Nashville Predators vs. Vancouver Canucks Pick & Prediction OCTOBER 24th 2023

The Nashville Predators continue their three-game homestand on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks in a clash of clubs hoping for strong starts to the young season after both missed the playoffs last year.

The Predators have won two straight and have three wins and two losses in their past five games, while the Canucks enter the the final game of five out of six to start the season on the road. Tuesday’s contest is part of a rare full slate of games which sees all 32 teams in action on the same day. It is just the second time in NHL history it has happened. The Predators are coming off a 5-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday in which Tommy Novak scored twice and Juuse Saros stopped 31 shots. Nashville’s Kiefer Sherwood and Luke Evangelista each collected a goal and an assist and Samuel Fagemo scored a power-play goal in his season debut. Left winger Sherwood recorded one of the first Gordie Howe hat tricks of the 2023-24 season against the Sharks with a goal, an assist and a fighting major. He dropped gloves with former Predator Luke Kunin at 8:52 of the middle frame to complete the trifecta. “There’s never an easy game in this league,” Sherwood said. “I just try to stay hungry and give the team whatever energy I have so we can establish ourselves.” Nashville has a new general manager, Barry Trotz, who replaced long-time GM David Poile, to become just the second GM in franchise history. One of Trotz’s biggest moves was to let coach John Hynes go and replace him with Andrew Brunette, a former player who scored the first goal in Predators history. Last season, Nashville missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Forward Evangelista says he likes the Predators’ quick transition style of play. “Bruno (Brunette) wants us pushing the pace and playing fast. It totally makes sense but it definitely was a bit of an adjustment at first,” the 21-year-old said. The Canucks are trying to bust out of the gate quickly despite spending much of the first month of the season on the road. They hope to avoid last season’s poor start which saw them dig an 0-5-2 hole in their first seven games. In their last game, Andrei Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The Panthers outshot the Canucks 19-4 in the third and coach Rick Tocchet said his team’s consistency is something it needs to improve. “There were some stretches where we weren’t hard on the forecheck and that’s what happens,” Tocchet said. The Canucks made several offseason moves to shore up their back end. Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers are the only defensemen remaining from last season when Vancouver missed the playoffs for the seventh time in eight years. Tocchet said the Canucks will be successful if they stick to a north-south attack on offense. “When we are skating forward and have good angles. When we go through people, not killing people, but just being real sticky. Then we are hard to play against,” he said. –Field Level Media