"The last time Ryan Kesler was here he played like a Macy's parade balloon. Six stories high, three stories wide and 12,000 cubic feet of superlatives.

The Canucks, who can't lose for trying these days, may need him to get out his air pump.

They are without Chris Higgins, whose latest illness is a troubling turn. They have seen the Sedin twins' energy levels needle toward empty. And the shutdown duo of Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis has played with lots of down but not much shut.

Kesler has been one of the few Canucks outside of the well-fortified crease making a difference, keeping the Canucks pretty on paper despite being so ugly on the ice."