VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) -  The Vancouver Canucks will try to create some breathing room in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy tonight when they open a homestand against the St. Louis Blues.

The Canucks will debut their other newest player Marc-Andre Gragnani, who was acquired on trade deadline day from Buffalo. Gragnani will be paired with Aaron Rome while blueliners Chris Tanev and Andrew Alberts are expected to be healthy roster scratches for Vancouver.

This will also be the home ice debut for centre Sami Pahlsson and Zack Kassian, who were also picked up on Monday.

This is the final meeting of the regular season between Vancouver and St. Louis. The Blues have taken two of three meetings so far this season and are one of the surprises of the NHL season.

St. Louis enters this game on a four-game winning streak and sit just a point back of the Canucks for first overall in the NHL. The Blues have reached the playoffs just once in the past six seasons.

The Canucks will likely be happy to be home at Rogers Arena where they play 13 of their final 18 regular season games. Vancouver is 6-0-1 in its last seven at Rogers Arena.  

Tonight’s game is a matchup of the Canucks’ NHL-best offense and the Blues’ stingiest defense. St. Louis has allowed an average of 1.9 goals per game. Brian Elliott is expected to start in net for the Blues while Roberto Luongo will start for Vancouver. Elliott has started all three meetings between the teams this season and has allowed just five goals in the three games.

Game time is 7 p.m.