The Vancouver Canucks appeared to hit the wall at the end of their just-completed seven-game road trip. Though they're finally back home and rested, meetings with the New York Rangers haven't gone very well in the past few years.

The Canucks look to snap a three-game losing streak tonight and avoid a fifth straight defeat to the Rangers, who have had even more time off than Vancouver before beginning a four-game trip.

You can listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1040 Vancouver, with coverage starting at 5pm pt.

The Canucks (18-9-2) won three of the first four on their eastern trek but appeared to have run out of gas while playing the final three contests in four days to close the stretch. They straggled home after falling 3-1 to Montreal on Tuesday, getting outshot 13-5 in the second period and managing a season-low 16 shots overall.

"We're definitely excited," goaltender Ryan Miller said. "A lot of guys are ready to get home. After 14 days, it's just time. We'll regroup."

Vancouver gave up 11 non-shootout goals in the last three contests after posting two shutouts in the first four on the trip.

"We'll take the .500 road trip (3-3-1) and we'll go back home and get better and keep improving," forward Alexandre Burrows said. "It would have been nice to get more, but if you looked at the two-week road trip early in the year and said (we would go) .500, I think we would have taken it. We got through it."

Forward Shawn Matthias returns for the Canucks this evening after missing two games with a head injury.

Vancouver is opening a four-game homestand and looking for a third consecutive victory at Rogers Arena, but New York has limited the Canucks to three goals during its run in the series. The Rangers took the most recent meeting 3-1 at Vancouver on April 1 for their second straight win there.

New York (12-10-4) has been off since avoiding a third straight defeat with a 4-3 overtime victory over Pittsburgh on Monday. Defenseman Kevin Klein overcame losing part of his ear on a high stick in the first period to score in the extra session for his career-high sixth goal.

It was also his career-best third game-winner - two of which have come in OT - and Klein is tied for the team lead with Rick Nash at plus-9.

"We needed it for a couple reasons," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 32 saves. "Obviously for confidence, but also we need points to get back in the race."

Nash scored to give him six goals and three assists in an eight-game point streak.

The Rangers will take another stab at ending their season-long inconsistency as they open a swing that also takes them to Edmonton and Calgary before heading back east to close the trip against Carolina on Dec. 20. New York has gone 1-4-1 in its last six away games and is 3-5-1 on the road overall.

"We're going out west. Western trips sometimes are good for the team, to bond a little bit, and also sometimes you've got a lot of travel, so you get kind of both, where you're getting the bond and you are traveling quite a bit," center Derek Stepan said. "... We gotta make sure we put good efforts on the ice."

Another dominant performance against the Canucks from Lundqvist would help. He blanked Vancouver in two straight starts Jan. 13, 2011 and Oct. 18, 2011, before stopping 34 shots April 1.

Lundqvist, though, has posted a 3.48 goals-against average in his last four games in what's been a down season for him so far.

Forward Chris Kreider returns for the Rangers after missing Monday's game with a sore neck.

Projected Canucks lines vs. Rangers:

Forwards:
D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Hansen
Burrows - Bonino - Vrbata
Matthias - Richardson - Vey
Higgins - Horvat - Dorsett

Defencemen:
Edler - Tanev
Sbisa - Bieksa
Stanton - Weber