The Vancouver Canucks hit the road for their first extended road trip of the season, starting tonight in Dallas.

Vancouver will play three games in four nights as they travel to St. Louis and Denver after tonight’s game.

And Daniel Sedin knows that this road trip is a good test for them early in the season.

“We need to be at our best to win these games. It’s going to be a good test for us. I think you need this as a group, and I think it’s good that it comes early on. I think it’s the perfect test for us.”

TSN1040 has the Canucks and Stars tonight, with the pre-game show at 3:30pm; puck drop at 5:30pm PT.

Canucks Head Coach Willie Desjardins spent the last couple of seasons as the head coach of Dallas’ AHL affiliate, and had nothing but good things to say about the organization.

“There are lots of great guys on that team that I’ve coached and I have tons of respect for them. I have a lot of respect for the organization and what does that mean? It means I want to win more,” noted Desjardins.

As for the team he’s coaching this season, Desjardins says he couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.

“This is the best team I’ve ever coached, where they kind of coach themselves a little bit. They think ahead. I’ll go to do something and they’ve already made the plays. That’s what you want; a team that takes ownership the outcome of the games, and this team is really good at that.”

The Canucks are 3-1-0 on the season, coming off their first loss of the season at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

Dallas had an impressive opening week to the season, picking up five of a possible six points. Tyler Seguin was named the NHL’s 1st Star of the Week, leading the league with eight points (4-4).

Canucks Projected Lines

Daniel – Henrik – Vrbata

Higgins – Bonino – Burrows

Matthias – Richardson – Kassian

Dorsett  - Vey – Hansen

Hamhuis  -Weber

Edler – Tanev

Sbisa  -Bieksa

Miller

Stars Projected Lines

Benn – Spezza – Seguin

Rousell – Eakin – Garbutt

McKenzie – Fiddler – Hemsky

Cole – Horcoff - Sceviour 

Goligoski – Connauton

Dillon – Benn

Oleksiak - Daley

Lehtonen