Canucks’ Daniel Sedin expects to play against Kings tonight

Canucks star forward Daniel Sedin, out because of a concussion since March 21, said he expects to be in the lineup Wednesday night against the Kingsfor Game 4 of their first-round playoff series at Staples Center.

In fact, he was fairly emphatic.

“Yeah. Absolutely,” he said in the dressing room after Wednesday’s morning skate.

Wednesday night they are planning to start goalie Cory Schneider in Game 4, the team said. Roberto Luongo, the starter in the first two games of the series, was not made available for comment.

Surprisingly, the Canucks were open about the goalie situation for Game 4. And Sedin was equally candid about his status. Sedin, the NHL’s leading scorer last season, only returned to participate in a full practice on Tuesday. He has not played since taking an elbow in the head from Chicago’s Duncan Keith.

The excitement of being back -- especially in the playoffs -- could help Sedin deal with the expected rust after his extended absence.

“I’m sure that’s going to help me tonight,” Sedin said. “As I said yesterday, I’ve been off for a while, so I’m sure adrenaline is going to keep me going throughout the night. Hopefully that’s the case.

“We’ll see how AV [Canucks Coach Alain Vigneault] uses me. Once you are out there, you want to play as much as you can. That’s always been my case and however much he plays me, I’m going to work hard.”

He was curt when a reporter started a question by saying the Kings would not be holding back against him.

“Why should they?” Sedin said. “I wouldn’t be back if I wasn’t 100%. So they are going expect the same from me, to be 100%. I think that’s kind of a stupid question.”