Monday March 30: Vancouver Canucks 4 - St. Louis Blues 1
Once again, the Vancouver Canucks showed that they bounce back nicely from a little adversity—and that they're a terrific road team. The St. Louis Blues showed some life in the first period but went down with a whimper in a 4-1 defeat on Monday night. Here are your highlights:
The game didn't have a whole lot of life to it. The Canucks were limited to just 22 shots on Brian Elliott while giving up 24 on Eddie Lack. There were just three penalties in the entire game.
Last time the Canucks played the Blues in Vancouver back in early March, they spotted St. Louis a 2-0 lead before starting their surge for the win. On Monday, Shawn Matthias opened the scoring early in the second period after he was sprung free by a sharp Chris Tanev pass on a bad Blues line change. That was Matthias' first goal in nine games and just his third in the month of March—and came on his only shot of the game.
For his part, Tanev looks like he's taking strides towards living up to his new status as a $4-million man. He also set up Radim Vrbata's 31st of the year in the third period for his second straight two-assist game, setting a new career high of 20 points in 64 games—the same number he played all of last year.
As for Vrbata—he and fellow Czech Jiri Hudler of the Calgary Flames have been the hottest players in the league offensively over the past month.
Hudler has put up 10 goals and 13 assists in 15 games on Calgary's top line and is now tied for seventh in NHL scoring with 71 points, while Vrbata has nine goals and nine assists in 15 games and has cracked the league's top 10 in goal-scoring.
A few big names with less goals than Vrbata include Zach Parise (30), Jamie Benn (28), Evgeni Malkin (28), Jeff Carter (26), Sidney Crosby (25) and Jonathan Toews (25). At this point, it's hard not to keep pointing out that Vrbata's free-agent signing with Vancouver might be the best in the NHL this season.
Monday's game marked another solid outing for Eddie Lack, who bounced back nicely after giving up a couple of questionable goals against Dallas on Saturday.
The out-of-town scoreboard was also Canuck-friendly on Monday night, featuring a Calgary win and a Los Angeles loss. That gives Vancouver a five-point lead over the Kings and puts the Canucks' playoff odds up to 98.5 percent for the moment, while Calgary's at 84.6 and the Kings drop to 51.7 percent, according to Sports Club Stats.
The Kings and Flames are now both idle until Thursday, while the Canucks play tonight in Nashville.
Tuesday March 31 - Vancouver Canucks at Nashville Predators - 5:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 44-27-5, 93 points, second in Pacific Division Nashville Predators: 47-22-8, 102 points, first in Central Division
The Canucks are enjoying a little Nashville star power today as they prepare for tonight's game at Bridgestone Arena:
Morning! #Canucks soccer to the right and @taylorswift13 rehearsing in a room behind the black curtain to the left. pic.twitter.com/wCdvY5DwbJ
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) March 31, 2015Taylor may not be a country girl anymore, but I like the idea that she still keeps Nashville as a musical home base. Her latest tour kicks off on May 5 in Tokyo.
Country star Carrie Underwood is also in full-on hockey mode, with her husband Mike Fisher poised for a playoff run and new baby Isaiah along for the ride:
The Predators are in the playoffs! Just waiting to get called up! #PutMeInCoach https://t.co/XJIe6dOKHJ
— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) March 29, 2015All star-gazing aside, however, the Canucks have something to prove tonight. After snagging a point against Dallas last Saturday, the Predators and the Tampa Bay Lightning are now the only teams in the NHL that haven't given up a point to Vancouver at some point this season.
It's too late to do anything about Tampa Bay, but Vancouver's got one more chance to show that they can play with the Preds after losing 3-1 at home in November and 5-1 in Nashville back in January.
The Preds have a healthy Pekka Rinne back in the lineup and have won four of their last five games, but they dropped a 5-2 decision to Calgary in their last outing on Sunday and may be without captain Shea Weber for the third straight game:
James Neal (upper body) skated this AM. Shea Weber (LB) didn't. David Poile expects both to "absolutely" be ready for the playoffs.
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) March 31, 2015This will also be Vancouver's first look at new Predators acquisitions Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli, who were picked up in mid-February. Franson has just three assists in 19 games since joining Nashville and Peter Laviolette has chosen to move sophomore Seth Jones into Weber's spot in the top pairing while he's sidelined, leaving Franson in the second pairing with Matthias Ekholm.
As for Santorelli, he's currently slotted onto the right side on a third line with Viktor Stalberg and Calle Jarnkrok. He also has three points in 19 games in Nashville—a goal and two assists.
Pekka Rinne's confirmed to start for Nashville tonight. Looks like it'll be Eddie Lack again for Vancouver, since Markstrom took the optional morning skate:
Optional #Canucks skate this morning in Nashville, only Markstrom, Stanton and McMillan taking part. pic.twitter.com/5apN9vJTq1
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) March 31, 2015Eddie looks like he got an early start on Taco Tuesday after last night's win:
That's one happy @eddielack! pic.twitter.com/EB6cu9yudV
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) March 31, 2015Enjoy the game!