CANUCKS VS. WILD GAMEDAY

Points to ponder as the Canucks face off against the Wild in Minnesota (5 p.m., TV: Sportsnet Van Radio: Sportsnet 650).

THE BIG MATCHUP Markus Granlund versus Mikael Granlund

Sure, the Granlunds aren’t quite the Sedins, but it’s expected they’ll be pitted against each other often in important roles. Minnesota’s Mikael has been out injured since Oct. 5, but it’s believed he’ll make his return to the Wild’s top line. Coincidentally, Canucks head coach Travis Green has been using Markus as a shutdown matchup winger, meaning they’ll go head-to-head.

FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME

Balance

The Canucks have been counting on a balanced four-line attack, which has made them more of an offensive threat than they were at any point last season. It’s helped that Derek Dorsett is on one of the great runs of his career, having scored five goals on eight shots. The Canucks had three lines going in Sunday’s win in Detroit.

Special teams

The Wild’s penalty-killing has been weak this season, but its power play has been the most successful in the league. Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau is hopeful a clutch PK performance Saturday means good things will come in the near future for the unit. The Canucks always seem to be in the midst of a special teams crisis, but they seemed to have fixed a PK group that got smoked in Boston last Thursday.

Injuries

Minnesota has had a ton. There aren’t many teams who have had it this bad. Mikael Granlund is expected back, but the team remains without star Zach Parise and centre Charlie Coyle. Nino Niederreiter has also been out. The Canucks are missing Loui Eriksson, Alex Edler and Troy Stecher, who was sent back to Vancouver after a knee injury.

Momentum

The Canucks have some juice right after back-to-back road wins. Their best player in Detroit on Sunday was Jake Virtanen, who had eight shots and scored a goal. That went with his memorable hit on Niklas Kronwall. Virtanen has been rolling with the Sedin twins and is playing with more confidence than at any point in his pro career.

Chris Stewart Vancouver is buzzing about Dorsett’s goal totals, but the Wild have a surprise goal-scorer of their own. Chris Stewart has six goals in eight games. He scored only 13 last year. It’s been a big jump for the former fourth-liner, who put up seven points on a fivegame run. With all the injuries, the Wild needed someone to step up, and so far the Torontonian has done so.