Wednesday December 13 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 31 GP, 14-13-4, 32 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Nashville Predators: 29 GP, 18-7-4, 40 pts, third in Central Division
When the Canucks moved into third place in the Pacific Division after their win over Carolina last week, I worried that their hold on that spot might be tenuous, with plenty of teams close behind.
Three losses later, Vancouver has dropped to 12th place in the Western Conference and now has just a two-point edge on Colorado and four on Edmonton. #TankNation has been revving its engine and could be charging into draft lottery talk at full speed by the time the World Juniors gets rolling on Boxing Day if Travis Green can't reverse his team's downward slide in a hurry.
To that end, Green got his team on the ice at Rogers Arena for an unexpected afternoon practice at Rogers Arena on Tuesday—after the arena crew had cleared away the remnants of Monday night's Jay-Z concert.
This video gave us all a chance to breathe as we saw Brock Boeser skating comfortably after taking that painful shot block off Blake Wheeler's stick in Winnipeg.
Daniel and Henrik Sedin are not practicing today, while Brock Boeser is on the ice and skating fine after blocking a shot last night in Winnipeg. pic.twitter.com/SHlETEIHhq
"I think I can help the team if I get a lot of (ice) time and play the right way," said Goldobin. "It’s all about instincts. Where is the puck and how can I make a play? But I haven’t had practices this hard. It’s hard for me."
The skilled Russian teases talent but still hasn't earned Green's trust.
"His opinions of working and mine are sometimes different," Green told Kuzma. "It’s different how you track a puck, how you backcheck and protect pucks in your own zone. And it’s the pace you play when you don’t have the puck. It’s a big part of the game, especially on winning teams.
"On the penalty kill, there’s the importance of stripping a puck or blocking a shot or paying the price to do something that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety. He did that in Utica. And he has made progress.
"The best players work hard all over the rink. We want Goldy to be a full-time NHL player you can win with. I’m not interested in having 20-goal scorers you lose with."
Kuzma dug into Green's own evolution as a player under legendary coach Al Arbour with the New York Islanders when the Canucks were on their last road trip out east.
"This is the evolution of Travis: Skilled, lazy, challenged, changed, diligent, hard working," said Green's Islanders teammate and fellow West Kootenay native Ray Ferraro, now one of hockey's sharpest commentators.
"Everything Travis is now is not what he was when he broke into the league as a player. This is why I think he has a chance to be really successful. He understands what a scorer thinks, because he was one. He understands what a guy thinks when he gets kicked in the shins because he got booted."
As a first-time NHL coach, Travis wants wins way more than he wants high draft picks. We'll get a chance to see if he has pushed the right buttons with Goldobin when he draws in against Nashville tonight.
Based on practice today, here’s my best guess at how the #Canucks forwards will line up tomorrow:
As expected, Anders Nilsson will get the nod in net after giving up three goals in the loss to Calgary last Saturday. He earned the win against Nashville that finished off that Eastern road trip in such fine style back on November 30.
As for the Predators, they've been off since last Friday—the 4-3 shootout loss to Vegas in Nashville that was billed as the Battle of the Subbans. Tonight's game kicks off a sequence of three in four nights for the Preds in Western Canada.
Defenseman Ryan Ellis is still on the shelf after offseason knee surgery and forward Frederick Gaudreau has been reassigned to the AHL today, which means Nashville could be getting some healthy players back in the lineup. Port Moody's Ryan Johansen has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury while veteran Scott Hartnell has missed 13 games with a lower-body ailment. One of them is expected to draw in tonight. Kyle Turris took a puck to the face in practice on Monday but did practice Tuesday, so he should be good to go.
I'll wrap up today with a festive touch. I knew Jim Robson was a great play-by-play guy when he called Canucks games for all those years, but I had no idea he had such a brilliant singing voice.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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