An Eastern road trip ends today for the Canucks, where a group of Vancouver hockey players will be engaged in trying to make it two straight wins to salvage their current four-game road trip played against some of the best teams in the NHL

They played the New Jersey Devils on Monday; New York Rangers on Wednesday; New York Islanders on Thursday; and finally finish against the Detroit Red Wings today.

The Canucks held their own against the Devils battling hard only to lose in OT; it was a loss against the Rangers; and then a sweet victory against ex-Canucks Captain Bo Horvat and the Islanders.

Vancouver is getting some offense on the road trip, while defensively they have had a hard time keeping the puck out of the net.

The Canucks have scored 13 goals and allowed 14 in the previous three games.

Even though the power play finally had success, scoring at 33.3 percent on the road trip so far, the penalty kill has not fared so well at 70 percent and special teams are critical to the team’s success and a barometer of how competitive they are.

The rule of thumb in the NHL is if you can have your special team’s in the top ten in both categories, you’re usually a playoff team, and you’re usually a tough team to beat. That hasn’t been the case for the Canucks this season and is one of the reasons they will miss the post-season again.

As for picking up another win in Detroit and heading home to Vancouver and playing home games in front of the fans, a second win will put Coach Rick Tocchet in a more comfortable position in hopefully addressing questions on a more positive note.

They welcome the same Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at Rogers Arena to begin a three-game homestand, then play the New York Rangers on Wednesday and finally the Philadelphia Flyers on February 18.