Ducks at Vancouver Tonight

The Ducks will face the Vancouver Canucks, who have a perfect 6-0 record in preseason play, for the second time this week at 7pm in Vancouver. It will be the first of back-to-back road games for the Ducks as they try to get the team’s roster down to 23 players from the current 31 remaining.

When the Ducks played against Vancouver last week they were thoroughly outplayed. The Ducks will be much better tonight as many prospects have been sent to the minors over the last few days, but Vancouver has done the same. Last week’s Canucks roster did not include Daniel and Henrik Sedin, each of whom have five points in two preseason games.

Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, one of the better goalies in the NHL, played well for the Canucks last week. Tonight, however, Andrew Raycroft will get the start. Raycroft is battling for the backup role with youngster Cory Schneider, and it’s not clear whether Raycroft will play the entire game.

The Ducks meanwhile have yet to announce their roster for tonight. The Ducks have three goalies remaining on their roster and J.S. Giguere and Jonas Hiller are locks for the two roster spots, so look for Justin Pogge to get some action in one of these next two road games.

When Pogge gets sent to the minors, the Ducks will have 30 players remaining on their training camp roster. Defenceman Mark Mitera is still on the roster but is not expected to make the team. Coach Randy Carlyle has alluded to the fact that Mitera is still in camp to gain a grasp of the NHL game rather than try to win a roster spot. Mitera lost almost his entire season last year due to a knee injury but was very good in the AHL when he returned. Mitera will be expected to make the roster next year if he continues his development.

On the injury front, Ryan Getzlaf and Erik Christensen might finally get some game action tonight. You can read their injury update here. Keep checking back here to see when tonight’s roster will become available.