Game Day Notepad: Canucks return home to host Preds

The Vancouver Canucks (12-7-6) return to the friendly confines of Rogers Arena to begin a four-game home stand starting tonight when they host the Nashville Predators (11-9-6).

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• The Canucks begin a four-game home stand tonight which is the most consecutive games in a row they will play at Rogers Arena from now until the end of the season. They have three more home stands to go after this one but none of those will exceed three games in length.
• The Canucks are coming off a three-game road trip that saw them finish with a 1-1-1 record. They managed to salvage a respectable record on the trip with a 2-1 shootout win in Columbus in their last outing, a win that snapped a four-game winless skid.
• The Predators are playing the second game of a four-game road trip tonight. They began their trip with a 4-0 shutout win in Dallas on Tuesday.
• Despite Tuesday's victory, the Predators have been struggling of late with just four wins in their last 12 outings (4-6-2). They're looking to string together back-to-back wins tonight for the first time in a month.
• Tonight marks the second of three meetings between the Canucks and Predators this season. In their first meeting back on February 22, F Dale Weise broke a scoreless tie midway through the third period while G Roberto Luongo stopped all 23 shots he faced to lead the Canucks to a 1-0 win in Nashville.
• The Canucks managed to reclaim top spot in the Northwest Division on Tuesday thanks to their win coupled with Minnesota's loss to Anaheim that night. They can stretch their division lead to as many as four points over Minnesota tonight with a win combined with a Wild loss against the Avalanche.
• The Canucks had a team day off yesterday so any lineup news won't be known at least until after the morning skate. Many observers are undoubtedly keeping an eye on the status of D Kevin Bieksa who has missed the last five straight games with a groin injury. The Canucks are 1-4-2 this season without Bieksa in the lineup.
• Nashville will be without several of their top forwards tonight including leading scorer Colin Wilson and Patrick Hornqvist. They may also be without F Paul Gaustad as well as he left Tuesday's win in Dallas with an upper body injury and did not return.
• G Roberto Luongo is a good bet to be Vancouver's starter tonight after his strong outing in Columbus on Tuesday. Luongo shutout the Preds back on February 22 and has a career record of 13-12-3 versus Nashville with a 2.18 GAA and a .924 save percentage to go with three shutouts.
• Predators G Pekka Rinne has started the last 10 games in a row for the Predators and will likely make it 11 in a row tonight. He's coming off his league-leading fifth shutout of the season and has a shutout streak of 95:59 entering tonight's game. Rinne has a career record of 5-6-1 against the Canucks with a 2.46 GAA and a .923 save percentage to go with one shutout.
• Predators D Shea Weber brings a team-leading four-game point streak into tonight's game (1-5-6). F David Legwand will be putting a three-game point streak on the line (2-2-4).
• This is the first and only visit to Rogers Arena for the Preds this season. Last season, the teams split the two games played in Vancouver.
• Predators D Victor Bartley recently made his NHL debut on March 8 against Edmonton. The Ottawa-born blue-liner grew up in Maple Ridge, BC and is a former Kamloops Blazer. He is the younger brother Mitch Bartley, a one-time Canucks training camp invitee who also played for the Vancouver Giants and UBC Thunderbirds.

FOLLOW THE GAME

Tonight's game faces off at 7 pm PT and can be seen coast-to-coast in Canada on TSN. Listen live on The TEAM 1040 Sports Radio or online at teamradio.ca.

Those away from a TV or radio can follow @CanucksGame on Twitter for live in-game play-by-play.