The Nashville Predators continue along their five-game road trip tonight when they face the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena for a 9 p.m. CT puck drop. Tonight’s contest is the first of three meetings between the two clubs this season and the first time the Preds and Canucks have met since their First Round series in last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After dropping their first two games of the current road trip in overtime, the Preds were shut out Friday night in Calgary by a 2-0 final. This evening, they’ll look for their first win of the trip as they try to bounce back from Friday’s loss.
“The position [we’re in], we need to get some points, we need to get some wins, and we’ve got to attack the game and get out there and play to win,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said following Friday’s game. “And I feel like we're not doing that right now.”
Nashville’s lineup remained the same on Friday as it did for Thursday’s overtime loss in Edmonton, except for Juuse Saros starting in net over Scott Wedgewood. Forwards Mark Jankowski and Tommy Novak (upper body, day-to-day), as well as defenseman Adam Wilsby, were scratched.
The Good Guys:
Filip Forsberg continues to lead the Preds with eight goals and 13 points on the season, followed by Josi (1g-11a) with 12 points and Ryan O’Reilly (3g-7a) with 10 points. Gustav Nyquist has five goals, Steven Stamkos has four tallies and Jonathan Marchessault has three. Saros is 4-8-2 in net with a .915 save percentage; Scott Wedgewood is 1-2-1.
The Opposition:
The Canucks will finish off a back-to-back set tonight; they defeated the Blackhawks last night by a 4-1 final. Quinn Hughes (3g-14a) leads the club with 17 points, followed by J.T. Miller (6g-10a) with 16 points and Conor Garland (4g-8a) with 12 points. Former Preds goaltender Kevin Lankinen is 8-2-2 in net for Vancouver with a .907 save percentage.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 35-42-(2)-7 all-time against the Canucks, including a 16-24-(1)-1 record at Rogers Arena.
The Predators are 2-3-1 in their last six games against the Canucks; they are 4-5-1 in their last 10; and 2-2-1 in their last five on the road.
The two teams met in the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs; Vancouver won, 4-2.
Notables Versus Vancouver:
Jonathan Marchessault has recorded 24 points (11g-13a) in 22 career games against Vancouver. That is tied for the fourth-most points he has recorded against a single franchise in his career.
Steven Stamkos has collected 28 points (16g-12a) in 20 games against the Canucks. His 1.40 points per game against Vancouver are the most he has recorded against any team (min. 3 games played).
Juuse Saros is 5-2-1 in his career against Vancouver in the regular season.
North Vancouver native Colton Sissons has 11 points (7g-4a) in 22 career games against the Canucks.
Roman Josi has points in seven of his last 11 games (1g-6a) against Vancouver. He also has 16 points (1g-15a) in his last 20 games vs. the Canucks and posted a six-game point streak (7a) against Vancouver from Jan. 10, 2017-Dec. 13, 2018.
Milestone Watch:
Steven Stamkos played in his 1,100th career NHL game on Nov. 15 at Calgary. Stamkos (217) is one power-play goal from passing Mike Gartner and Jaromir Jagr (217) for sole possession of the 11th-most in NHL history.
Juuso Parssinen is one game from 100 in his NHL career.
Luke Schenn is one point from 200 in his NHL career.
Tommy Novak is one point from 100 in his NHL career.
Roman Josi is two points from 700 in his NHL career.
Filip Forsberg (78) is three power-play goals from passing Shea Weber (80) for the most in Predators history; Forsberg is five goals from 300 in his NHL career.
Ryan O’Reilly is four assists from 500 in his NHL career.
Jonathan Marchessault is four points from 500 in his NHL career.
The Predators franchise is five games from 2,000 and nine wins from 1,000.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for tonight’s game begins at 8:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)
