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NHL: Canucks face Giroux, Flyers in Philly; Hamhuis to return in Carolina

Vancouver's three-game losing streak needs an Eastern foe to end it, and the Flyers and Hurricanes are ideal matches...
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Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis, seen here practicing in 2012, has missed Vancouver's last 21 games with a groin injury.

UPDATE: The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, 4-0, to end a three-game losing streak during which they only scored two goals.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin led the way with two points, Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata each got in the goal column, Jannik Hansen added the fourth goal for insurance, and Ryan Miller picked up is fourth shutout of the season...

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Good news: the Vancouver Canucks will get Dan Hamhuis back for their game against the Carolina Hurricanes, on the third game of their perhaps season-dependant road trip.

The bad news: that game's tomorrow. And tonight, the Vancouver Canucks take on the Philadelphia Flyers in the City of Brotherly Love – ironically, also the city of enemy hate.

There are no fans as infamously foaming as Philadelphia's, and the Canucks skate into Pennsylvania on a three-game losing streak, with only two goals to speak of in that span.

"We have to tighten up in a few areas," Vancouver forward Nick Bonino said Thursday (NHL.com). "We know what those areas are; we've been going over them in video, working on them a little bit. Have to get back quicker, help our (d-men) break the puck out, and then get more pucks to the net."

Bonino has scored just two goals since November 8, a period of 27 games, after starting the year at a near point-per-game pace centering Vancouver's second line.

But he's far from the only Canuck who's stalled out. The offence from Daniel and Henrik Sedin has dried up – save for a couple multi-point performances, not surprisingly in wins – and Radim Vrbata has scored in beeps, not a straight line, despite leading the team with 16 goals.

The Canucks will get goalie Ryan Miller back for their game against Philadelphia. (More below the jump...)

The 2010 Vezina Trophy winner missed Vancouver's last two games with the flu, and the Flyers counter with forward Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux, who have combined for 100 points through 44 games played this season.

Despite their early new year woes – the Canucks have won two of their six games so far in 2015 – Vancouver sits in playoff position in the Western Conference. The Canucks are 23-15-3 on the season (49 points), good enough for eighth in the conference with three games in hand on Los Angeles, San Jose, and Winnipeg.

Philadelphia's first line has been all the Flyers can write home about. The team has just 41 points through over half-a-season played, for 12th in the Eastern Conference.

It gets easier, on paper, against Carolina on Friday – the Hurricanes have a third-worst 33 points this season, and are battling Buffalo and Edmonton in 'The NHL's Great Connor McDavid sweepstakes'.