Nashville Predators edge past Vancouver Canucks, 2-1: NHL Play-off Recap
Matt Halischuk lit the lamp in the second overtime as the Nashville Predators held on for a 2-1 victory against the Vancouver Canucks in their Western Conference semi-final series, at the
Rogers Arena on Saturday night.
Ryan Suter also hit the net in the regulation and had an assist while Pekka Rinne turned away 32 shots for Nashville, which is in the semi-finals for the first time in club history and avoided
dropping straight contests for the first time since early March.
Alexandre Burrows supplied the lone offense and Luongo made 44 saves for Vancouver, which took a 1-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday, but has given up home-ice advantage to Nashville.
The opening period remained goalless as Luongo made 12 saves and Rinne stopped six shots
Vancouver finally got on the board just two minutes into the middle session. While skating shorthanded, a turnover in the neutral zone saw Burrows and Ryan Kesler work the give-and-go with
Burrows carrying the puck down the right wing and firing it past Rinne down low for 1-0 lead and for his fourth goal of the play-offs.
Luongo blocked nine shots in the second period and was on the way for his second consecutive shutout as Predators still trailed by a goal late in the game.
However, Suter spoiled Luongo’s shutout bid by knotting the game at 1-1 just a little over one minute left in the third period, when he hit a shot on net that caromed off a defender and went
behind the left side of the net. Suter grabbed the puck again and unleashed a shot at Luongo. The puck then hit off Luongo’s left pad and went home, sending the game into overtime.
Canucks then killed off a too many men on the ice call in the first extra session, but it was Rinne who kept the game tied by making several nice saves. He stopped Henrik Sedin’s shot alone
atop the crease on a rebound early in extra session and then turned aside Maxim Lapierre’s shot by stretching out with a minute remaining.
His nicest save of the session came when Kevin Bieksa ripped a one-timer into an open net from the low left side after a beautiful cross-ice pass from Henrik Sedin, but Rinne made an outstanding
diving stick stop on it with over two minutes to play in the frame.
"We played Predator hockey," the Predators' Coach, Barry Trotz, said. "We played with conviction. We played with discipline. Our work ethic was there. We had a lot more detail. I thought
in regulation we had the majority of the play. We had the better chances, we just couldn't convert."
After a scoreless first overtime, Halischuk sealed the win at 2-1 for the Predators, when Nick Spaling received an entry pass from Suter and sent a cross-ice pass to Halischuk, who quickly
blasted a shot over a sprawling defender and past Luongo’s glove.
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