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Scoring has been a weakness for the Nashville Predators all season, and the problem was particularly evident as they headed into the All-Star break.

The Predators return to action Wednesday night as they try to end a three-game losing streak in a road matchup with the slumping Vancouver Canucks.

A season removed from its fourth consecutive playoff appearance, Nashville (20-23-3) is in fourth place in the Central Division with 43 points — one more than St. Louis, which has the lowest point total in the Western Conference.

The Predators’ struggles have been due largely to their lack of offense, as they’re last in the West with 111 goals and have converted 13.7 percent of their power-play opportunities — among the lowest in the NHL.

Captain Jason Arnott — a two-time 30-goal scorer — leads Nashville with 15 goals, but only four Predators have scored at least 10. All-Star defenseman Shea Weber has 14, but forward J.P. Dumont, who topped the team with a career-high 29 goals last season, has been held to eight.

The Predators have totaled 24 goals in going 3-9-0 in their previous 12 games, and five goals during their three-game skid. Radek Bonk provided the only offense in a 3-1 home loss to New Jersey on Jan. 19 in Nashville’s final contest before the break.

Arnott hopes the week off will help the Predators as they open a three-game road trip through Canada.

“(We) talked about it a lot, and now it’s just going out and doing it. We hashed out a lot of our issues. Now it’s just time to cut down our mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities and just keep working as a team. That’s all we can ask,” he said.

The Predators can start by ending their scoring problems versus the Canucks. They’ve managed eight goals in the last six meetings — all losses — and have been limited to two goals in three 2008-09 matchups. Nashville will be trying to avoid being swept by Vancouver in a season series for the first time.

Arnott has 17 goals and 21 assists in 49 games against the Canucks, though he’s has been held off the scoresheet in his last four, most recently in a 2-1 home loss on New Year’s Day.

Vancouver (22-19-7), though, wasn’t nearly that stingy heading into the break. The Canucks have surrendered 27 goals during a 0-4-2 skid that’s their longest since losing seven in a row from Dec. 26, 1998-Jan. 6, 1999.

All-Star Roberto Luongo made 27 saves last Tuesday, but allowed the tying goal with 40 seconds left in regulation in a 2-1 overtime defeat at West-leading San Jose. It was his third game back after missing almost two months with a groin injury.

The Canucks are 1-4-4 in their last nine games, but Luongo was encouraged by the latest performance.

“We worked like animals for 59 minutes and played exactly the way we wanted to play against them,” Luongo said. “We need to finish games, but we’re starting to play well as a team.”

Vancouver is opening a four-game stretch at GM Place as it seeks to end a franchise-record seven-game home losing streak.

Luongo is 6-3-2 with a 1.71 GAA in 11 home games this season. Since joining the Canucks before the 2006-07 season, he’s 3-2-0 with a 1.61 GAA and two shutouts in five home starts versus Nashville, which has lost three of its last four visits to Vancouver.

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Even the return of top goaltender Roberto Luongo wasn’t enough to keep the Vancouver Canucks from another disappointing outcome.

Now, Luongo and the Canucks will try to salvage the finale of a five-game stretch at GM Place and avoid the franchise’s longest home skid on Sunday night when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Vancouver captain went down with a strained groin Nov. 22 against Pittsburgh and missed more than seven weeks with the injury — a span in which the Canucks went 9-12-3, slipping from first in the Northwest Division to second behind Calgary.

Luongo had a 2.17 goals-against average and five shutouts in 19 starts before he was hurt. Though he finished with 28 saves in his return, he lost 4-1 to Phoenix on Thursday night.

Vancouver (22-19-5) trailed 4-0 after the first 28:34 en route to losing for the sixth time in seven games overall (1-4-2).

“Our confidence is being tested right now, our character is being tested, our leadership group is being tested,” coach Alain Vigneault said.

The Canucks’ struggles have been compounded by their futility at GM Place, where they’ve lost six in a row. This slide matches the franchise record set Dec. 18, 1970-Jan. 20, 1971 during the team’s inaugural season, and equaled Nov. 3-18, 1978.

Vancouver is also trying to avoid dropping five straight overall since an 0-4-1 stretch from March 5-14, 2006.

“I think it’s just a matter of getting back to basics a little bit,” Luongo told the Canucks’ official Web site. “We all know what type of group we have and that we’re capable of winning.”

Vancouver hopes to get back on track with a solid effort against a Columbus team that has won seven of its last 10.

The Canucks have won four of their last six versus the Blue Jackets (21-19-4) at home, but have dropped four straight in the series. Luongo is 5-4-3 in 12 career starts against them despite a 1.98 GAA.

He was absent for the most recent meeting on Dec. 1, when emerging rookie Steve Mason made 28 stops to lead the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 home victory.

Mason tops the NHL with a 1.81 GAA and ranks among the league leaders with six shutouts and a .936 save percentage.

He had surrendered five goals on 94 shots during the Blue Jackets’ three-game winning streak, which was ended by a controversial 2-1 defeat to New Jersey on Friday night.

Tied 1-all with 8:41 remaining, Mason appeared to cover a shot before it slid free. Devils center John Madden beat the Blue Jackets’ Fedor Tyutin for the loose puck while fellow defenseman Marc Methot looked to be pushed into the goal post, dislodging it just before Madden scored.

“We played well, but we left the game out there,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “They caught their break and they took advantage of it. Good teams do that. This is a tough loss for everybody, but we can move forward.”

Columbus is opening a three-game road trip that will carry it into the All-Star break. The Blue Jackets have won four of their last six away from home.