NHL: Nashville Predators vs. Vancouver Canucks odds & prediction

The Vancouver Canucks have cleared an important first hurdle in the 2023-24 season.

After putting themselves way behind the 8-ball with slow starts the past two Octobers, it was vital for the Canucks to get off and running in Rick Tocchet’s first full season as head coach. Vancouver has done just that by posting a 4-2-2 record despite a pretty tough schedule.

The Canucks will look to continue their strong start with a showdown against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. Vancouver is a -135 favorite against the Preds.

Predators vs. Canucks prediction: Analysis

Even though it is clear that Vancouver looks like an improved outfit from what it was last season, a fair bit of its early success can be chalked up to strong (and healthy) goaltending from Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith.

Demko and DeSmith have combined to post a .922 save percentage, which is good enough for fourth-best in the league through the first three weeks of the campaign.

And while it’s never a bad thing to have your goaltending in good form, the play of Demko and DeSmith does seem to be papering over some cracks in the Canucks’ armor and the rest of Vancouver’s statistical portfolio points to some negative regression.

The Canucks currently boast a +11 goal difference at 5-on-5, but their expected goal differential sits at -2.3.

A team with a strong goaltending tandem and a handful of dynamic playmakers always has a chance to outperform its statistical portfolio, but the disparity between the Canucks’ actual goals and xG does make them a tough team to bet as a favorite, especially when they’ll be going up against a strong goaltender like Juuse Saros.

The Predators have not set the world on fire themselves, so the fact that they’ve taken money since this line opened tells you how the market perceives the Canucks. The value on Nashville is not there at the time of writing, but there still is some value on the Under 6 and if you wanted to parlay that with the Preds, that’s not a bad ticket.

Predators vs. Canucks prediction: Pick

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.