> The Kids Are Alright: Vancouver loses two rookies tonight (Schneider hits the bench while Volpatti sits with a shoulder injury) but it was a decent evening for Hodgson who played just shy of ten minutes, was respectable at both ends and had a great scoring chance midway through the first. Quietly the rookie blueliners – Tanev and Sweatt – are showing great poise and are earning their increased TOI. In his newest role playing as Alex Edler, Keith Ballard was even with no shots in 19:31, his second highest TOI since mid-December.

> The Dogs Are Alright: A little bit like Nashville, Phoenix has a deep team that can feature a different hero every game. They have eight players with 10 goals or more (including former Nucker Pyatt who has 12 and opened the scoring the last time these teams met) and – again like Nashville – have a defenseman (Yandle) leading them in points (45). Bryzgalov has turned in a more pedestrian season thus far, but he’s stymied the Canucks once already and finished January with a 6-4 record including a shutout win over the Kings.

> Impress Your Friends With Knowledge!: With Tampa Bay ideal and Crosby still in the IR, Daniel Sedin needs to two points to catch Steven Stamkos for the lead league in points.