01/10/2017 – CanucksBanter

Goalie Ryan Miller #30 of the Vancouver Canucks goes down to block a shot by Miikka Salomaki #20 of the Nashville Predators during the third period at Bridgestone Arena on March 24, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (March 24, 2016 - Source: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America) — Goalie Ryan Miller #30 of the Vancouver Canucks goes down to block a shot by Miikka Salomaki #20 of the Nashville Predators during the third period at Bridgestone Arena on March 24, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Source: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America)

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By Andrew Chernoff

Jan 10, 2017

Game Time: 5:00 PM PST
Location: Bridgestone Arena
TV: Sportsnet Pacific
Radio: TSN 1040

Vancouver (20-18-3=43 pts) play the second game of a three game road trip against Western conference rivals, Nashville Predators (17-16-7=41 pts), at the Bridgestone Arena.

The Canucks have won six of their last seven games, and are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.

Ryan Miller will start in net for the Canucks. He is 12-10-1, with a 2.63 GAA, and a .915 Sv%.

Miller is 5-0-0 and has allowed seven goals in his past five starts with a 1.38 GAA, .955 SV% and 1 shutout.. He is one win from tying Evgeni Nabokov (353 wins) for 20th on the NHL’s all-time list.

Chris Tanev will be in the lineup against the Predators. Tanev left the first period of a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday with an upper-body injury.

Bo Horvat was selected today for the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star game at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Since Dec 28th, Vancouver has the 2ndbest record in the NHL at 6-1-0, a point behind the Washington Capitals, including the NHL best faceoff winning percentage, 55.9 percent, in that span; and the NHL’s 2nd best goals against average, 1.71 GAA.

Vancouver is in 6th place in the Pacific division, with 43 points, a point behind Los Angeles, 3 points behind Calgary; 13 points ahead of 7th, and last place, Arizona.

Vancouver’s road record is their achilles heal right now, besides their inability to score goals, they are tied for the worst road record, with the St. Louis Blues, at 11 points, with a 5-13-1 record.

The Canucks are 2-6-0 on the road since Dec 1. During that span, they have averaged 2.37 goals for, and 3.50 goals against; with a power play at 8.3 percent (2 for 24) and a penalty kill at 75 percent (6 for 24). Their faceoff win percentage is 4th best though, at 52.7 percent.

The Predators are 4-4-3 in their last 11 games, and sport a home record of 10-5-5. However, they are 2-4-4 are home since Dec 1.

Since Dec 1, Nashville has averaged 2.4 goals for, and 3.30 goals against at home; with a power play at 11..1 percent (3 for 27) and a penalty kill at 67.7 percent (10 for 31). Their faceoff win percentage is second worst at 46.8 percent.

In the Canucks last game, Vancouver’s win streak ended in Calgary at six games, with a 3-1 road loss.

Bo Horvat scored the only Vancouver goal, his 13th goal this season, assisted by Alex Edler (6) and Troy Stecher (10) at 3:04 of the second period, to pull Vancouver within a goal of Calgary at 2-1, but that was all the Canucks could get against Flames goalie Chad Johnson.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 of 27 shots, and now boosts a record of 8-9-2, with a 2.63 GAA, and .912 Sv% overall.

Horvat, Edler Extend Point Streaks Against Calgary

Bo Horvat extended his points streak to 3-5=8 pts / 7 games, while Alex Edler extended his points streak to 0-2=2 pts / 2 games.

Canucks In Brief:

Record By Five Game Segment:

Game   1-5       6-10     11-15     16-20   21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40
Record 4-0-1     0-5-0     1-4-0      3-1-1      3-2-0 1-4-0 2-2-1 5-0-0
GF Ave 2.6        0.8         2.2          3.4          2.2 3.00 2.60 2.60
GA Ave 2.0        3.4         3.4          3.6          2.6 3.80 3.00 1.40
PP% 13.0       0.0         7.7         23.1        23.1 11.8 13.3 16.7
PK% 86.7       77.8      95.0        75.0        91.7 71.4 64.7 84.6

Game 41-45
Record 1-1-0
GF Ave 2.50
GA Ave 2.50
PP% 16.7
PK% 80.0

Vancouver’s goaltender tandem of Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom are 20th in the NHL, with a 2.81 GAA and a .907 SV%:

Jacob Markstrom is 8-9-2, with a 2.60 GAA (18th), and a .913 Sv% (t-20th)* * At least 21 GP
Ryan Miller is 12-10-1, with a 2.63 GAA (17th), and a .915 Sv% (17th)*

Leading scorers:

Bo Horvat (13-16=29 pts)
Henrik Sedin (9-17=26 pts)
Sven Baertschi (11-12=23)
Daniel Sedin (10-13=23 pts)
Brandon Sutter (10-10=20 pts)
Loui Eriksson (9-10=19 pts)

Canucks injured:

Derek Dorsett; 24 games missed
Philip Larsen; 16 games missed
Erik Gudbranson; 12 games missed
Jannik Hansen; 8 games missed
Chris Tanev; 1 game missed
Ben Hutton; 1 game missed

Total Man Games Lost: 183

Points streaks:

BO HORVAT (3-5=8 pts / 7 Games)
ALEX EDLER (0-2=2 pts / 2 games)

Vancouver Special Teams:

18 for 128: 14.1 percent on the power play overall (27th in the NHL)
23 for 117: 80.3 percent on the penalty kill overall (20th in NHL)

Canucks have allowed 120 goals against (21st in NHL), and have scored 101 goals for (t-22nd in NHL).

Canucks Notables:

Through 42 games, Bo Horvat currently leads the team in goals (13) and points (29) and is second in assists (16). He is also on a 7-game point streak (3-5-8), his longest personal streak this season (the previous high was 5 games). During the 2016 calendar year, Horvat registered 55 points in 82 games.
Through 42 games, Sven Baertschi has registered 11 goals, 12 assists and 23 points. He has reached the 11 goal mark 15 games faster than last season (11th goal in the 55th game) and 23 points 24 games quicker than in the 2015.16 season (23rd point in the 64th game).

Predators In Brief:

Nashville in their last game, the Predators and Blackhawks played on Sunday, the fourth contest of their five-game season series. Chicago had won two of the first three games.

Ryan Hartman scored three goals in the third period for his first career NHL hat trick to help the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators at United Center on Sunday.

Hartman broke a 2-2 tie with 8:11 left and scored two empty-net goals for the Blackhawks.

Austin Watson, Mattias Ekholm scored and Mike Fisher had two assists for Nashville, which got 26 saves from Pekka Rinne.

Predators have 41 points and are tied for 4th place in the Central division with Winnipeg, 1 point ahead of Dallas; 6 points behind St. Louis.

Nashville have the 16th best goaltending in the NHL, with Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros, and Marek Mazanec, and a 2.63 GAA, and .911 SV%.

Rinne is 14-11-6, with a 2.47 GAA, and a .918 SV%. Saros is 3-3-1, with a 1.29 GAA, and a .955 SV%. Mazanec is 0-2-0, with a 4.72 GAA, and a .839 SV%.

Nashville leading scorers:

Ryan Johansen (7-22=29 pts)
Viktor Arvidsson (10-15=25 pts)
Filip Forsberg (9-16=25 pts)
Mike Fisher (11-13=24 pts)
Mike Ribeiro (4-18=22 pts)

Predators injured:

Colin Wilson, lower-body, has missed one game
Viktor Arvidsson, upper-body, has missed two games
James Neal, upper-body, has missed three games
P.K. Subban, upper-body, has missed 11 games
Miikka Salomaki, lower-body, has missed 18 games

Total Man Games Lost: 120

Points streaks: none

Nashville Special Teams:

26 for 136: 19.1 percent on the power play overall (t-13th in the NHL)
22 for 124: 82.3` percent on the penalty kill overall (t-13th in the NHL).

Predators have surrendered 107 goals (13th best in NHL), and have scored 111 goals for (t-15th in NHL).

Pregame Stats

Regular Season Game 43, Road Game 20

Records:
Vancouver: 20-19-3 (Road: 5-13-1)
Nashville: 17-16-7 (Home: 10-5-5)

Team SF SA PP PK PIM HITS GF GA
Van 1151 1326 18-128 23-117 382 742 101 120
Nash 1254 1173 26-136 22-124 384 823 111 107

Team CF CA SCF SCA CF60% CA60% CF%
Van 2098(1654) 2256(1778) 1128(859) 1261(954) 49.8 53.5 48.2
Nash 2380(1859) 2228(1737) 1122(855) 1041(778) 58.5 54.7 51.7

Note: 5v5 stats in parenthesis for CF & CA, SCF & SCA , CF60%, CA60% & CF% are 5v5
SCF=scoring chances for; SCA=scoring chances against.