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Head coach John Tortorella hopes to finally lead the sliding Vancouver Canucks to a win tonight when they visit the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. Viewers in the Canadiens region can watch the game at 7:30pm et/8:30pm at. Tortorella recently returned from a 15-day suspension for his actions in a game against Calgary on Jan. 18 and has been behind the bench for the last two of Vancouvers string of five consecutive regulation losses. The Canucks went 2-4-0 while Tortorella was serving a suspension for trying to start an altercation with Calgary head coach Bob Hartley in between periods. Since returning, the fiery head coach has seen his club lose 2-0 in Detroit on Monday and 3-1 the following night in Boston, but he does believe the Canucks are making small steps in the right direction. "Im not interested in moral victories and all that," said Tortorella after Tuesdays loss against the Bruins. "We lose another game, but as a coach I have to try and hang my hat on that I see some improvement on our club within the structure of a lot of areas of our game." Vancouver was only able to get one of its 28 shots past Tuukka Rask on Tuesday and the clubs lone goal was scored by Raphael Diaz, who made his debut with the Canucks after coming over in a trade with Montreal on Monday. Diaz will face his former team for the first time tonight and forward Dale Weise, who was shipped to the Canadiens in exchange, will get the same opportunity against the Canucks. Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to drop his third straight decision between the pipes. "Good teams find a way to collect points and were not doing that right now," Luongo lamented. Luongo gets the start in goal for tonights contest. Canucks captain Henrik Sedin will not be in the lineup for tonights contest and will sit out Saturdays game against the Toronto Maple Leafs as well. Sedins been playing with a rib injury in the last two games and has scored just one goal in his last eight. Henrik also confirmed on Thursday afternoon that he is also out for the Olympic Games in Sochi. Despite their recent struggles, the Canucks are still hanging onto the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference. However, they are only a point in front of Phoenix and Dallas and two ahead of the Winnipeg Jets. Vancouver will play its final two games before the NHL breaks for the Olympics on the road. The Canucks are 0-3 on a five-game trek that is set to end Saturday in Toronto and the club is 13-13-4 as the guest this season. The Canadiens are 3-1-1 over their last five games and were able to halt a two-game slide their last time out, beating the visiting Calgary Flames by a 2-0 score on Tuesday. Carey Price was the star for Montreal in the win over the Flames, as he posted 27 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Calgary had won five straight games before running into Price. "We played pretty well in our own end," Price said. "We limited their scoring chances and thats the biggest reason why we won tonight." Price will be between the pipes this evening. Rene Bourque got Montreal on the board with 3:45 left in the second period, while David Desharnais added an empty netter in the final minute. Weise failed to reach the scoresheet in his first game with the Habs, but he did register three shots on net and three hits in 12 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time. Montreal, which will play its last game before the Olympic break Saturday at Carolina, enters todays action tied with Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens currently hold the tiebreaker due to having played one less games than the Maple Leafs, who are occupying the seventh of eighth playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens posted a 4-1 win at Vancouver on Oct. 12, giving Montreal wins in two straight and five of the past six meetings in this series. The Canucks had lost three straight in Montreal before snapping that slide with a shootout win on Dec. 8, 2011. Javier Aquino Jersey . Switzerland faces Belgium or Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals in April. Serbia dropped into the World Group playoffs in September. A confident Chiudinelli and Lammer defeated veteran doubles player Zimonjic and young Krajinovic 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Hector Moreno Mexico Jersey . Specifically, thumbs up to the Canadian-based teams in the NHL, or at least most of them. http://www.nationalsoccermexico.com/jonathan-dos-santos-mexico-jersey/ . -- The Val-dOr Foreurs made it to the Memorial Cup semifinal thanks to their workhorse goaltender and their ability to hang around like a bad cold. Jesus Manuel Corona Jersey . Stepanek gave the Czech Republic its second straight Davis Cup title Sunday, sweeping past Dusan Lajovic in straight sets in the fifth and decisive match to secure a 3-2 win over Serbia in the final. Andres Guardado Mexico Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Im sure youve received many emails wondering what your take is on the Spezza goal that looked like Neil blatantly kicked it in while standing directly in the middle of the crease where, you know, usually a goalie is to make a save but couldnt be due to Neil being there! Thanks! Jon - Westfield, MA Jon: Lets first ask Henrik Lundqvist what he thought of the scoring of the Sens second goal with .Government officials in Washington state, home to four Western Hockey League teams, have been investigating the working conditions of the teams mostly-teenaged players over the past year, TSN has learned. Matthew Erlich, a spokesman for Washingtons Department of Labor and Industry, told TSN that officials recently referred the case to the state attorney generals office and added that the labor department is waiting for a legal opinion from the attorney general before pursuing its investigation further. "This is a matter that focuses on child labor issues and potential wage-payment claims, both are important at labor and industries, where our top important goal is to ensure workplaces are safe," Erlich said. "Employees should also be paid for the work they do." Over the past few months, the debate over whether major junior hockey players should receive more money for playing has become a polarizing one. On one side, team owners say players receive modest reimbursements for their expenses, as well as a lucrative scholarship package that can be exercised so long as they dont go on to a career as a pro hockey player. Moreover, many teams in small markets are struggling to get by, the owners say. "Our teams in Washington and Michigan have been in contact with government officials and have explained that our players are student athletes and are participating in and contribute to their sport the same way as other amateur athletes," Canadian Hockey League commissioner David Branch told TSN. But officials with Unifor, Canadas largest private-sector union, paint a different picture. They say major junior hockey teams have become cash machines and that any problems that small market teams might have can easily be solved with revenue sharing. Unifor is pressing the Ontario provincial government to form task forces to scrutinize the working conditions in the Canadian Hockey League. Unifor president Jerry Dias hopes other governments follow suit. To that end, Dias met Tuesday with B.C. Premier Christy Clark, making his case for government action. "She was shocked," Dias said. "We explained that in the Western Hockey League, players are still making $50 a week, same as they did in the 1980s. Its just not right. These clubs are being run as for-profit businesses, and so little of the money finds its way to the players. Its basically slave labour." The stakes are high for CHL team owners. Dias said an average 40-hour work week addds up to about 2,000 hours a year.dddddddddddd If players in Ontario were paid the minimum wage of $11 per hour for half the year, it would work out to about $11,000 per player, or at least $220,000 a year for each team. Its unclear how much teams now pay for players, but in recent years, the OHL paid players $55 a week. The league recently introduced new guidelines where teams reimburse players for expenses instead of paying them a set weekly amount. Eight of the CHLs 60 teams are based in the U.S. The four teams in Washington are the Everett Silvertips, the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans. In the OHL, the Plymouth Whalers and Saginaw Spirit are in Michigan. If players on U.S.-based teams were declared by the government to be employees, instead of student athletes, as the CHL says they are, they might also have more rights under worker compensation laws. One CHL team owner said that he has been in touch with his local member of provincial parliament to caution that if the governments do change their policies on major junior hockey, it might have a ripple effect on sports across the country. "If we have to pay minimum wage, then other junior leagues, Junior B and Junior C leagues, will have to do the same thing," said the owner, who asked for anonymity because he said CHL team owners have agreed that Branch will speak publicly for the group about the issue. "Maybe it will apply to Canadian universities that charge admission for sports games. It could have a huge effect." But that might not be completely true. Theres a difference between a Junior B hockey player or Canadian university player and a player in major junior - teams in major junior hold a draft and control for years the rights of a player. The players dont choose where to play. "It should not come as a surprise that team owners are active in their communities and some may be in contact with elected officials at all levels to express their views on range of issues," Branch said. "Any change to the status of CHL hockey players would undoubtedly impact all other amateur athletes in our country, regardless of what sport they participate in," he said. "For all of these sports there are multiple complicated questions regarding expenses and the status of student athletes and other amateur athletes, all of which have the potential to impact on numerous sports programs in Ontario and throughout Canada." ' ' '