The Vancouver Canucks (19-11-2) will look to go into their Christmas break on a two-game win streak when they host the Arizona Coyotes(11-17-4) tonight at Rogers Arena. The Canucks are hoping to build off Saturday's 3-2 overtime victory against the Calgary Flames. With that win, the Canucks improved to 9-0-2 in one-goal games.

Ryan Miller made 26 saves for his 17th win of the year and his first since December 2nd and will get the start again tonight. Jannik Hansen, who collapsed on the bench after his first shift of the second period, will not dress tonight. The Canucks, in consultation with specialists, have determined that further evaluation is required before he is cleared to play.

With just four goals in their past four games, the Canucks offense could use a jump start. A number of Canucks forwards are struggling offensively: Bo Horvat has gone 12 games without a goal, Jannik Hansen has gone 11 since his November 23rd hattrick vs Chicago, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows and Chris Higgins have all gone 9 without putting a puck in the net, Linden Vey has gone 8 games and Daniel Sedin is five games without a goal.

In an effort to boost the 2nd unit power play, the Canucks may try Derek Dorsett as a net-front presence. After tangling with Derek Engelland on Saturday, Dorsett now leads the team with seven fighting majors, is second in the league in that department and third in the NHL with 75 penalty minutes.

The Canucks penalty killing is on a roll going 10 for 10 in its past four games and 23 for 24 (95.8%) in eight games in December. The only power play goal the Canucks have surrendered this month was David Legwand's 5-on-3 goal in Ottawa on December 7th. On the other hand, the Coyotes gave up a pair of power play goals in a 4-2 loss in Los Angeles on Saturday and are 29th in the NHL in PK (75.2%).

The Desert Dogs are 1-5-1 in their past seven games and 2-7-2 in their past 11 – with both wins coming against the Edmonton Oilers. Their last victory over any other NHL team was one month ago November 22nd 4-3 O/T against San Jose and their last regulation victory against another NHL opponent was a 5-0 triumph on November 14th over the Canucks. The 'Yotes have four wins since beating the Canucks – three are against Edmonton.

Devan Dubnyk, who made 35 saves when he blanked the Canucks last month, has started Arizona's last three games (1-1-1). However, Mike Smith gets the start tonight. Smith has not played since December 11th and has not won since December 1st.

Dave Tippett coached his 900th NHL game on Saturday in L-A.

Martin Hanzal had a natural hattrick (with his 2nd and 3rd goals just nine seconds apart) against the Canucks on November 14th. He has scored once in 11 games since and Shane Doan had a goal in that game and has scored just once in 15 games since. Hanzal is 2nd in the NHL in face-off percentage at 58.3%.

The Coyotes have blanked the Canucks in two straight and three of their last four meetings. Kevin Bieksa in overtime last January 26th is the last Canuck to score against Arizona.

This game features three of the NHL's top shooting defensemen (Yandle & Oliver Ekman-Larsson are T-2 with 100 apiece and Alex Edler is eighth with 89) and three of the top 8 shot-blockers in the league (Michael Stone is T-4 with 83 while Zybnek Michalek and Chris Tanev are T-6 with 80).