It Can't Get Any Worse, Can It? Obviously It Can: Canucks @ Predators

T-minus 10 games to go...

Top three baby! What a time to be alive.

You know it's bad when the AP wire starts taking potshots:

The Predators' next opponent is no longer concerning itself with tuning up for the postseason, and it's getting to the point that even a win seems unrealistic.

That won't stop Yahoo! from showing this game for free online tonight.

Can the Canucks toss the 11 period and counting goalless streak monkey off their collective back? Getting Hansen back in should help, but honestly, even a goal here or there doesn't solve the much bigger issue of how this squad is going to stay competitive against the big boys over the next seven games. Though with a top three pick dangling in front of them, maybe that's not much of a concern.

Regardless, they won't find much sympathy across the ice. The Predators haven't lost at home in over a month and are producing 3.5 G/F in that span. They also haven't coughed up a PP marker in their last eight either. Filip Forsberg (54pts) and Roman Josi (53 pts) lead the way for Nashville with Ryan Johnson (51 pts) right behind them. Meanwhile the man who Vancouver must solve, Pekka Rinne, has posted a 10-1-2, 2.06GAA and .931S% in his last 13. With a win Nashville will be within striking distance of a suddenly-slumping Chicago.

Respectable losses from here on out is pretty much the best case scenario. Just think of it like this: a loss with a goal or two is the new kind of win, all the cool teams up north are doing it.

Human Guinea Pig Formations

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Jake Virtanen

Alexandre Burrows - Linden Vey - Emerson Etem

Brendan Gaunce - Jared McCann - Derek Dorsett

Ben Hutton - Alex Biega

Dan Hamhuis - Nikita Tryamkin

Andrey Pedan - Matt Bartkowski

Ryan Miller

Calle Jarnkrok - Ryan Johansen - James Neal

Filip Forsberg - Mike Ribeiro - Craig Smith

Colin Wilson - Mike Fisher - Viktor Arvidsson

Miikka Salomaki - Colton Sissons - Austin Watson

Roman Josi - Shea Weber

Barret Jackman - Ryan Ellis

Mattias Ekholm - Petter Granberg

Pekka Rinne

One Question

Maybe it's the BBQ: Ryan Miller is undefeated in his career while playing in Nashville - 4-0-0, 1.00 GAA. What will those numbers look like a few hours from now?

One Observation

As if this losing streak isn't aging them all a ton already, courtesy of the canucks.com preview:

Canucks on the current active roster who were not born yet the last time the Canucks suffered three straight shutouts (Jan. 7-10, 1984): 21

That's 72% of the current roster.

And, yes, you're old as hell.

Fearless Prediction

This will be a common refrain for the next two weeks: Vancouver scores (hooray!), but forgets it's a 60 minute game, allows far too many shots and loses to a team with spring plans.

4-1 Predators.

The end is sight folks. *fistbump*

GCG.