CANUCKS		PREDATORS
	AT

Time	Thurs. 5:30 PM PST	TV	CBC, Versus, RDS
Series	2-1 Canucks	Last Meeting	3-2 Canucks
The Enemy	On The Forecheck	Scoring Leaders	D. Sedin: 5-3-8 Ward: 4-3-7

Canucks	Category	Predators
Won 1	Streak	Lost 1
2-2	< Road Record / Home Record >	2-2
-7	Goals For / Against +/-	+1
2.10 (14)	Goals Per Game	2.89 (9)
2.60 (7)	Goals Against Per Game	2.78 (10)
0.76 (11)	5 On 5 GF/GA	1.58 (3)
21.4 (7)	Power Play %	15.4 (11)
85.4 (6)	Penalty Kill %	68.8 (16)
32.8 (6)	Shots Per Game	31.8 (8)
31.2 (7)	Shots Against Per Game	30.3 (4)
66.7	Winning % When Scoring First	75
75	Winning % When Leading After 1	75
66.7 (1)	Winning % When Trailing After 1	0
80	Winning % When Leading After 2	100
366 (1)	Hits	254 (5)
118 (9)	Blocked Shots	129 (7)
49.5 (10)	Faceoffs %	51.5 (5)
15.2 (12)	PIM's Per Game Average	10.8 (4)
NHL.com

Last preview I said I didn't feel much emotion personally in this series. That all changed during Game 3. It's getting more feisty out there. The games remain super-close. That was nail-biting and an excellent, crucial win. These games are all huge at this point as the series goes along and the anticipation is building. Yep. It's on like Megatron. I'm feeling it now. The controversy of the OT penalty to Nashville and the Canucks' ensuing GWG put some gas on the fire as well.

I was bagging on Ryan Kesler's ZERO goals in the Game 3 preview and it was super to see him get that monkey off his back with 2 goals AND an assist.The Sedins however...UGH. Being checked to hell and not looking impressive enough yet. They HAVE to get going. Persevere. Thank god Line 2 was so dominating and the Canucks went 2 for 4 on the PP in Game 3 or it could have gone the other way. And speaking of that, special teams are a huge factor now. The Preds' power play is ice cold. No PP goals in 12 opportunities against Vancouver in this series. The Canucks are now 2-for-10. The Preds have scored all 4 of their goal in this series at even strength. The Canucks have only 5 goals in this series and 2 are with the man advantage.

So the Canucks' special teams are on the rise and hopefully stay that way. Their faceoff percentage is steadily increasing. They are taking less penalties per game on average. Good signs. Even so, the series remains so damned tight that any team can win on any night. So get used to having no nails on your fingers because they will continually be chewed off.

As an aside, last game was the first time the Predators lost a playoff game after scoring first. Also the first time they lost a game when leading a game after the 1st period.

LINKS

-Praise for Maxim Lapierre (Orland Kurtenblog). Check out his faceoff %. Wow!

-Ballard plays the waiting game. (Vancouver Sun). I don't like it. Did he crap in AV's poutine fries or what?

-David Legwand roasts ref Timmy Peel post Game 3 (The Province). TBH I didn't like the call on Weber either but I'll take the break.

-Barry Trotz is still pissed about the calls on Smithson and Weber in Game 3. Not liking Luongo's antics either. (Vancouver Sun)

-Steve Sullivan will miss Game 4 with a lower body injury. (On The Forecheck)

-ADDED: Nashville's Cup Dreams Are..Interesting (Canucks And Beyond). More like, WTF??

 

PROJECTED FORWARDS DRESSED

CANUCKS

Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Alexandre Burrows

Mason Raymond-Ryan Kesler-Christopher Higgins

Raffi Torres-Maxim Lapierre-Jannik Hansen

Mikael Samuelsson-Cody Hodgson-Tanner Glass

PREDATORS

Martin Erat-David Legwand-Joel Ward

Sergei Kostitsyn-Mike Underwood-Patric Hornqvist

Nick Spaling-Jerrod Smithson-Jordin Tootoo

Colin Wilson/JP Dumont-Blake Geoffrion-Matt Halischuk

STARTING GOALTENDERS

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WHO IS HOT / COLD

CANUCKS

HOT

-Ryan Kesler: 2 goals and 1 assist in Game 3. The beast has awoken?

-Alexandre Burrows: 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games.

COLD

-Henrik Sedin: 1 assist in his last 7 games. Move your ass.

-Daniel Sedin: 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 5. Get going.

-Tanner Glass: 0 points in his last 21.

-Jannik Hansen: 0 points in his last 8.

-Mikael Samuelsson: 1 goal and 2 assists in his last 12. He assisted on the Game 3 winner but that's not enough to get him outta my dog house.

-Raffi Torres: 0 points in his last 13. Tertiary scoring? NEED IT.

PREDATORS

HOT

-Nick Spaling: 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 5 games. Impressive kid.

-Joel Ward: 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 8.

-Ryan Suter: 1 goal and 2 assists in his last 2.

COLD

INJURIES

CANUCKS

-F Manny Malhotra: eye, out for playoffs

-D Sami Salo: still not much word on Salo. "Day-to-day" says Vigneault. He's close, apparently.

PREDATORS

-F Steve Sullivan: knee. Will miss Game 4.

-F Matthew Lombardi: concussion. Out all season

-F Cal O'Reilly: broken fibula, may return in this series.

-F Marcel Goc: shoulder

-D Francis Boullion: concussion

 

VIDEO

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Green Men - Glenn Healy = Shut up Glenn and eat your crow:

Did this happen last game? A Pred collides with a camera man:

The title of this post brought to you by The Beastie Boys "Super Disco Breakin'":