CANUCKS (34-19-2) at SENATORS (32-21-4)

Last 10 -- Vancouver 7-3-0; Ottawa 10-0-0

Season series -- This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Canucks won both meetings last season, 3-0 in Vancouver and 5-2 in Ottawa. Henrik and Daniel Sedin combined for three goals and 10 points in the two games. Vancouver has won four in a row from the Senators and hasn't lost in Ottawa since Nov. 21, 2001.

Big story -- Can the Senators be beaten? Their 4-2 victory in Buffalo on Wednesday was their 10th straight win, lengthening their club record.

While Ottawa is having team success, Henrik Sedin continues his roll as one of the hottest players in the league. He has seven points in his last five games and leads the NHL with 78 points.

Team Scope:

Canucks -- The players are getting used to life on the road, but they'd like to be a bit busier. In the seven days they've been on the road prior to Thursday's game in Ottawa, they'd played just two games.

"I feel like we should've played four or five games already," Ryan Johnson told the team's website.

Tickets: Thursday vs. Canucks
Bulletin: Less than 1,500 tix left
Feature: Karlsson hitting stride
Feature: Clouston credit to roots
Bulletin: Brodeur re-assigned
Photos: vs. VAN (19-02-09)
Video:  vs. VAN (19-02-09)
Sens Show: Watch Episode 17
Twitter:  Follow the Sens Live!
Tickets: Sens Skills set for Feb. 7

"It's tough enough to be on the road for a long time, and to not play games is even tougher," said Henrik Sedin. "This is when the fun starts, we play every second day, and we have a back to back at the end of the road trip so it should be good now."

Senators -- Ottawa's club-record roll has pulled them within three points of the Northeast Division lead.

Captain Daniel Alfredsson, whose return from a shoulder injury helped spark the streak, scored twice in the final minute Wednesday against the Sabres to turn a tie game into a 4-2 win.

"It is impressive," Alfredsson told reporters. "I don't think we expected this from ourselves, either."

Who's hot -- Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows hopes his February is close to his spectacular January. The third wheel on a line with the Sedin twins had 15 goals in 13 games in the first month of 2010, the most of any player in the league … Senators goalie Brian Elliott extended his win streak to eight games on Wednesday and has allowed just 10 goals in that span. Centre Jason Spezza has goals in seven consecutive games, including five in a row since returning from a knee injury that required surgery.

Injury report -- Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell will his eighth straight game due to a concussion suffered Jan. 16 … The Senators will be without forward Nick Foligno for the next 6-8 weeks after the forward broke his leg in the win against Montreal Jan. 30. Goalie Pascal Leclaire was activated from injured reserve Wednesday, but with Elliott playing so well, it could be a while before Leclaire gets back in net.

Stat pack -- The Senators have won 10 in a row, but they'll have a tough time pushing that streak to 11. They've lost four straight to the Canucks, with their last win coming March 13, 2004, a 2-1 win in Vancouver.

Puck drop -- It was just over a year ago that an unknown named Cory Clouston was promoted from coaching the Senators' American Hockey League team to replace Craig Hartsburg. In that time, Ottawa has gone 51-32-4. Clouston doesn't want the credit -- "this has nothing to do with me," he told reporters -- but his players are quick to acknowledge what he's brought in his year on the job.

"(Clouston) has come in and given us a good plan and motivated us individually and as a group to be better and we've done that," center Mike Fisher told the team's website. "I think he's got a lot of good qualities. We all understand the game plan and he communicates it very easily."