NHL playoffs: Canucks vs Predators schedule released

It’s been nine long years since the Vancouver Canucks have played an NHL playoff game at Rogers Arena and fans are ready to see this season’s Pacific Division champions take on the Nashville Predators.

The round one matchup was announced Wednesday with the first game scheduled for Sunday at Rogers Arena.

“I think for our group we just have to worry about game one. You can’t look at the big thing, what if we gotta win a series … it’s dangerous when you think that way,” Rick Tocchet, Canucks head coach, told media after Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. “I think we, honestly, prepare for that first period against Nashville and be ready to play.”

The full round one schedule, in Pacific daylight time, follows:

• Game 1: Sunday, April 21 at 7 p.m. (Rogers Arena)
• Game 2: Tuesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. (Rogers Arena)
• Game 3: Friday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m. (Bridgestone Arena)
• Game 4: Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m. (Bridgestone Arena)
• Possible Game 5: Tuesday, April 30, time TBA (Rogers Arena)
• Possible Game 6: Friday, May 3, time TBA (Bridgestone Arena)
• Possible Game 7: Sunday, May 5, time TBA (Rogers Arena)

For fans wanting to check out a game in person, tickets won’t be cheap. Ticket broker Kingsley Bailey told CTV News Vancouver last month he expected prices to be high.

“It’s been nine years since we’ve had playoff hockey so they know that people are desperate and the way the team’s been playing, they’re top of the division, they think that they can get it,” he said, adding he doesn’t think the high prices will deter some fans. “People are definitely interested, they want to go, they want to see it.”

For those thinking of heading to Nashville to catch a game, Ticketmaster has limited sales in that city to locals only. A notice posted to the site this week said “a restricted sales area has been implemented” in order to “better serve Nashville Predators fans.”

Only fans from Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia will be able to get tickets through the site.

“Orders by residents outside the viewing area will be cancelled without notice and refunds given,” the notice said.