Canucks at Predators
Brandon Sutter wasn't afraid to push his chips to the middle of the table ahead of the Vancouver Canucks' daunting six-game road trip, regardless of the team's recent troubles. With losses in four of their last five, the Canucks look to turn their fortunes around Tuesday when they open the pronounced trek with a visit to the Nashville Predators.
"This trip is probably make or break for us - we're going to find out what we're made of," Sutter told The Province. "... If we want to make the playoffs, it's pretty simple. Our execution has to be better, and I think it will be." The 27-year-old Sutter scored twice as Vancouver dropped its third straight game with a 6-3 setback to Minnesota and also tallied in the Canucks' 2-1 overtime loss to Nashville on Jan. 10. While the Vancouver is tied for the fewest road victories with a 6-15-3 mark away from Rogers Arena, the Predators haven't given their fans much of a thrill with just two goals in the first two contests of their three-game homestand. Pekka Rinne has split those decisions despite turning aside 49 of 50 shots and has been saddled with the same result despite posting an 0.97 goals-against average and .964 save percentage in two meetings with the Canucks last month.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (23-23-6): Forward Bo Horvat has made a name for himself in his second season, recording four of his team-leading 15 goals and seven of his club-best 33 points in the last seven games. "I'm not satisfied with being a third-line center, nor should anybody," said Horvat, who continued his goal-scoring surge on Saturday. "Everybody should push to be better, everybody should push to want more. That's the biggest thing for me, to prove to myself and prove to everybody else I could do it." The ninth overall pick of the 2013 draft, Horvat indeed may want more as he's in the final year of his entry-level contract and is set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (25-19-8): Veteran forward Vernon Fiddler skated on the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Austin Watson during Monday's practice, two days removed from Nashville trading a fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft to New Jersey to re-acquire his services. The 36-year-old Fiddler spent six seasons with the Predators from 2002-09 and looks to provide a bit of sandpaper for Nashville, which waived fellow veteran Mike Ribeiro late last week. Juuse Saros, who owns a 5-3-2 mark with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage in 10 starts this season, was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Monday while fellow goaltender Marek Mazanec was reassigned to the Admirals.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver G Ryan Miller stopped all 30 shots he faced on Jan. 17 to preserve a 1-0 win and improve to 7-3-3 with a 1.93 goals-against average in his career versus Nashville.
2. Predators C Calle Jarnkrok scored a short-handed tally with 1.5 seconds left in OT in the first meeting, marking his lone point in seven career encounters with the Canucks.
3. Vancouver has yielded the first goal in 34 of 52 games this season.