Nashville Predators visit Vancouver Canucks

March 13, 2013 |

Nashville, TN – The Nashville Predators are fresh off their 4-0 shut-out of the Dallas Stars as they enter game two of their five game road trip, with a visit to the Vancouver Canucks. Face-off is at 9:00pm CT at Rogers Arena.

The Predators improved to 10-1-4 when scoring more than one goal and 5-0-0 in Tuesday games. Nick Spaling opened the scoring for Nashville with his fourth goal of the season . The Predators improved to 18-1-1 all time when he scores. Gabriel Bourque tied for the team lead with his seventh goal of the season, equaling his 43-game goals total from 2011-12.

Nashville Predators center Colin Wilson (33) shoots and scores against the Edmonton Oilers during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. The Predators beat the Oilers 6-0. (Don McPeak/USA TODAY Sports)

David Legwand and Craig Smith both notched their first multi-point performances of the season with a pair of assists each. The helpers gave Legwand points (2g-2a) in three straight games, while Smith has three points (3a) in his last three outings and seven points (3g-4a) in his last 11 outings after recording one point/assist in his first 15 games of 2012-13.

The Predators and Stars combined for a season-high 80 penalty minutes

Nashville Predators Pekka Rinne

Pekka Rinne turned aside all 32 shots he faced to post his League-leading fifth shutout of the season. It was his first road shutout since Jan.19th, 2012, when he whitewashed Columbus (3-0). Rinne has posted the most shutouts (30) in the League since the beginning of the 2008-09 season, and has recorded at least four shutouts in each of those seasons.

The Kempele, Finland native is also riding an even-strength shutout streak of 184:56 after allowing just one power-play goal against Minnesota last Saturday. Since Jan. 31st, Rinne has been one of the League’s top netminders – posting a 1.81 goals-against average and .931 save percentage while appearing in 19 of Nashville’s 20 games during that span. In addition to leading the League in shutouts, the netminder ranks first in minutes played (1,410:03), fifth in goals-against average (2.00) , tied for sixth in save percentage (.924) and tied for 10th in wins (10) among all starting goaltenders.

Shea Weber continues his point-per-game pace after posting his first power-play goal of the season on Tuesday in Dallas. Nashville’s captain has notched 13 points (4g-9a) in his last 13 outings, including six points (1g-5a) in his last four. With Tuesday’s goal, Weber is now just four goals shy of tying Jason Arnott for third on the Predators all-time goals lists (107).

Rich Clune scored the eighth penalty-shot goal in franchise history on the 24th all-time attempt on Tuesday at Dallas. It was the first since Martin Erat on Nov. 9th, 2011 at Anaheim, and gave the Toronto native four points (3g-1a) in his last seven games, besting his total from his first 32 career NHL contests (1g-2a). Clune is also tied for seventh in the NHL in fighting majors (6), and ranks among the NHL’s Top 20 in hits (70). Claimed on waivers on Jan. 15th from Los Angeles, he has had only two career games in his career with a minus rating.

The Nashville Predators make their lone trip of the 2012-13 season to Vancouver on Thursday night, a place they’ve posted a 1-1-0 record in each of the last seven seasons going back to 2005-06. In their last trip to the Pacific Northwest on Dec. 1st, 2011, both Colin Wilson (1g-2a) and Craig Smith (3a) had three-point performances and Mike Fisher scored his second goal with just 1:16 remaining as the Predators rallied from a 5-3 deficit to win 6-5. In their first matchup of 2012-13 on Feb. 22nd, 2013, Pekka Rinne stopped 23-of-24 shots, but the Canucks prevailed, 1-0.

Fisher led all scorers against Vancouver last season with six points (4g-2a) in three games. In 20 career games against the Canucks, he has 10 goals and 14 points. Wilson (2g-3a in 4gp), Martin Erat (5a in 3gp) and David Legwand (2g-2a in 4gp) all produced at a point-per-game pace or greater against Vancouver in 2011-12. In 36 career games against the Canucks, Erat has 29 points (8g-21a), including his most recent of two career hat tricks, and third career four-point games (3g-1a) on Dec. 8th, 2009.

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