Blackhawks visit means it’s back to work

The Chicago Blackhawks and Canucks return from their three-day Christmas break tonight at Rogers Arena . Will they still be feeling turkey legs?

THE BIG MATCHUP

Henrik Sedin vs. Jonathan Toews

The magic is mostly in the past, but we still look at these players as the leaders — and it’s not just about the Cs on their jerseys.

FIVE KEYS TO THE GAME 1 Shot balance

Even before the injuries, the Canucks were on thin ice. They kept the shots against low while keeping pace on offence, but that’s turned negative. Meanwhile, Chicago is controlling the shot battle.

2 Making up for missing men

With Sven Baertschi, Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat still out, the Canucks are looking as lean as ever up front. “We need to work hard. We need to be good with our details,” Daniel Sedin said.

3 The playoff picture

Right now, the Canucks are projected to finish in the low 80s in terms of points. To make the playoffs they’ll likely need at least 90. That means picking up wins. Keeping games tight will be their ticket.

4 Crease crash

We know the Canucks’ story: They need more saves. But there are concerns in the Hawks’ crease as well as Corey Crawford hit the IR on Wednesday.

5 Turkey fat

Travis Green put the Canucks through some hard paces Wednesday. “Three days off, we wanted to make sure we had a good practice, a detailed practice.” Might one team — or both — look a little sluggish?

CANUCKS’ GAME DAY LINES

Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin,

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Loui Eriksson

Thomas Vanek, Sam Gagner,

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Brock Boeser

Nikolay Goldobin, Markus Granlund, ■ Jake Virtanen

Brendan Gaunce, Nic Dowd,

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Reid Boucher Defence pairings

Alex Edler, Chris Tanev Michael Del Zotto, Derrick Pouliot Ben Hutton, Erik Gudbranson Starting goalie

Jacob Markstrom

BLACKHAWKS’ GAME DAY LINES

Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, ■

Brandon Saad

Nick Schmaltz, Artem Anisimov, ■

Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat, Ryan Hartman, ■

Richard Panik

Lance Bouma, Tommy Wingels, ■

John Hayden

Defence pairings

Duncan Keith, Jordan Oesterle Connor Murphy, Brent Seabrook Gustav Forsling, Jan Rutta Starting goalie

Anton Forsberg

POWER PLAY

Canucks: 21.9% (ninth) Blackhawks: 13.9% (29th)

PENALTY KILL Canucks: 77.3% (26th) Blackhawks: 82.3% (11th) pjohnston@postmedia.com twitter.com/risingaction