we have to get to another level,” said the Canucks’ head coach. “If you asked me the last three games what I would want, it’s the same thing we demanded from the players last year – winning more battles.”

It was a message that the coaching staff delivered to the players as a group, but Tocchet mentioned that his staff needed to pick out a few guys for some one-on-one conversations as well.

J.T. Miller also discussed getting to the level that they were at last season when their standard was so high. He put it on the leadership group, including himself, to set the standard and get the group going in the right direction.

“We talked a lot about building a standard, and right now, we’re just not playing up to that. A lot of that is partly X’s and O’s but it’s urgency and determination [and it] has nothing to do with the puck right now for the most part. We’re just playing like it’s summer a little bit right now,” said Miller.

To a man, everyone knows they must be better on the ice to get the results needed to see success. Hard work and determination are needed to win the day.

“That comes down to myself and just worrying about myself and how I can be a leader for the team and try to bring the team into the fight a little bit,” said Elias Pettersson. “So, I’m going to try to worry about myself and bring a little bit [of a] better game. We need to be] a little more aggressive and have better d-zone coverage. We’ve got to play harder and get back to basics. We’ve got to eliminate time for the opponent with the puck. We got to be tougher all over the ice, and with that, I think we’re going to spend less time in a d-zone.”

“I think we had a really good practice today and focused on some of the things that will help us tomorrow,” said captain Quinn Hughes. “We’re only three games in and we’re going to build our game and continue to get better.”

Hughes continued by mentioning that the group is emotionally invested due to the winless start that they have had to the season. He says that it is easy to get everyone going because there is a lot of excitement about what this group can do this season.

When and Where to Watch

Thursday night’s game is scheduled for 4:00 pm PT and can be viewed on Sportsnet. You can give your ears a treat and catch the radio broadcast with Brendan Batchelor on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.