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Scenes from morning skate: Toloplio starts, Höglander sits for Canucks vs. Predators
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Mar 12, 2026, 15:05 EDT
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The Vancouver Canucks (19-37-8) host the Nashville Predators (29-27-8) at Rogers Arena. The game is set to begin at 7 pm PT.
It’s the Predators’ lone visit of the season to Vancouver.

What we saw

After two days of practice, the Canucks held a moderately attended optional morning skate. Filip Hronek was the elder statesman of the group to take part, followed by Drew O’Connor. Otherwise, it was a session comprised of young players on the roster. In all, 12 skaters and two goaltenders took part.
After serving as the backup for the past two games, Nikita Tolopolio returns to the crease tonight. The 25-year-old was a winner in his last outing, making 20 saves in a 6-3 victory in Chicago last Friday. On the season, Tolopilo is 4-5-2 with a 3.25 GAA and a .899 save percentage. He has never faced the Predators in his brief NHL career.
The Canucks have been idle since a 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Monday night to open an eight-game homestand. It was the fifth time this season the Canucks have been held without a goal.
The team will lineup the way it skated at practice on Wednesday. That means Evander Kane returns to the lineup after sitting out on Monday night with an upper-body injury. He’ll play career game 992 on a line with Elias Pettersson and Drew O’Connor. To make room for Kane, Nils Höglander will sit out for the first time since the Olympic break. Höglander’s goal against the Carolina Hurricanes last week is his only point in his last nine games.
The other line combinations have Marco Rossi between Liam Öhgren and Brock Boeser, Teddy Blueger at centre with Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson, while Aatu Räty is on a line with Curtis Douglas and Jake DeBrusk. Douglas saw 6:52 of ice time and registered four hits in his Canucks debut on Monday.
The Canucks were held to just 16 shots – including three in the third period – by the Senators. It was the ninth time in 64 games this season that the team’s shot total was in the teens. In 5:03 of power play time against Ottawa, the Canucks failed to generate a single shot on net.

The Opponent

The Predators are coming off a 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. Juuse Saros made 43 saves as Nashville erased a 2-0 second period deficit with goals from Tyson Jost, Reid Schaefer, Ryan Ufko and Steven Stamkos. For Ufko, it was his first NHL goal in his fourth NHL game, and it turned out to be the game-winner.
The Preds have won two of their last three games and sit just a point back of Seattle for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. They are led in scoring by Ryan O’Reilly, who has 61 points. At 35, the veteran centre is poised to take a run at his career-best 77 points established in 2018-19 when he was in St. Louis. Steven Stamkos leads the Predators with 31 goals. This is the 10th time in his career that he has reached 30 goals in a season. 
Juuse Saros will make his 50th start of the season tonight. Only Utah’s Karel Vejmelka has started more games this season. Saros has faced the most shots in the league, made the most saves and allowed the most goals.
Ahead of last week’s trade deadline, Nashville parted with forwards Michael McCarron, Michael Bunting and Cole Smith, along with defenceman Nick Blankenburg.
Nanaimo native Matthew Wood sits seventh in rookie goal scoring in the NHL this season with 13 goals in 53 games. He is fourth on the Preds in goal scoring behind Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly.

News and notes

The Canucks and Predators have split their two games this season – both played in Music City. The Preds posted a 2-1 win on October 23rd while the Canucks triumphed 5-4 in overtime on Brock Boeser’s game-winner on November 3rd.
The referees for tonight’s game are Chris Schlenker and Morgan MacPhee.
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