Future Hall of Famer has three goals in two wins over the Canucks this season and career 1.43 points per game against Vancouver is his highest output against any NHL club.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators
When/where: Wednesday, 6 p.m., Bridgestone Arena
TV: SN Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650
The buzz: A quick flick of the wrist, or a howitzer.
That’s how Predators centre Steven Stamkos continues to deliver a deadly dagger to the Canucks, even at age 34.
The future Hall of Famer has struck three times in two triumphs over Vancouver this season, and his career 1.43 points per game against the Canucks is his highest output against any NHL club. When you pile up 31 points (19-12) in 22 games to confound the Canucks — a production split between the Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning — it grabs the attention.
If the Canucks expect to stretch their win streak to three games Wednesday — they won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 1 with an impressive 5-2 effort in St. Louis on Monday — they can’t allow free-agent acquisition Stamkos to shoot from his sweet spot, or be sprung on an odd-man rush.
The Predators were a dozen points shy of the final Western Conference wild-card spot heading into league play Tuesday and need to leap six clubs. They’re on a 7-3-0 spree, but in reality, they’re playing spoiler. Stamkos keeps striking with a team-high nine power-play goals, five game winners, and five goals in his last six games.
That’s what occurred in the Predators’ 3-0 road win on Jan.3.
Stamkos scored early and two empty-netters sealed the deal in a game that should have been there for the taking — even with the Canucks missing Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. They held a 27-19 shot advantage, but couldn’t solve standout goalie Juuse Saros.
All it took that night was a 3-on-2 rush, and a customary finish by Stamkos, to put the Canucks in a hole. They lost a pair of puck battles and Stamkos took a feed from Jonathan Marchessault and had the time and space to unload a cannon of a shot that got the better of Kevin Lankinen.
“When you have their top line on the ice, you know, I’d like to see a couple guys reload on a 50-50 puck,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “I honestly started saying to the coaches this should have been a 0-0 game going into overtime.
“There weren’t many (bad) moments in this game and Stamkos and his team didn’t make any of them theirs.”
It was just another cautionary tale.
On Nov. 17 at Rogers Arena, Stamkos struck for a pair of power-play goals to the high glove side on Lankinen in a 5-3 win. His 219 career man-advantage strikes vaulted him past Jaromir Jagr and Mike Gartner into 11th place overall.
The history: Third meeting of season. The Canucks swept the season series in 2023-24 and outscored the Predators 13-6. They opened with a 3-2 road win on Oct.24 and followed up with a 5-2 victory at home a week later in which Pettersson had a hat-trick. They then posted a 5-2 win in Nashville on Dec.19.
The hope: Rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson continues to make impressive strides in his third NHL game, and the other Pettersson logs more than 14:24 on Monday — his average is 18:53 — to build off season-high seven shots and be a difference-maker. He has just one goal in his last night games and only 11 on the season.
The fear: Consistently inconsistent. A litmus test for the Canucks to display accountability in all three zones to get off to another fast start and dictate the tempo. They’re 11-4-6 when scoring first, 10-2-3 when leading after 20 minutes.
The top guns: We’re running out of Hughes superlatives. He had two assists Monday to reach 100 multi-point career games, the first franchise defenceman to hit that lofty plateau. The captain was also tied for the league lead in scoring by blueliners with 56 points (14-42) heading into league play Tuesday.
The wounded: Canucks: Kiefer Sherwood (undisclosed, day-to-day). Mark Jankowski (upper body, day-to-day), Jeremy Lauzon (lower body, IR), Luke Evangelista (lower body, IR).
The quote: “A big game, a four-pointer, and we’re both going for playoff spots. We started on time and the first period really set us up for the game. A nice win.” — Tocchet on 5-2 triumph Monday against Blues.
The projected lineup:
Heinen-Miller-Boeser
Hoglander-Pettersson-Karlsson
DeBrusk-Suter-Garland
Sasson-Blueger-DiGiuseppe
Hughes-Myers
Forbort-Hronek
Pettersson-Soucy
Lankinen
The prediction: The Canucks learn from past mistakes against Predators and play defensively-sound game. Rejuvenated power play strikes in 3-2 victory.