GAME DAY: TODAY, 2:00 p.m. PST, JOE LOUIS ARENA VANCOUVER CANUCKS AT DETROIT RED WINGS

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DETROIT -- The Vancouver Canucks will be without defenceman Kevin Bieksa and quite possibly winger David Booth when they close out a four-game road trip this afternoon against the Detroit Red Wings.

Bieksa suffered a groin injury in Friday night's game in Nashville. Coach Alain Vigneault described his status this morning as "day to day."

Booth was feeling under the weather and did not participate in this morning's game-day skate at Joe Louis Arena.

Andrew Alberts will take Bieksa's spot on defence. If Booth can't go, Aaron Volpatti will draw back into the lineup.

The Canucks are attempting to turn what has been a good road trip into an excellent one with a win tonight. The Canucks have earned five of a possible six points in the first three games of the trip.

"We want those two points to end this road trip right," said centre Ryan Kesler, a Detroit-area native. "Obviously, we didn't start the way we wanted to in Chicago, but I think we're starting to play the way we can."

There hasn't been much joy in Hockeytown of late and the Canucks would like to keep it that way. The injury-riddled Red Wings did beat the Nashville Predators 4-0 on Saturday night, but had lost their previous three games at Joe Louis Arena and are a rather ordinary 8-7-3 this season.

But goalie Roberto Luongo, who gets the start today after his shutout in Nashville on Friday night, said the Wings remain dangerous with the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

"Those guys can make plays out of nothing," Luongo said. "Sometimes just when you think you have them they'll pull something out and all of a sudden they are in alone or they are creating a scoring chance. We have to play those guys hard and we can't give them time and space."

Like so many other players, Luongo loves playing at Joe Louis Arena. He played his first game as a Canuck at The Joe, when he backstopped the Canucks to a 3-1 win on Oct. 5, 2006.

"They are always fun games here," Luongo said. "They always have great teams and we have been up for the task. My first game as a Canuck was here and there have been a lot of good games that I can remember playing here."

Alberts draws into the lineup after sitting out the first 17 games as a healthy scratch. He will be paired with Keith Ballard.

"It has been a while and I am excited to get back into the mix," Alberts said. "You always want to contribute. Unfortunately, Kevin is down so I am just looking forward to playing tonight."

Alberts has never experienced a season quite like this one, where he has sat out so long to start the year.

"It's a unique situation, but that's part of the business," he said. "You come in and you work hard every day and hopefully things pay off."

Vancouver's other defensive pairings are expected to be Jason Garrison with Alex Edler and Chris Tanev with Dan Hamhuis.

"I'm amazed we have gone this number of games without having an injury to our back end already," Vigneault said. "Usually that's a position where you are rotating players in and out. We have been very fortunate for those top six guys to stay healthy the way that they have.

"He (Alberts) has been waiting a long time to get his first kick at the can and he's got it tonight."

Vigneault attended the Wings' game on Saturday night and suggested Detroit remains a dangerous team.

"They do have some injuries, but they still have that overall team skill and they are a hard back-pressure team with highly skilled forwards that can make something out of nothing," he said. "Last night they got great goaltending at the beginning of the game and they took over in the second."

The Red Wings did not skate this morning, but are expected to start Jimmy Howard in goal. Howard turned aside all 33 shots to shut out the Predators on Saturday night.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Wings: Centre Pavel Datsyuk is one of the best two-way players in the NHL. He has eight goals and 20 points in 17 games this season and is a team-best plus-nine.

Canucks: Goalie Roberto Luongo is coming off his second shutout of the season and leads the NHL with a 1.45 goals-against average.

INJURIES

The Wings are without defencemen Carlo Colaiacovo (shoulder), Kyle Quincey (ankle) and Brendan Smith (shoulder), and forwards Mikael Samuelsson (finger), Todd Bertuzzi (back), Johan Franzen (hip flexor) and Darren Helm (back).

The Canucks are missing defenceman Kevin Bieksa (groin) and centre Manny Mahotra (eye). Winger David Booth (flu) is questionable.

ICE CHIPS

Winger Zack Kassian, who is from across the river in Windsor, Ont., is expecting about 50 family and friends at today's game. But his Mom won't be there. She booked a vacation during the lockout to Cabo San Lucas. . .The Canucks will charter home immediately after today's game. They face the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena. . .Goaltending coach Rollie Melanson and assistant coach Darryl Williams also missed this morning's skate with flu-like symptoms.

bziemer@vancouversun.com; twitter.com/bradziemer