Vancouver @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 28, 2019 ) Florida 2, Vancouver 7

The Vancouver Canucks try to bounce back from their worst loss of the season when they continue a five-game trip Thursday against the Florida Panthers. Vancouver saw its seven-game winning streak end in lopsided fashion with a 9-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday as Canucks center Elias Pettersson told reporters: "... We've got to have a short memory. Learn from it and not think about it too much."

The Canucks are fifth in the Pacific Division but only four points behind first-place Arizona and Vegas, and one point in back of Edmonton and Calgary. Florida has split its last eight games - all in regulation - after a 5-2 loss to Arizona on Tuesday left them outside playoff position in the Eastern Conference. "We need to just kind of dig deep here," Panthers forward Noel Acciari told the media. "We can't be going back and forth. We need to string together three, four wins in a row and kind of separate ourselves a little bit from the bottom of our (Atlantic) Division so we can have a little bit of a cushion. Right now it's not going right for us, but I have faith in this locker room and we all know what we need to do." Vancouver has won three straight meetings after a 7-2 victory Oct. 28 behind a pair of goals from J.T. Miller.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: Sportsnet Pacific, FS Florida

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (23-16-4): Pettersson leads the club with 20 goals and 45 points after scoring six times in the last eight games. Brock Boeser (team-high 27 assists, 40 points) has hit the scoresheet in 13 of his last 16 games while Miller also has 40 points but none in the last two games - versus Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers, his former teams. Jacob Markstrom saw his six-game winning streak stopped after allowing six goals on 21 shots Tuesday before being relieved by Thatcher Demko.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (22-16-5): Jonathan Huberdeau (team-high 57 points) didn't hit the scoresheet Tuesday for the first time in four games this month while Aleksander Barkov (45) hasn't recorded a point in five straight games. Evgenii Dadonov had his three-game goal streak come to an end against Arizona and leads the club with 18. Mike Hoffman (15 goals) has scored in two straight games and owns five points in four January contests.

OVERTIME

1. Vancouver boasts the fourth-best power play in the league despite going 0-for-7 in its last two games.

2. Florida's 150 goals are the fifth-most in the NHL.

3. The Canucks are second in the league by winning 53.7 percent of their faceoffs.

PREDICTION: Panthers 3, Canucks 2