Music: {allcanada} CANUCKS (14-10-5) at PREDATORS (13-11-3)

Monday, December 2, 2013

{allcanada} CANUCKS (14-10-5) at PREDATORS (13-11-3)

Gourmet Chocolates from Costa Rica 125x125

The Santa Clause

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

8:00 PM ET

CANUCKS (14-10-5) at PREDATORS (13-11-3)

TV: SNET-P, FS-TN

Last 10: Vancouver 3-4-3; Nashville 5-4-1

Season series: This is the first game between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators. Vancouver swept its season series with Nashville in 2012-13, winning three games by a combined score of 13-6.

Big story: The Canucks wrap up a four-game road trip Tuesday in Nashville, where they face a Predators team looking to rebound after opening its current homestand with back-to-back losses.

Team Scope:

Canucks: A win in Nashville is all that separates the Canucks from a winning road trip before they head back to British Columbia. Vancouver defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 Sunday thanks to Ryan Kesler's two goals and 29 saves by backup goalie Eddie Lack, all of which dulled the sting of a 5-2 defeat the night before to the New York Rangers and former coach Alain Vigneault.

"When you score two quick ones in a road game, it backs them off a bit," Kesler said of the team's win in Carolina. "You've got to give them credit though. They came back in the second and it was a whole new hockey game."

Vancouver is in fifth place, eight points behind the first-place San Jose Sharks, who have three games in hand.

Predators: From time to time a hockey team will be a victim of circumstance and few teams in the League know that quite like the Predators. In either Eastern Conference division, Nashville would be in playoff position or in the hunt, but as a team toiling in the Central Division with the likes of the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, the Predators are well off the pace of the Central's top three and the race to be one of the West's wild card teams is shaping up to be a daunting one.

The Predators have done themselves no favors on their current homestand, getting shutout by the Edmonton Oilers this past Thursday before losing in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers in their last game this past Saturday.

"I thought we probably deserved a better fate," coach Barry Trotz said afterward. "We played well enough with the young defense. Any one of their defensemen has more experience than all six of ours.

"We should have won the game, but we didn't."

After facing Vancouver, Nashville concludes its homestand Thursday night against Carolina.

Who's hot: Vancouver defenseman Jason Garrison has a goal and five assists in his past five games. ... Nashville forward Mike Fisher has three goals in the past four games.

Injury report: Vancouver forward Jordan Schroeder (sprained ankle) is expected to be out until mid-to-late December. Defensemen Kevin Klein (lower-body injury) and Shea Weber (eye injury) are questionable for Nashville, which also placed forward Filip Forsberg (upper-body injury) on injured reserve this past Sunday.

Team Stats