Teams meet for second straight Tuesday; Canucks were 3-2 winners in Nashville
It's not only fright night, but it's also game night for the Vancouver Canucks (5-2-1) and Nashville Predators (4-4). The teams will square off in a Halloween match-up at Rogers Arena. Here's what you need to know ahead of the 7pm puck drop in which the Canucks will wear their popular black alternate jerseys with the flying skate logo for the first of 15 occasions this season:
The Canucks will go with Thatcher Demko in goal. Demko is coming off a 5-0 shutout of St. Louis on Friday in his last appearance. He's 3-2 on the season with an impressive 1.91 GAA and .936 save percentage. Demko has won his last two starts.
The Canucks held a sparsely attended optional skate this morning. Rick Tocchet confirmed he will stick with a winning line-up which means Jack Studnicka and Noah Juulsen will once again be the healthy scratches. Anthony Beauvillier is expected to slide up to the team's third line with Pius Suter and Conor Garland while Dakota Joshua, Sam Lafferty and Nils Höglander will make up the fourth line.
With a win tonight, the Canucks will push their early season record to 5-0 against Western Conference opponents. They have beaten the Oilers twice, Nashville and St. Louis.
The Canucks have scored twice as many 5-on-5 goals as the Predators in the early going this season (20-10). Among all NHL teams, only St. Louis and San Jose have generated less 5-on-5 scoring than Nashville.
Ryan O'Reilly playing his 1000th NHL game tonight 260+448=708. While he has enjoyed great success in his career, he has struggled against the Canucks scoring just one goal in 44 regular season games. O'Reilly will become the fifth player to reach the thousand game milestone in a Preds uniform: the others are Mike Fisher, Mike Ribeiro, Jason Arnott & Cliff Ronning
O'Reilly scored a pair of power play goals in Nashville's 3-2 overtime win against Toronto on Saturday. Captain Roman Josi's first goal of the year was the OT winner.
Along with O'Reilly, Colton Sissons and Tommy Novak leads Nashville with four goals apiece while Filip Forsberg leads the team with seven points.
This is the Predators lone visit to Vancouver this season. Per their morning skate, it appears back-up Kevin Lankinen will make his first start of the season giving Juuse Saros a rare night off. Lankinen has made one relief appearance this season in a 6-1 loss to Edmonton on October 17th.
Tonight's referees are Trevor Hanson and Eric Furlatt.
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