The Vancouver Canucks (14-6-1) close out a three-game homestand tonight when they host the New Jersey Devils (9-9-3) at Rogers Arena. The Canucks were 2-0 against the Devils last year with Roberto Luongo out-dueling Cory Schneider 3-2 on both occasions – one in overtime, the other in a shootout.

Tonight it will be Ryan Miller against Schneider in goal. Miller made 27 saves in a 4-1 win over Chicago on Sunday night.  Jannik Hansen, the NHL’s first star of the week, was the first star of the game recording his first NHL hat-trick. Hansen has scored on five of seven shots over his past three games.

Radim Vrbata has four goals in his last three outings.

Alex Burrows returns to the Canucks line-up after missing the past two games with an upper body injury. It appears Linden Vey is the odd man out up front.

The Canucks announced this morning that Bo Horvat would not be returned to junior. Horvat had three assists in his last outing and has one goal and four points in his last two games. The 19-year-old was born in 1995 – the same year Jaromir Jagr won his first NHL scoring title. Jagr was born in 1972. Horvat’s mother Cindy was born in 1969.

The Devils arrive in Vancouver following a 5-4 shootout loss in Calgary on Saturday.

After setting a franchise record by starting the first 20 games of the season, Cory Schneider had the night off at the Saddledome for the team’s last game versus the Flames. The Devils have played an East-leading 13 road games. Overall, only San Jose (16) has played more games on the road so far this season. The Devils PK is 25/26 (96.2%) in its past six games.

Tonight marks just the seventh visit to Vancouver by the Devils since 2000. They have just one victory (1-4-1) here in the past 15 years.

Adam Henrique and Tuomo Ruutu have scored in back to back games. Henrique and Zack Kassian were teammates on the 2010 Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires.

Defenceman Andy Greene is playing career game 499 tonight while the next assist for Patrick Elias will be the 600th of his career. Jaromir Jagr will play his 1500th NHL game early next month. Of the 1494 games he has played, only 12 have been here in Vancouver.

New Jersey has six players on its roster (Jagr, Patrik Elias, Bryce Salvador, Marek Zidlicky, Scott Clemmensen, Dainius Zubrus) who were born in the 1970s. With Michael Ryder (March, 1980), the Devils have seven players older than the oldest Canuck (Ryan Miller, July, 1980).