Canucks Host Nashville

The Canucks enter the game sitting 7th in the Pacific Division with a record of 26-16-9 for 61 points, while Nashville is 11th in the Central Division with a record of 22-22-7 for 51 points.

The key’s for the game, especially for the fans is simple – take your seats prior to the start of the game.

Other than the game against Calgary, the topic of the “day” is about recent call-up Kellan Lain. While he set an NHL record of a short 2 seconds of playing time, the following game he managed to get his first career goal on his first shot with having managed only 1:09 ice time.

The last NHL player to score on his first shot was San Jose’s Bracken Kearns on December 13th/13 in a game against Anaheim.

Lain became the first Canucks to manage this feat since Lee Sweatt January 26/11. This stat is thanks to Ellas Sports Bureau and the Canucks.

Scoring wise Ryan Kesler has five game winning goals  ranking him ties for sixth for the most game-winning goals this season.

He is only two game winning goals shy tying his season personal best of seven, which he would love to achieve either tying or beating the past stat he has.

The key loss for the Canucks is Henrik Sedin who saw his Iron-Man Streak come to an end when he was cross-checked in the ribs, where there was no penalty call.

While this game was not as aggressive as some might have thought it would be, the intensity level of play was worth the price of admission for again a sell-out crowd of 18,910.

Rogers Arena seats 19,700 for basketball and has 88 luxury suites, 12 hospitality suites and 2,195 club seats which all are full.

Through two periods in this contest Daniel Sedin has played 13 shifts for 15:37 ice time, while Ryan Kesler has played 14 shifts for 16:11 ice time.

The final saw the Canucks lose a squeaker to Nashville by a 2-1 margin, with the final shot count seeing Luongo stop 24 of 26, while Hutton let in 1 of the 34 he faced.

Overall the Canucks played solid, but having a let-down in the area of defensive play plus taking bad penalties at the wrong time, did the in.

They get back on the ice for the upcoming game this weekend and no doubt the loss of head coach John Tortorella on the bench, might be pushing things just a bit.

Assistant Coaches Mike Sullivan and Glen Gulutzan are working hard at the game plan that they have in place.