Canucks Army GDT #41 – Canucks @ Predators

Broadcast Info

Lineups

LW	C	RW
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins	Nick Bonino	Alexandre Burrows
Shawn Matthias	Brad Richardson	Zack Kassian
Derek Dorsett	Linden Vey	Jannik Hansen

Defensive Pairings
Alexander Edler	Chris Tanev
Ryan Stanton	Kevin Bieksa
Luca Sbisa	Frank Corrado

Newly minted NHL All-Star Radim Vrbata will re-take his position at first-line RW with the Sedins. Bo Horvat did not practice yesterday due to a maintenance day. Linden Vey will suit u pin his stead if Horvat is out. Dan Hamhuis will not dress tonight, but plans on playing some time during this 5-game road swing. Eddie Lack will make his 3rd start in 4 games as Ryan Miller is still dealing with a minor illness.

LW	C	RW
Filip Forsberg	Mike Ribeiro	Craig Smith
Colin Wilson	Mike Fisher	James Neal
Matt Cullen	Calle Jarnkrok	Olli Jokinen
Gabriel Bourque	Paul Gaustad	Taylor Beck

Defensive Pairings
Roman Josi	Shea Weber
Seth Jones	Mattias Ekholm
Anton Volchenkov	Victor Bartley

James Neal will likely return from a lower body injury tonight. Ryan Ellis will miss tonight’s game with a lower body injury. Mark Arcobello has been placed on waivers. Pekka Rinne will start in goal.

Head to Head

Storylines

• On the Hunt – Considering their lineup features a mish-mash of relatively unheralded young players and veteran re-treads, it’s a bit surprising to consider that these Nashville Predators currently sit in 1st place in the entire NHL. A lot of this is goaltending – Pekka Rinne currently has an astounding 0.930 save percentage through 36 games played – but this is still a potent offence that would lead the Pacific division in goals for, and a top-10 puck possession team. Character issues and all, Mike Ribeiro has been the best value signing of the offseason, as he’s given the Preds high-end 1st line puck possession and production at a price tag of just $1.05 million this year.
• Back to Lack – As Ryan Miller sits out another outing with an illness, Eddie Lack will get his 3rd start in four games tonight, making this easily his most busy stretch of the season to date. After stumbling out of the gate, Lack has provided Vancouver with excellent backup goaltending, and posted a very respectable 0.918 save percentage so far this season while playing mostly in very difficult situations. With continued strong efforts, it will be tough to ignore Lack’s push for an increased workload for much longer.
• Power Outage – The Canucks have gone nearly two full games without scoring a goal since sneaking one by Roberto Luongo early in last Thursday’s contest against the Florida Panthers, and were shut out by a goalie that the Utica Comets have beaten five times themselves this season on Saturday. Since the beginning of December, the Canucks are dead last in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals for (21), and T-29th in 5-on-5 goals for/60 (1.6). Some of this is percentage driven, but a lot of it is just ineptitude and poor play. According to War On Ice, the Canucks are a bottom-10 team at generating scoring chances at even strength since this slump began, and are 23rd in the NHL in scoring chance for percentage (SCF%) at 46.3%. They’ll need to be much better to get a few behind Pekka Rinne tonight.

Gameday Reading

• Canucks.com’s Tale of the Tape
• Ben Kuzma touches on Ryan Miller, Willie Desjardins’ ideas on how to score more, and Henrik Sedin
• Audio: Jason Botchford looks at why the Canucks have to be trade deadline buyers
• TSN Radio’s gameday preview
• Audio: Garret Hohl and I recorded a podcast. Listen to it here
• Remember to vote on your top-20 Canucks prospects for our mid-term prospect rankings