Tuesday January 17 - Nashville Predators at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 45 GP, 20-19-6, 46 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Nashville Predators: 43 GP, 20-16-7, 47 pts, fourth in Central Division
One week after the Vancouver Canucks' last-second overtime loss to the Nashville Predators in Music City, the two teams are set to meet again—this time in Vancouver.
Last week's game started trends for both teams. Vancouver is now 0-0-3 in its last three games thanks to the shootout loss to the Flyers and overtime loss to the Devils, while the Predators used their game in Vancouver to launch a three-game winning streak that has also included a 2-1 home win over Boston and a 3-2 road win over Colorado. Filip Forsberg scored the game-winner in both those contests. Like Alex Ovechkin, he seems to be a player who needs some time to find his scoring touch each season—he's only at 11 goals for the year, but eight of them have come in his last 13 games.
Tonight's game is the second of five on the road for Nashville. They've been idle since their win on Saturday afternoon in Denver.
Though the Preds are on a roll, general manager David Poile has been tweaking his lineup since we saw the team last. Nashville traded for tough guy Cody McLeod, acquiring him from Colorado last Friday in exchange for minor-leaguer Felix Girard. Peter Laviolette inserted McLeod straight into the Preds lineup against his old team and was nicely rewarded—McLeod came up just one assist shy of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in a season-high 10:12 of ice time, scoring his second goal of the year and engaging in a spirited fight with his former teammate Jarome Iginla.
Stories like this are the reason why I was frustrated that Willie Desjardins didn't give Reid Boucher a whirl against the Devils on Sunday.
I saw some chatter in the Twitterverse yesterday, suggesting that Willie's unflinching loyalty is the reason why he has been able to keep the Canucks' effort level so strong this season—the players appreciate that loyalty, and they play hard—as Willie himself would say.
Team chemistry is a delicate balance, and it's hard not to agree that Willie has extracted a solid compete level from his injury-ridden lineup this year, as well as facilitating impressive growth from young players including Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund, and Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkin.
Maybe it does help the guys in the room, coming to work every day knowing that the situation will be basically status quo?
That being said, it sounds like Boucher has, by default, moved into the on-deck circle. The Canucks have officially announced that Anton Rodin is out of the mix for the foreseeable future.
The Preds made another roster move today as well, picking up defenseman Brad Hunt on waivers from the St. Louis Blues—Roman Josi was injured after taking a hard hit in last week's game against Boston, so the Preds are in a situation that's familiar to Canucks fans—playing without both of their top-pairing defensemen. P.K. Subban participated in his first full practice on Monday since being sidelined in mid-December, but remains on injured reserve.
Defenseman Petter Granberg and center Colin Wilson have also been added to Nashville's official injured reserve list, and young forward Kevin Fiala has been re-assigned to the AHL, so the Preds' roster is, let's just say, in flux at the moment.
The Canucks are holding an optional skate this morning:
No surprise, we will see a change in net.
And a few other quick notes to round out the blog today:
A nice piece here from Sports Illustrated on Bo Horvat's development and his selection to the Pacific Division All-Star Team:
Also, congrats to Thomas Gradin and Tony Tanti on their induction into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame!
A situation that has been quiet for awhile sounds like it's coming back to life. There are some rumblings that the time may be drawing nearer for the Vancouver Canucks farm team to relocate to the west coast in order to be closer to its parent club. Utica Comets team president Robert Esche is not denying the possibility:
Something to keep an eye on.
And one more piece worth reading here, as Sportsnet runs down the Comets' season to date:
Coach Travis Green's comments on Jake Virtanen:
“It has been an adjustment coming from the NHL to here,” Green said of Virtanen. “He’s a still a young guy, and he has lots of things to learn. He is working hard to become a better player.”
“Like a lot of young guys, [he needs to improve] his total game, continue to be direct in his game. There is not one thing that you can put a finger on with Jake. It’s just an all-around game that he needs to develop to be a power forward that Vancouver wants him to be.”
Utica's currently on a three-game winning streak that has helped the team climb to fourth place in the AHL's North Division with a record of 15-16-5-1 for 36 points in 37 games.
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