"Kevin Bieksa couldn't wait to go on the road. The rest of the Vancouver Canucks couldn't wait to come home.

The National Hockey League team completed the final six-game leg of its 14-game road odyssey here Wednesday, and Bieksa did not play once.

But the trip was as much a success for him as it was for his team, as the key defenceman who suffered a gruesome leg injury in Phoenix on Dec. 29 practised without pain.

Bieksa said he actually feels quicker on the ice since surgery to repair the two peroneal tendons on the outside of his ankle that were severed by Petr Prucha's skate 10 weeks ago.

The Canucks open a five-game homestand on Saturday, and Bieksa could return to the lineup before the team travels again.

"I told the surgeon to put a few extra stitches in and tighten it up a little bit," Bieksa said before the Canucks played the Coyotes.

"I do feel quicker. I'm definitely not slower.

"That could be all the rehab and working out I've done specifically for that area. Maybe I am a little quicker because I've never targeted those areas before."