Canucks vs. Predators Game 3 Prediction: Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds
Will the Vancouver Canucks have No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko available for Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Friday night as it shifts to Nashville? That’s the big question. Off their Game 2 win, the Predators are -130 favourites on the NHL odds.
Canucks vs. Predators NHL Betting Odds
During the regular season, Vancouver was 23-14-4 on the road and Nashville 23-16-2 at home. The Canucks won both games in the Music City, 3-2 on Oct. 24 and 5-2 on Dec. 19.
With Nashville evening the series 1-1 with Tuesday’s 4-1 upset victory at Rogers Arena, the Predators are now the -115 series favourites (were +220 entering Game 2) with the Canucks -105 (were -275) — and certainly a big part of that major flip is the uncertain status of Vancouver No. 1 goaltender Thatcher Demko after missing Game 2 injured. Casey DeSmith is a fine backup but still a downgrade.
The favoured exact result is now Canucks in seven and Predators in six both at +350. Vancouver in five is the new +600 long shot. For total games in the series, six is the slight +150 favourite. We have yet to have an overtime game in the series. That there is exactly one in it is the +138 favourite with none at +230.
Vancouver Canucks
It seems everyone around the NHL was caught by surprise Tuesday afternoon when it was announced that Canucks No. 1 goaltender Thatcher Demko was going to miss Game 2 with an undisclosed injury and was questionable for the rest of the series. Demko had earlier missed about five weeks due to a knee injury sustained in late March but had been 2-1 since his return, including the victory in Game 1. Casey DeSmith made only the second playoff appearance of his career in Game 2 and stopped 12 of 15 shots in the 4-2 loss, with the fourth goal an empty-netter. The only Canucks goal came from Nikita Zadorov at 15:33 of the second with his team down 3-0. Vancouver has had just one three-plus goal comeback win in the postseason in franchise history, which was in Game 5 of the 1994 conference finals. Blueliner Tyler Myers (29 points in regular season) also missed Game 2 with an undisclosed injured. The Canucks had 84 shot attempts, 18 were on net and 31 of them were blocked, and they went 0-for-4 on the power play.
Nashville Predators
Nashville likely felt very confident entering Game 2 regardless because it clearly outplayed the Canucks for two periods in Game 1 before losing. Former Canuck Anthony Beauvillier opened the scoring just 1:14 into Game 2, and the Preds also got goals from Filip Forsberg, Colton Sissons and Kiefer Sherwood. Adding an assist on Sissons’ goal, Beauvillier collected the sixth multi-point performance of his postseason career. Forsberg also had an assist for 14th multi-point performance of his postseason career. Nashville scoring first in the regular season happened 48 times, which was tied with Toronto for the third most among all teams this season, trailing only Vancouver (53) and Boston (49). Juuse Saros stopped 17 shots in his fourth career playoff win. That’s already second in franchise history but a long way from Pekka Rinne’s record of 45 such wins. Nashville holds an all-time series record of 4-7 when it is tied 1-1.
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