After a bit of a clunky start, the Canucks appear to be figuring things out. After easily their best game of the season, the Canucks head to Chicago to take on Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks.

Vancouver Canucks (2-1-2) vs. Chicago Blackhawks  (2-3-1)

5:15 pm PST; 8:15 EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

Following a thrilling OT win against the defending Cup champs, the Canucks made their way up to Philly Saturday night and rattled off their best performance so far this season in a 3-0 win over the Flyers. Making amends for the shootout loss to the same Flyers team just over a week ago, the Canucks got a stellar night of goaltending from Kevin Lankinen, who went back to back for the first time this season. Goals from Nils Hoglander in the first, and then Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood fifty seconds apart in the second helped the Canucks cruise to the victory in Philly. It was also game number 1000 for Tyler Myers, and he had a nifty between the legs pass assist to set up Boeser for his goal, nice that he was able to do that with his parents in the crowd.

They can finish up this road trip strong with a win tonight in the Windy City. While the future may be bright for the Blackhawks with the lottery win that brought them Bedard, the Hawks are still far from a contender, and while they're likely to be better this season, this is still a game that should be looked at as very winnable. The Canucks are 9-1-0 in their last 10 against Chicago, and there's no excuse for a team that considers itself a contender to drop points to teams like this.

One way they can do this, is playing a disciplined game that doesn't give Chicago a ton of power play chances. Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen have been ripping it up with the man advantage so far this season, so it would help the Canucks immensely to keep this from being the story of the night. And while much of the discussion around the Canucks centres on Elias Pettersson sputtering out of the gate, he did look much better against Philly. He's showing real chemistry with Jake DeBrusk, and the goals will come. In the meantime, it's a good thing that they're getting goal support from guys like Conor Garland, Brock Boeser and Nils Hoglander. Any panic about this team's start was premature, and they're figuring it out.

LINEUPS

Scrawled on the back of a flyer for a Texas Toast Chainsaw Massacre gig, we found this set of lineups, but I am also hearing it came from nhl dot com...

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Pius Suter -- Nils Aman -- Daniel Sprong

Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek

Carson Soucy -- Tyler Myers

Erik Brannstrom -- Vincent Desharnais

Kevin Lankinen

Arturs Silovs

Scratched: Noah Juulsen, Arshdeep Bains, Derek Forbort

Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Dakota Joshua (testicular cancer recovery)

Blackhawks projected lineup

Nick Foligno -- Connor Bedard -- Teuvo Teravainen

Taylor Hall – Andreas Athanasiou -- Tyler Bertuzzi

Ilya Mikheyev -- Jason Dickinson – Ryan Donato

Patrick Maroon -- Lukas Reichel -- Craig Smith

Alex Vlasic -- Seth Jones

Wyatt Kaiser -- T.J. Brodie

Nolan Allan -- Connor Murphy

Petr Mrazek

Arvid Soderblom

Scratched: Isaak Phillips, Philipp Kurashev, Joey Anderson

Injured: Alec Martinez (lower body)

Miller will be a game time decision, but Coach Tocchet says he's probable. Miller was banged up in the game against Philly on a play that still doesn't sit right with me. Really looked like a butt end.

Lankinen gets the start against his former team, as the Canucks ride the hot hand.

GAME DAY CHATTER

Personally, I don't believe anything Frank says, but if it's actually true, this is good news for him and for the Canucks. Dak was a big part of their success last season, and it will be awesome to have him back in the lineup.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Today's battle hymn is a solemn one, as a legend in the metal world has left us with the news that Paul Di'Anno, vocalist on the first two Iron Maiden releases, died yesterday at age 66. Di'Anno had been struggling with health issues for years, but was still releasing albums and trying to tour when his health would allow it. The impact of the self titled debut and the follow up 'Killers' not just on the metal world, but pop culture and how the rest of the music industry viewed heavy metal cannot be understated. Paul's street punk look, attitude and vocal style helped Maiden stand far above the pack that was the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and he will be missed by fans worldwide, and the countless bands inspired by their sound.

From that first album, here's one of his finest performances: 'Remember Tomorrow'. RIP, Paul.