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The Sports Network
(Sports Network) - There may not be a more confident goaltender in the league
right now than Nashville's Pekka Rinne. Vancouver should have plenty of
positive feelings heading into Tuesday night after the way it won its last
game.
The Predators look for their seventh victory in eight games and seventh in a
row at home as they take on the Northwest Division-leading Canucks.
Nashville has posted the best record in the league since Dec. 28, going 14-3-0
and outscoring its opponents 55-33 in that span. Saturday's 3-1 triumph over
St. Louis put the Predators a point ahead of the Blues for second place in the
Central Division and Nashville enters tonight four points behind front-running
Detroit for the most in the NHL.
Rinne has been a huge part of the Predators' recent run. He made a season-high
42 saves versus the Blues to extend his franchise-record win streak to 11
straight games. He made 19 of those stops in the third and hasn't lost since
Jan. 5, giving up more than two goals just once over his win streak.
"I think the biggest thing is as a team we're playing consistent and well
defensively," Rinne said of his win streak. "Confidence-wise, we have momentum
going for us and we've been getting these one-goal games and a couple of huge
comeback games. I think those kind of things just glue the whole team together
and builds your confidence."
Rinne is just the fifth netminder since 1998-99 to post 11 straight victories
in a season and he is 14-1-0 since Dec. 28 with a 1.72 goals-against average
and .944 save percentage.
Martin Erat scored a goal and assisted on tallies by Sergei Kostitsyn and Mike
Fisher for the Predators. Erat and Fisher both have 16 points in their past 17
games, while Kostitsyn has 15 in that span.
Vancouver comes in having won four of five while going 6-1-2 in its past nine,
though it seemed like it was on its way to a regulation loss on Saturday in
Colorado. The Canucks trailed by a goal late and the Avs' T.J. Galiardi sent
the puck towards Vancouver's open net looking to seal things up.
However, Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa dove to prevent the puck from going
in and then sent the game into overtime when he scored with 34.1 seconds to
play. Mason Raymond then netted the lone goal of the shootout for an
improbable 3-2 win.
"I just tried to put my body in front of it because it was a rolling puck and
the ice was obviously bad, so I didn't want to risk swinging at it with my
stick," said Bieksa.
"Then once we got into their zone, I'm not too sure what the puck hit, most
likely a stanchion, but I just tried to put it on net because we had a pretty
good screen in front."
Roberto Luongo made 44 saves for the Canucks, who own an 11-point lead in
their division and trail the Red Wings by three in the overall NHL standings.
Vancouver also moved to 4-11-5 when trailing after two periods this season.
Ryan Kesler netted his 16th goal of the season for the Canucks, giving him
four tallies and an assist over a five-game point streak as well as goals in
three straight.
The Canucks and Predators have split a pair of meetings so far this year, with
both taking place in Vancouver. The two teams have combined for 17 goals in
those encounters, though the Canucks' Daniel Sedin and Fisher are the only two
skaters with multiple goals.
Sedin has five points in the two games and twin Henrik has four off a goal and
three assists, while Colin Wilson is pacing the Preds with a goal and three
helpers in the two meetings.
The Canucks have won six of their past eight during the regular season in
Nashville, where the clubs are meeting for the first time since last season's
Western Conference semifinals that Vancouver won in six games.
The Sports Network