Friday March 2 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators - 7 p.m - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 64 GP, 24-32-8, 56 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
Nashville Predators: 63 GP, 40-14-9, 89 pts, first in Central Division
The Vancouver Canucks need 13 points in their final 18 games to match their point total of 69 from last season—and 19 points to reach the 75 points they tallied the year before, in 2015-16. Can they do it?
I feel like the last 18 games are pretty indicative of what we'll see the rest of the way, with a mix of good and bad. Coincidentally, Bo Horvat returned to the Canucks lineup exactly 18 games ago, on January 21 in Winnipeg. Since then, the team has gone 6-10-2 for 14 points. Looks like it's gonna go down to the wire!
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They'll have a tough task ahead of them, trying to get points tonight as they host the hottest team in the league. The Canucks are 1-1-0 against the Nashville Predators this season but got crushed when they lost Chris Tanev to injury on their way to that 7-1 loss at Rogers Arena back in mid-December. Tonight, they'll face a Preds team that's firing on all cylinders—the hottest team in the league thanks to a six-game winning streak that has moved them into first place in the West, three points behind Tampa Bay for first overall.
Nashville is coming into Vancouver on a back-to-back after making their GM David Poile the winningest general manager in NHL history with their 4-2 win in Edmonton on Thursday.
It's pretty amazing that Poile has been an NHL general manager for more than 35 continuous years, and has only worked for two teams. After 15 years, the Washington Capitals
cut ties with him in May of 1997. He was quickly snapped up to guide the expansion Predators, who started play in 1998-99. He has been the only GM in the team's history and while he didn't get Nashville to the top of the hockey world as quickly as George McPhee did in Vegas, he was named the 2017 general manager of the year after the Predators reached their franchise's first Stanley Cup Final last spring.
In an effort to make another, better run at the Cup, Poile gave up a first-round draft pick to acquire tenacious Ryan Hartman from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline. Former captain Mike Fisher has also been lured into un-retirement and is expected to play his first game of the year tonight.
The Preds are healthy, so someone will have to come out of the lineup to make room for Fisher.
Pekka Rinne got the "W" on Thursday in Edmonton, so Juuse Saros is expected to get the nod in net for Nashville tonight.
He'll be up against Jacob Markstrom, who draws back in after getting the first-period hook against the Rangers on Wednesday night. Up front, Travis Green expects to go with the same lineup he used against New York, including the new high-energy additions Brendan Leipsic and Tyler Motte.
Travis Green is trying to light a figure under Nikolay Goldobin tonight:
If you missed it, Loui Eriksson is now officially finished for the season:
I didn't think there was room for Eriksson to contribute less this season than he did in the first year of his deal, but here we are: 65 games last year, 50 this year—24 points last season, 23 this year—11 goals last year, 10 this year.
Since he played less, his goals and points-per-game were both higher, and plus-minus improved from minus-9 to even. But under Travis Green, Eriksson's average ice time dropped by more than two minutes a game, from 18:40 last season under Willie to 16:15 this year.
Loui's contract and roster spot are going to be a topic for discussion again this offseason.
To finish up today, a followup on Elias Pettersson after his big day yesterday with Vaxjo. It'll be fun to see if he can break Kent Nilsson's record over these last few games of the Lakers' regular season.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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