The Nashville Predators have been the NHL’s best team over the last month.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks continue to show why they remain among the league’s top teams.
Amid a six-game point streak, the visiting Canucks can sweep the season series by keeping the Predators from a fifth straight victory Tuesday night.
Since Nov. 18, Nashville is 13-3-0 and leads the league in wins and points (26) entering Monday. After three straight one-goal victories, the Predators won 3-1 over Washington on Saturday.
“We’re feeling good about ourselves,” said Nashville forward Colton Sissons, who recorded his 10th goal Saturday. “We’re a confident group, and we’re just having so much fun.
“So, it’s going good right now and our game just keeps building.”
Nashville has also won three in a row and eight of the last 10 at home.
“We’ve got to keep ourselves working toward getting better,” Sissons added.
“Hopefully (on Tuesday we) have another strong effort.”
The Predators likely need a seriously strong performance against the Canucks, who won the season’s first two meetings, 3-2 at Nashville on Nov. 24 and 5-2 at home on Halloween. Vancouver star defenseman Quinn Hughes has a combined four assists and goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 43 of 47 shots in both games versus Nashville this season.
Vancouver’s 44 points are second in the NHL only to Pacific Division foe Vegas (47) entering Monday, and the Canucks have scored four goals four times during the current 5-0-1 stretch. After the Canucks’ four-game winning streak ended with Saturday’s 2-1 shootout loss at Minnesota, they bounced back for a 4-3 victory at Chicago on Sunday.
Brock Boeser scored his team-leading 23rd goal, while Elias Pettersson registered his 12th and Tyler Myers and J.T. Miller each posted two assists for the Canucks, who trailed Chicago 2-1 early in the second, then scored the next three goals. Demko made 25 saves and Vancouver held on for its ninth victory in 16 road contests.
“Getting three points out of these two games of a back-to-back … we’re happy about getting the points, but we have to clean up our game,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said.
Boeser has 10 goals and 15 points in the last 11 games. Meanwhile, Miller has recorded 30 assists in 32 games, with five coming over the last four contests.
Demko has won four straight starts, but he’s also yielded at least three goals in five of his last seven outings. Backup Casey DeSmith has stopped 56 of the 57 shots he’s faced while going 1-0-1 in December.
Nashville’s Jusse Saros made 21 saves at home versus Vancouver in October and has been simply stellar in December, posting a 1.48 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in winning all six starts. Backup Kevin Lankinen (3.28 GAA) stopped 22 shots at Vancouver this season.
Sissons has a goal in three straight games versus Vancouver. Meanwhile, teammate Filip Forsberg, Nashville’s leader in goals (16), points (36) and co-leader in assists (20), has just three points in his last seven against the Canucks.
However, Forsberg has recorded four goals and five assists in his last eight games.
–Field Level Media
