Friday NHL Odds, Picks, Prediction: Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators Betting Preview (Nov. 5)

Canucks vs. Predators Odds

Friday night, the Nashville Predators end their Western Canadian road trip with a stop in Vancouver to take on the Canucks.

Nashville has been rolling as of late. After a slow start to the season, the Preds won four out of their last five, and are now looking to go above .500. 

The Canucks have been quite the opposite. Before defeating the New York Rangers in an overtime thriller, they lost three in a row. They are slight home favorites as they look to get back on the wagon after having a decent start to the season.

Nashville Predators

Nashville has always been a blueline factory, producing the likes of captain Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, and now youngsters Alex Carrier and Dante Fabbro. However, their offense has always been their weakness. While Filip Forsberg has always been a stud, Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen haven’t panned out – until now. Johansen and Duchene have combined for 17 points in 20 total games.

While Nashville is an average team at driving play with a 49.71% expected goals rate, they struggle to generate scoring chances. The Preds have generated just 54 high-danger scoring chances on the season, which ranks second-last in the NHL.

Nashville has been able to make up for it on the power play, though, as it ranks eighth with a 25% success rate.

For years, Pekka Rinne has been the No. 1 netminder in the Music City. Now that the towering Finn is retired, it’s been Jusse Saros’ net, and he’s proving himself worthy. With a .922 SV% and a 3.4 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), Saros is a dark horse to win the Vezina this year.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks are close to being fully fit with Brock Boeser and Travis Hamonic back in the lineup after missing the start of the season. The top players like JT Miller, Conor Garland and captain Bo Horvat have all done their part, but the depth pieces have not. You can have a good amount of quality top pieces, but they can’t win a team every game. This lack of depth, which was supposed to be a strength for this club, has hurt Vancouver so far. 

Vancouver is one of the worst teams in the NHL at driving play. The Canucks have skated to a 44.05% expected goals rate and rank inside the bottom 10 team in high-danger scoring chances with 64.

For defenses, it’s been pretty easy to contain the Canucks especially when it comes to the power play where they are a bottom-10 team on the man advantage, as well. Vancouver struggled last year on offense, but was expected to improve this year. Based on those stats they regressed even more.

Vancouver's biggest bright spot is in goal, where Thatcher Demko is continuing to prove why he’s a top goalie in the league. Demko has posted a .923 SV% and a 3.6 GSAx in eight games. For a team that allows close to 3 goals per game, that is an impressive stat. Wednesday night, Demko saved the game against the Rangers, so he’s proved he can steal games on his own.

Predators vs. Canucks Pick

I don’t see much value in taking either team's moneyline, but considering the struggles on offense and the goaltending matchup, I think this game sets up for a play on the Under 5.5.

Pick: Under 5.5 at -120