The Nashville Predators will try to use home ice to take a lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-finals tonight, Tuesday May 3rd, as they host the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in Game 3, at Bridgestone Arena. The series is tied 1-1, but the Predators lead the Canucks 3-2 SU in their last five meetings. NHL oddsmakers have the Canucks as -130 moneyline road favorites over the Predators (+110) with the over/under listed at 5 goals. Be sure to check the Canucks vs Predators NHL Point Spreads and get your predictions in early.
Vancouver (5-4, 1-2 V) gave up a goal with 1:07 left in regulation sending the game into overtime, a typical result for the Canucks in these playoffs. Alexandre Burrows scored the lone goal while goalie Roberto Luongo stopped 44 shots for the Canucks. "It's never fun to lose in overtime," said Luongo. "We had our chances, unfortunately, Pekka made some good saves and kept them in it." Vancouver has scored just nine total goals in six games since taking a 3-0 lead over Chicago in the opening round. Of course, the Canucks allowed the Blackhawks to win three straight in that series before taking the set with a 2-1 overtime decision in a decisive Game 7. "You want to score more goals, that's the bottom line," Canucks star forward Henrik Sedin said. "We have to bear down on the chances we get, in overtime too we had a lot of chances to finish it off. That's something we need to take a look at." The Canucks played Saturday's tilt without defenseman Sami Salo, who has sat out the last three games with a leg injury. The Finnish veteran is questionable for this evening's test. The Canucks were 1-2 in Chicago in the opening round of the playoffs, but had a stellar 27-10-4 record as the road team in the regular season.
Nashville (5-3, 2-1 H) rebounded with a 2-1 double-overtime victory in Game 2 to earn a split in Vancouver. Ryan Suter tied the game at 1-1 on a tally with 1:07 left in regulation. Matt Halischuk then scored at the 14:51 mark of the second overtime to give Nashville the 2-1 victory. Pekka Rinne was possibly the biggest star for Nashville in Game 2, as he stopped 32 shots for the Predators. Rinne, who along with Luongo is a finalist for this year's Vezina Trophy, has turned aside 61-of-63 shots so far in this series. All in all, the Predators are healthy. But they played long stretches of the regular season without key players, which may help now. “Part of having all those injuries through the season, you learn to play through the adversity of not having your big guys as much,” Franson said. “That’s a big part of being a good team.” Nashville and Vancouver split four games in the regular season series and this is the first time the clubs are meeting in the postseason.
Recent Trends to Consider:
Under is 6-0 in the last 6 meetings.
Canucks are 6-2 in the last 8 meetings in Nashville.
Under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in Nashville.
Canucks are 5-1 in their last 6 games as a road favorite of -110 to -150.
Predators are 5-0 in their last 5 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game.
Predators are 4-1 in their last 5 home games.
Canucks vs Predators
When: Tuesday, May-03-11, 9:00 PM ET
Pick: Canucks -130
Point-Spreads.com recommends you check out NHL Point Spreads Canucks vs Predators game.
The Bottom Line: You never know which Canucks team will show up and which goalie will show, good Luongo or bad Luongo. Be sure to check Canucks vs Predators Hockey Point Spreads and get your predictions in early.
