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Canucks hope to get Elias Pettersson a win vs. Preds for his 21st birthday

November 12, 2019, 2:40 PM ET [252 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Tuesday November 12 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 18 GP, 9-6-3, 21 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Nashville Predators: 17 GP, 9-5-3, 21 pts, third in Central Division

The Vancouver Canucks will be looking to score some goals and snap their four-game losing streak when they celebrate Elias Pettersson's 21st birthday by hosting the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena.

From October 22 to November 2, the Canucks averaged 4.67 goals over that six-game stretch. In their last four games, starting a week ago against the St. Louis Blues, that number has plummeted to 1.25 goals a game. Not gonna get many wins with that kind of production, no matter how good your goaltending may be.

After Sunday's loss to New Jersey, Vancouver players and coach Travis Green all felt that they'd work their way out of their swoon if they keep doing what they're doing.

"I know the last six games, we haven't scored, but our game's looked very similar," said Green. "Even analytically, we haven't tailed off a lot in a lot of areas.

"Sometimes you just go through that in the NHL. you go through stretches where you don't score. The L.A. game, we get eight goals and I don't know if that was even close to one of our best games. We got eight goals that game.

"We might have played better tonight in certain ways. It's funny that way — sometimes you score, sometimes you don't and we're in a little rut right now."

Green also conceded that the team's recent heavy schedule may have had a bit of an impact, especially on the younger players, saying that even a little bit of mental fatigue can impact on-ice execution. He added that was why he sat Adam Gaudette in Winnipeg on Friday, in the second game of the road back-to-back. Green sensed that Gaudette wouldn't be able to deliver the high-energy game that makes him effective on the fourth line, and worried that might be a problem in a road game where he couldn't control the line matchups.

Green also praised Gaudette, saying that he likes the way that Gaudette's defensive responsibility is evolving as he learns to play right wing and that those skills should soon be transferrable to the left side as well, which will give the team more options.

Of course, waiver-exempt Gaudette is also still the forward who's most likely to be designated for assignment to Utica as the forward group gets healthier. With Micheal Ferland and Antoine Roussel both skating on Monday, that's two other options on the wing who are getting closer.

Sounds like Roussel still has a ways to go before he's game ready after his knee surgery, though.



Tuesday's morning skate is an optional, so we won't get a definite idea about how Travis Green will deploy his lines until warmup. Jay Beagle is on the ice on Tuesday morning after skipping practice on Monday for a maintenance day, but apparently he's a game-time decision.



Higher up, I imagine Green will start his top three lines the same way he ran them at practice on Monday.



Jacob Markstrom is still with the team after informing us about his father's passing following Sunday's game, but it sounds like he might be getting the night off against Nashville.



As for the Preds, their current road trip has featured a little bit of everything. After starting the season 8-3-1, Nashville has won just once in its last five games. Tuesday's game will wrap up four games away from home that saw them start with a 6-1 win in Detroit before losing 9-4 in Colorado and 2-1 in overtime in San Jose last Saturday.

That still translates to the second-highest scoring team in the league, averaging 3.82 goals a game, while the Canucks' recent slump has dropped them to 14th (3.11). For a team with all that firepower, though, their power play is middle of the pack at 19.7 percent, a couple of ticks below Vancouver's 21.9.

For all the talk about their great defense and Pekka Rinne's legendary goaltending, Nashville's actually in the bottom half of the league, defensively — 19th overall with 3.06 goals allowed per game. Vancouver still sits sixth, at 2.56.

But the Nashville defense is actually leading the offense. The team's two top scorers this season are Roman Josi (17 pts) and Ryan Ellis (16 pts).

Rinne has played about two-thirds of Nashville's minutes so far and has the better goaltending numbers with a 8-1-2 record, .912 save percentage and 2.46 GAA. Backup Jusse Saros is having a bit of a rough start to his season, with a 1-4-1 record, .890 save percentage and 3.48 GAA.

But Rinne's first regulation loss of the year was a doozy. Last week in Denver, he was pulled after giving up five goals on 22 shots in 27 minutes of action. Saros came in for mop-up duty, then delivered a 31-save performance in San Jose on Saturday night. So it'll be interesting to see which goaltender Peter Laviolette uses against the Canucks.

Here's how the Preds rolled their lines at their Rogers Arena practice on Monday.



Of course, the Preds have strong local roots here in Vancouver. We'll see Dan Hamhuis back in town on Tuesday, in his second season with Nashville. The team also includes local boys Ryan Johansen, Kyle Turris, Colton Sissons, Matt Irwin and rookie defenseman Dante Fabbro. Fabbro got clipped in the face by a puck on Saturday in San Jose, but did practice on Monday, so I expect he'll be in the lineup against the Canucks.

Tuesday's game will also be our first chance to see Matt Duchene in a Nashville uniform. He is Nashville's top-scoring forward, with 14 points, but nine of those points came in the team's first five games of the year. Duchene missed one game in late October with a lower-body injury. Since then, he has put up three goals in six games, and been pointless four times.

Out in London on Monday, Vasily Podkolzin picked up his first point of the CIBC Canada Russia Series and was named Russia's player of the game in the Russians' 3-2 shootout win over Team OHL at Budweiser Gardens.

Podkolzin was noticeable all game, and his assist was very much an example of his trademark physical playing style, as he bulldozes through three OHL defenders on his way to the net — although I have to say, they didn't put up much of a fight, did they?



To wrap up today — if you didn't see it, The Athletic debuted a new Canucks column on Tuesday, "Dhaliwal's Diary," and it's excellent.



In his first installment, Rick Dhaliwal goes deep on everything from salary expectations for Elias Pettersson's second contract to Chris Tanev's status as he approaches UFA status (no news yet) and lots more, as well as suggesting that Nikita Tryamkin's return to the Canucks when his KHL contract expires at the end of this season is all-but-assured.

"Agent Todd Diamond expects to talk with the Canucks after Tryamkin’s season is over and does not expect a long negotiation," Dhaliwal writes.

Dhaliwal also reports that, despite Podkolzin's limited KHL playing time this season, his Russian source told him "Podkolzin has a better chance to become the Prime Minister of Canada than getting out of his contract." So, two more years it is.

There's lots more in there, too. Dhaliwal's an industry veteran who is known for his impressive list of contracts throughout the hockey world. For his content, it'd be worth your consideration to subscribe to The Athletic if you haven't already.

Click here for a link that will get you 40 percent off your subscription — and I'll get a little bonus for referring you.

I'll leave it there for now. Enjoy the game!
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