Currently riding a six-game stretch that sees the Vancouver Canucks with a 5-0-1 record, the team is now in Nashville for a Tuesday game that will be the third of a four-game road trip through the Central Division.
Tuesday’s game will be the third and final matchup of the season between the Canucks and Predators. It’s been a pair of Canucks wins in the two prior meetings this season.
The Canucks beat the Preds by a 3-2 score on October 24th with goals from Ilya Mikheyev, Phil Di Giuseppe, and Nils Höglander. Thatcher Demko picked up the win in that game – stopping 16 of the 18 shots he faced.
Then, one week later, it was a much more lopsided victory for the Canucks as Elias Pettersson treated himself to a hat-trick on Halloween at Rogers Arena in a 5-2 victory. J.T. Miller and Sam Lafferty found the back of the net in the game and Demko was much busier that night. He stopped 27 of the 29 shots he saw in that game for another win back in October.
We are going to see a much different Preds team than we did back in October. The Predators started the season with a 5-10-0 record but since then, they’ve run off a 13-3-0 record.
Let’s look into that 16-game stretch and see what to watch for from the Preds on Tuesday night.
First off, Juuse Saros has been excellent through their winning stretch. He has a .933% save percentage during the team’s 13-3-0 run in which Saros has a 10-1-0 record. The Preds will have had two full days off ahead of Tuesday’s game, so, you should expect to see Saros in net.
Offensively, Filip Forsberg has been leading the way through their hot stretch of play. Forsberg has picked up 18 points in his last 16 games and is currently tied for 15th in scoring with 36 points on the season. Forsberg is currently tied for 9th in the league for goals with 16 on the season – including 14 over his last 19 games. Most of Forsberg’s goals have come at even-strength. He is tied with Brock Boeser for second-most even-strength goals at 14 on the year.
Left winger Yakov Trenin has been good for the Preds lately. He’s picked up seven goals over his last 16 games and only trails Forsberg for goals over the Preds' winning stretch of games.
On the backend, Roman Josi continues to be a horse and has had strong possession numbers – he’s held a 55.77% Corsi (control of shot attempts at five-on-five) over the winning stretch. For the year, Josi is seventh in points from a defenceman this season with seven goals and 20 assists for 27 points through 31 games.
Quick Hits on the Competition:
- Ryan O’Reilly is driving the Preds’ power play scoring. He’s picked up eight goals with the man advantage this season.
- It’s been a strong season for Kiefer Sherwood in terms of goal share. He’s been on the ice for 14 goals for and only eight goals against at five-on-five this year. That’s good for a 63.64% control of the goal share.
- The Preds have three BC-born players on their roster: Tyson Barrie (Victoria), Dante Fabbro (Coquitlam), and Colton Sissons (North Vancouver).
- 21-year-old, rookie winger Luke Evangelista is off to a strong start and is ninth in rookie scoring. He’s playing on the second line and has four goals and 11 assists this season.
As we mentioned earlier, the Canucks are getting back on a roll, they’ve picked up points in each of their last six games, en route to a 5-0-1 record.
Three Canucks remain in the top 10 of the league for points. J.T. Miller is third in the league with 45 points while Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are tied for eighth with each player having 39 points.
Brock Boeser is tied with Auston Matthews for the league lead in goals with 23. He also leads the league in power play goals with nine on the year. That’s two more than Matthews. Boeser has been hot lately, picking up five goals in his last four games.
As much as we marvel at the top-of-the-lineup players, the Canucks have seen their bottom-six lines make big plays lately. The third line of Connor Garland, Teddy Blueger and Dakota Joshua have been playing great all season long. As a line, they hold some great possession numbers including a 58.53% Corsi, a 62.06% control of expected goals and 65.14% control of on-ice scoring chances.
Basically, the third line is spending a ton of time in the offensive zone and doing a great job turning that offensive zone time into legitimate scoring chances. Over the past three games, the trio has combined for four goals and 10 points.
In the crease, the Canucks’ team save percentage is now up to .919%. That’s good enough for second in the league and a lot of that is to do with the NHL’s second star of the week, Thatcher Demko.
