Whether or not the Vancouver Canucks will have veteran defenceman Sami Salo back in the lineup for Game 3 against the Nashville Predators (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 9 p.m. ET) will be a game-time decision.
Salo has been out with a suspected leg injury since departing early in Game 6 of the Canucks opening-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks 10 days ago. He pronounced himself fit and ready to go.
There also has been speculation that, even if Salo does not play on Tuesday, the Canucks coaching staff will scratch Keith Ballard and play Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts as the third pairing.
The Canucks held an optional morning skate ahead of Tuesday's Game 3 and only a handful of players took to the ice, so there were no hints as to what shape the Canucks lineup will take with the series tied at 1-1.
Up front, Alex Burrows was reunited with Daniel and Henrik Sedin in practice on Monday. Chris Higgins was back on the second line along with Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond, while Mikael Samuelsson was demoted to the fourth line alongside Cody Hodgson and Tanner Glass. The third line consisted of Maxim Lapierre between Raffi Torres and Jannik Hansen.
Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said not to read into the different line combinations. But he did replace Samuelsson on the point of the first power-play unit with defenceman Alex Edler.
Predators head coach Barry Trotz expects Game 3 to change the tone of the series after two "feeling-out" matches in Vancouver.
"I think the series is on right now," he said. "In Game 1, we didn't show up and in Game 2 there were a lot of similar comments made by the Canucks like we did after Game 1."
With the Sedins and Kesler struggling offensively, the Canucks hope to engage their defencemen more in the offensive zone and also want to cut down on their neutral zone turnovers.
Twitter man
Nashville defenceman Shane O'Brien (@shaneobrien55) picked a strange time to join the Twitter universe. The outspoken O'Brien opened an account on Monday, but vows to keep his 140-word-or-less messages controversy-free, especially while in the throes of a series against his old team.
"I'm not going to go all Charlie Sheen, although I do like following him," the 27-year-old O'Brien said.
"Believe it or not, I think I'm mature enough now to do it."
O'Brien often was a lightning rod for clamour and tumult when he was with the Canucks. He said the low point was in his rookie season when he was asked why he wasn't playing and O'Brien said the coaching staff told him he wasn't fighting enough.
That wasn't true, and he had to apologize to Vigneault and his staff as well as his Vancouver teammates.
"I don't sugar coat things and that has got me in trouble at times with you guys [reporters]," said O'Brien, who joked that Predators communication coordinator Kevin Wilson looked like he didn't get much sleep when he found out the defenceman opened a Twitter account.
"He realizes that in the past he has said some things that have gotten him into trouble," Trotz added. "I think he's grown up and he realizes that anything you can say can be twisted.
Vancouver assistant coach Rick Bowness said, "This is not specific to Shane, but when you become a man off the ice you become a man on the ice."
Green Men denial
Trotz denied that the Predators filed a complaint with the league about the antics of the so-called Green Men near the visiting-team penalty box at Vancouver's Rogers Arena, and then swiftly changed the subject to a couple of fans he encountered in a walk he took in Vancouver's Stanley Park earlier in the series.
These two young fans sitting on a bench told Trotz that he looked like the Nashville coach, to which he replied, "No, I think he's ugly.
Trotz also mentioned a time in Montreal when a fan thought he was ex-NHL coach Mike Keenan.
"I don't blend in very well. I've been mistaken for a lot of people."
By the way, the Green Men, Vancouverites Ryan Sullivan and Adam Forsythe, plan to make the trip to Music City for Game 3.
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