After a two-day break that felt almost an off-season long, the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators will resume their Western Conference Semi-Final battle tonight in Nashville, TN (or as the locals more affectionately call it--"Smashville").
Yes, the second round of the playoffs has finally come to the Predator faithful, and the barn will be a rocking. For the Canucks, it's on the road again after two tight checking but low scoring efforts in Rogers Arena.
Canuck coach Alain Vigneault was not pleased with his team's effort through regulation in Game 2's double overtime loss, a game in which the Canucks were outshot 36-15 before overtime began. As such, there will be a few changes to the Canuck lineup tonight for Game 3. Based on the lineups from the Canuck practice yesterday, hard-hitting Victor Oreskovich is expected to take a seat to allow top draft pick Cody Hodgson to play for the first time since the 1st round. Hodgson is expected to skate on the fourth line for Vancouver with Tanner Glass and newly demoted Mikael Samuelsson, who has not put a puck in the net since Game 3 of the first round.
Taking Samuelsson's place on the top line will be the red hot Alexandre Burrows, who has 6 points in his last 4 games. Burrows was the Sedin Twins' wingman all season long before being reunited with bash brother Ryan Kesler in Game 6 against Chicago to great results. The hope now is that he can rejuvenate the suddenly cold Daniel and Henrik Sedin, whose twin Art Ross Trophies seem to be like anchors for them at the moment.
On the blueline, there could be a change. Alain Vigneault was mum on the contribution of defensemen Keith Ballard, who had a deplorable outting in the game 2 loss. Veteran defender Sami Salo is with the Canucks in Nashville and did participate in the full practice yesterday, albeit not on a regular defense pairing. There's a slim possibility he could suit up tonight, but Game 4 seems more likely. Barring that, physical defender Andrew Alberts could slide in to take Ballard's spot.
The Canucks are certainly making some adjustments in advance of the game. While they can certainly be pleased with the superb goaltending Roberto Luongo has provided along with the strong team defensive play that has been a match for Nashville's own, the Canucks were the best team in the league this year for primarily one reason: their offense. And for a team that has scored four times in its last three games, they need to re-discover that touch.
Smashville will be hostile territory tonight, but the Canucks are hoping to finally punch through Pekka Rinne.
No comments:
Post a Comment